Antibiotics have been the prevalent question on many people’s mind, but how does it affect animal food safety? Does applying antibiotics to animals affect the meat that we consume in the future? Recently, a group of have produced a documentary that seeks to answer all of our consumer questions.
PBS aired their two-part documentary that explored the issue of the prevalent antibiotic resistance. In the first episode, The Trouble With Antibiotics dived into the science of politics of antibiotic use in animal food. It also showed the history of the practice and attempts to link human illnesses back to animal antibiotics.
The documentary focused on research in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) cases to crop fields covered with pig manure. From this study, it demonstrated that even small measures like this can expand bacteria’s resistance to critically important human-related medicine.
In response, many industry groups were at first worried about how animal agriculture might be portrayed in press reports about the episode. So different groups, like the National Pork Board, has sent emails to members informing that it was working with other livestock commodity groups to monitor, engage and respond to the current media coverage. Some steps taken by the industry include offering veterinarian experts for interviews with the media and a radio spot highlighting responsible antibiotics management.
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