Research on Antimicrobial Resistance in Ground Beef Presented at IPPE TECHTalks

Research funded by the Foundation through its contract with the Beef Checkoff was presented during TECHTalks at the International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta, GA in February. TECHTalks are designed to provide exhibiting companies with an additional opportunity for dialogue and discussion with IPPE attendees about specific, individual topics. The study, conducted at Colorado State University and USDA-ARS-U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, characterized and determined the extent of antimicrobial resistance in retail ground beef products from naturally-raised (raised without antibiotics) and conventionally-raised cattle. Ground beef products were collected from retailers from six major metropolitan areas throughout the United States. A total of 50 natural and 50 conventional ground beef products were sampled from each city. All samples collected differed in packaging types, lean points, brands, and retailers.

Research findings provide strong evidence against claims suggesting that production systems significantly impact the resistome of ground beef samples purchased at retail. The impact of variations in tetracycline resistance between production systems on human health are likely negligible considering that treatment using tetracyclines in humans is extremely rare. Of the genes detected that confer resistance to critically important antimicrobials, most were detected at low concentrations making it difficult to interpret the clinical relevance as the differential threshold at which AMR in meat becomes clinically relevant is not defined. Overall, the results from this study suggest the impact of antimicrobial use during beef production on the ground beef microbiome and resistome are minimal since the city that samples were collected from frequently had a greater impact on the microbiome and resistome.

The article and others are available in the April 2019 Foundation Focus Newsletter