Walmart pork found to contain deadly “superbugs” that are resistant to antibiotics
12/22/2019 / By Ethan Huff
The animal welfare group “World Animal Protection” has published a new study revealing that many of the pork products sold at Walmart stores are contaminated with antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.”
Tests conducted by the group, the results of which were published by FoodDive, show that as much as 80 percent of the pork products sold at Walmart locations throughout the mid-Atlantic region are contaminated with superbugs, while 37 percent contain three or more different varieties of superbugs.
More than one out of four pork samples collected from Walmart stores tested positive for superbug bacteria that’s resistant to antibiotic drug classes that are classified as “Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials” by the World Health Organization (WHO) – meaning there’s no known FDA-approved way to fight them at this time.
“The samples were tested in 32 batches for E. coli, salmonella, enterococcus and listeria,” explains Zero Hedge, adding that Texas Tech University researchers tested 160 samples of pork in total, 80 from Walmart and 80 from a competing national retail chain.
“Researchers said they found enterococcus in 13 batches, E. coli in 10 batches, salmonella in 6 and listeria in 3 batches.”
It’s not the meat itself that’s the problem; it’s how this meat is raised, typically in high-density factory farms where livestock unnaturally wallow in their own filth rather than roam free on grass pastures. Because of this, factory farm animals are often sickly and diseased, which means their meat is also sickly and diseased.
“The presence of multidrug-resistant bacteria on pork products illustrates the role the pork supply chain plays in the global health crisis caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” warns Alesia Soltanpanah, executive director of World Animal Protection U.S.
“The fact that pork from one of the nation’s largest retailers contains bacteria resistant to antibiotics critically important to human health is particularly alarming and should raise concerns.”
Leave it to Walmart to sell pork tainted with the deadliest known superbugs in existence
It’s important to note that the pork samples collected from the “other” retailer, which FoodDive speculates was probably Kroger, Target, or Costco, was not contaminated with two different strains of multidrug-resistant bacteria in a single batch as was discovered at Walmart. Likewise, none of the competing chain’s pork was resistant to antibiotics considered “critically important to human health.”
What this suggests is that Walmart is selling the dirtiest pork in the nation, while retailers like Target and Costco have already committed to making their much safer pork products even safer by the year 2022.
Kroger has also agreed to “strengthen its animal welfare policies for its pork suppliers, including working towards a commitment to complete elimination of gestation crates for breeding sows” by the year 2025.
But not corrupt Walmart, which continues in its dirty ways selling dirt-cheap pork products that, for all intents and purposes, appear to pose a serious public health threat. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to go after the retail chain, even as it continues to “crack down” on raw milk, cannabidiol (CBD), and other naturally safe food products because of their alleged “risks.”
Truth be told, the FDA couldn’t care less about public health because it never goes after the things that actually harm humans, including factory-farmed meat. The FDA exists to eradicate things that actually help people stay healthy, as evidenced by its aggressive stance against cannabis, kratom (mitragyna speciosa), and milk in its natural, probiotic-rich form.
According to Soltanpanah, who tried to contact Walmart about these shocking test results, the company was “not responsive,” and has yet to acknowledge that there’s even a problem with its pork. Because of this, our advice is to avoid Walmart pork products at all costs.
For more related news about the importance of avoiding filthy feedlot food at all costs, be sure to check out CleanFood.news.
Sources for this article include:
Tagged Under: animal welfare, antibiotic-resistant, Antibiotics, buyer beware, deadly, factory farming, food safety, grocery, meat products, pork, resistant, Study, superbugs, Walmart, World Animal Protection
