Consumer Reports: Buying Better Meat

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Antibiotics are widely given to healthy animals to prevent disease and to promote growth, but some major restaurant chains have already announced they'll stop using meat that's been treated with antibiotics.

While those changes are a ways off, you can buy meat in the supermarket from animals raised without antibiotics, and Consumer Reports has information on what to look for on the label.

The numbers are alarming. 23,000 Americans die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections. Consumer Reports says the routine use of antibiotics in healthy animals is contributing to this problem.

"The overuse of antibiotics in farm animals along with the conditions that animals are raised creates an environment for resistance to develop and spread," said Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., with Consumer Reports.

Resistant bacteria are turning up in the meat and seafood we eat. Consumer Reports tests over the past 3 years have found superbugs in 57 percent of the raw and uncooked samples of chicken inspected, 83 percent of the turkey and 14 percent of the beef as well as 14 percent of the shrimp.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter

"The best meat and poultry practices ban the use of all antibiotics and other drugs in healthy animals for growth promotion and disease prevention," Rangan said.

But shopping for meat raised without antibiotics can be confusing. Take the "natural" label.

"It only means that the cut of meat does not contain artificial colors or additives and was minimally processed," Rangan said. "It has nothing to do with whether antibiotics or other drugs were routinely used."

Consumer Reports says to look for the "organic" label, which certifies the animal was raised without antibiotics.

You can also look for labels with the terms "no antibiotics," "no antibiotics ever," or "never given antibiotics."