Kosher Chickens Found to Have Higher Levels of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Antibiotic-resistant E. coli were found in chickens from a range of production methods – with the highest numbers in kosher birds – in a study at Northern Arizona University and other institutes.
Consumers shopping for raw chicken that does not contain antibiotic-resistant E. coli are in for a difficult search, according to a research team from four separate institutions, including Northern Arizona University (NAU).
For reasons that could not be immediately explained, kosher chickens carried the greatest amount of antibiotic-resistant E. coli, while organic chicken showed antibiotic-resistant bacteria levels just as high as conventional chicken. Only chickens ‘raised without antibiotics’ (RWA) came in with reduced but still contaminated, levels of the E. coli ‘superbug’.
The study looked at the products of various poultry production methods – kosher, organic, RWA and conventional – but not at the details of the processing methods behind them. Researchers said more study is needed, especially on kosher.
The antibiotic resistance in chicken study was released on the same day the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta said drug-resistant superbugs are now an urgent public health danger in the United States.
The chicken researchers are from the Horace Mann Bronx Campus, Translational Genomics Research Institute of Flagstaff, NAU and George Washington University in Washington DC. Dr Bruce Hungate, director of the Ecosystem Science and Society Center, and NAU professor of biology, headed the team. The research was funded by the Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research and the Ecosystem Science and Society Center, both at NAU.
“We examined the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant E. coli on raw chicken marketed as conventional, organic, kosher and RWA,” the study states. “From April to June 2012, we purchased 213 samples of raw chicken from 15 locations in the New York City metropolitan area.”
The researchers then screened E. coli isolates from each sample for resistance to 12 common antibiotics.
According to the report, “Although the organic and RWA labels restrict the use of antibiotics, the frequency of antibiotic-resistant E. coli tended to be only slightly lower for RWA, and organic chicken was statistically indistinguishable from conventional products that have no restrictions.”
The study found that chicken sold as kosher had the highest frequency of antibiotic-resistant E. coli – nearly twice as high as conventional raw chicken. In the abstract for the study, authors stated that their kosher finding “belies the historic roots of kosher as a means to ensure food safety”.
Other researchers at the University of Washington, Royal Veterinary College of the United Kingdom and University of Tennessee reviewed the report, and, in a update, the researchers responded by disclosing more of their data.
“Organic, RWA, and kosher food products supply a growing market niche,” the study states. “Consumers perceive that they offer health benefits and are willing to pay a premium for them. The actual health benefits of organic foods are largely anecdotal. Little is known about the frequency of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms on kosher products.”
USDA requires specific production methods for organic and RWA products, while kosher (and halal) production methods are religious requirements. To carry an RWA label, poultry must be raised continuously under organic management and without the use of antibiotics from “birth to harvest.”
The study found that strains of E. coli isolated from samples in the RWA category tended to be resistant to fewer drugs “but the difference was not significant versus conventional and organic, which did not differ from each other”.
Dovid
I thought keeping kosher was the healthiest?! this is definitely anti-semitism definitely anti semitism.
Goliat
Where is it written that the laws of Kashrus protect against negligence? If chicken isn’t handled properly, no amount of Shechting will remove harmful bacteria…
Echad MeAnash
Not the most serious problem. Cook it. Wash hands that touched raw chicken thoroughly with soap, wash knives that opened packages well.
You need to do all this for reasons of salmonella bacteria, which is present in almost all raw chickens.
Milhouse
Actually salmonella is much less of a problem with kosher chicken than with treife ones. But you still need to take precautions, not only because there is still some salmonella risk, but mostly because of the risk of listeria, which is the same in kosher and treife chickens.
SEREL CHANA MANESS
I’VE BEEN SAYING TO MY SON,THAT SOMETIMES THE CHICKENS ARE SOUR,I’VE BEEN DOING FO MORE THAN 20 YEARS,I POUR BOILING HOT WATER OVER THE CHICKENS,SPILL OUT THE WATER,SOMETIMES I DO IT 2 TIMES,AS THE CHICKENS SMELL,THEN AFTER THE BOILING WATER,I SMELL AGAIN,MOST OF THE TIME IT SMELLS OK,FRANKLY I BEEN SAYING THIS TO THE STORES,WELL NOW YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON,THERE NEEDS TO BE BETTER WAY TO RAISE THEM AS WHAT’S BEING DONE IS CONTRUTEING TO EVERYONE HEALTH,IT’S MAKE A GREAT DEAL TO DO YOUR CHITAS AS THAT’S WHAT KEEP US HEALTHY,INCLUDING TZINUS,ALL THE BEST,
Citizen Berel
So what?
Statistical analysis
Careful reading indicates that production methods were not studied. Since Kashering requires soaking and salting, and also since defeathering is done differently on kosher chickens, samples taken at various times in the processing of all types of chickens could indicate if the koshering process is a factor in the variance of results.
Another factor to consider is the post production handling of the chickens. A more useful study would be to investigate any possible difference between chickens immediately post production at the processing plant with those from the same facility purchased at consumer outlets.
Also the feed of the birds should be tested.
A broader study should be done on chickens from different regions and on larger sample numbers.
SEREL CHANA MANESS
I WOULD LIKE TO ADD HOW VITAL IT IS THAT WE ALL HAVE WATER FILTERS AS THAT CLEANS THE WATER A GREAT DEAL,AS A MATTER OF FACT I JUST PUT IN A WHOLE FILTER FOR THE HOUSE,AS SINCE WE LIVE IN A CONDO,,WE WERE ONLY ABLE TO DO THE HALF OF THE CONDO,WHICH INCLUDES THE SINKS,,I HAD BROUGHT A WATER DISTILLER A FEWS YEARS AGO,SINCE NYC IS REALLY VERY DIRTY,WITH FILTER AND WATER DISTILLER,I KNOW NOW THAT THE WATER IS SAFE,WITH MY HEALTH BEING 75% BETTER,K’AH,MY FEET ARE BETTER,ALTHOUGH FOOD HAVE A PART OF HEALING,IT’S NOT ALL FOOD,I’D STOP USEING MY LEMON DISH DETERGENT AS IT HAS TRICLOSAN IN IT,GOOGLE WHAT IT DOES,AS OF NOW I HAVEN’T FOUND A DISH DETERGENT WITH A KOSHER THAT MEETS MY STANDARDS,SEVETH GENERATION HAS BLEACH IN IT,ANYTHING WITH BLEACH AFFECTS THE PANCREAS,EQUAL SUGAR PROBEMS,IT’S DOES NOT WASH COMPLETERLY FROM THE DISHES,SO WHEN WHEN YOU ADD FOOD,YOU ARE EATING IT
IT’S VITAL TO KNOW THE RAMBAM HOLDS FOR WATER TO BE FILTER,AS THIS INCREASES SENITIVELY IN YIDDISHKEIT,IF NOT THE WAY IT GOES,WE HAVE A PROBLEM HERE IN CROWN HEIGHTS,LACK OF KABBOLA OL AND YIRAI SHOMAYIM,AS THE RAMBAM SAYS FILTERING YOUR WATER BRINGS SENITIVE TO YIDDISHKEIT,AS YOU KNOW R. OSBADA SAYS YOU DO NOT NEED A FILTER,AS MANY SHOPS DO NOT HAVE FILTERING,IF THEY HAVE R.YOEL LEVY KOSHER SYMBOL,THEN THEY FILTER THERE WATER,THIS QUITE UPSETTING AS OUR LIVES DO DEPENDS ON HASHAM BLESSINGS,,AS FAR AS I KNOW BAIS RIVKAH AND O TORAH DO NOT HAVE FILTER THERE WATER
IF THE CHICKEN HAVE FILTER WATER,THEY WOULD BE STRONGER,THEREFORE HEALTHIER,AND LESS CHANCE OF US BECOMING SICK,WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST,SEREL CHANA MANESS
Citizen Berel
The Capslock button on your keyboard is a button what makes all the letters you type appear in capital letters and has nothing what to do with filtering waters.
Andrea Schonberger
All meats and chickens have to be chosen and handled carefully at home and farm. Try to avoid buying from those awful factory farms where conditions are not fit for ANY living being. I’ve never gotten sick from kosher meat/chicken so either I’ve been lucky, taken all precautions, or have bought wisely.
Reginald
If you kasher hundreds of chickens at a time in salty water you get bacteria. Let them go back to using real kosher salt and then retest the chickens. I’ll bet the bacteria will be way down
Milhouse
Salty water?! What are you talking about? How can you kasher with salty water?
Also, salt water kills most bacteria. What spreads salmonella is the hot water bath that treife chickens are washed in after slaughter. Kosher chickens are washed in cold water, so there’s no spread of salmonella from one bird to the whole production. Unfortunately that doesn’t help with listeria.
CR
M, you are mistaken. Soaking and salting does nothing to remove bacterial contamination. It has been documented in public health literature countless of times that raw meat and poultry, pretty much by definition, is loaded with pathogens. And the provenance of the meat makes no difference: kosher, treife, “organic”, etc.
Handle raw meats as sparingly as possible, clean all surfaces and utensils with hot soapy water afterward and cook meats thoroughly. Oh, and those kashered livers that have been “broiled” are still mostly raw!
Milhouse
CR, salt water kills bacteria. There are some bacteria that have adapted to salty conditions and can survive in salt water, but most will die.
CR
No, sir. That is entirely false. It is a matter of empirical fact that kosher meats and poultry are just as infected with bacteria as treife. Salt water has zero effect. Do the research in bacteriological and public health scientific literature and you will find this to be true.
Anyone relying on that assertion is doing themselves dangerous disservice!
Milhouse
CR, you are wrong. Empirical fact shows that levels of salmonella (which is a bacterium) are much lower in kosher birds than in treif. The main reason is not the salting but the absence of a hot water bath, which is the main vector by which salmonella spreads in treife chicken after slaughter. So your “empirical fact” is already wrong.
In addition, it is a fact that salt water kills bacteria. Not all of them, but enough to make a significant difference.
SEREL CHANA MANESS
REB BEREL,READ YOUR RAMBAM,BY THE WAY NOT ALL FILTER REALLY WORK,MANY BRING BACTERIA THE ONES THAT REALLY WORK ARE WITH UV FROM FLORIDA,THIS WAY YOU DO NOT NEED TO GIVE THE CHICKENS ANTI-BIOTIC,,THE MADKET PLACE DOES FILTER THERE WATER,THEY SAY THEY DO