MEAT PRODUCTS-THE ANTIBIOTIC USE REALLY HURTS THE CONSUMER?

Use of antibiotics in raising food yielding animals is a subject courting intense controversy and no one knows the real situation at the ground level. Two important arguments one hears against wide scale use of a number of antibiotics by the animal food industry are that it makes many pathogens that cause disease in humans become more resistant to use of antibiotics when used against diseases and more than 80% of the US production of antibiotics goes for incorporation in animal feed stock. Both the above claims are sought to be debunked by a report which recently appeared in the media which makes some sense. Here is a take on this critique on antibiotics and animal food industry.  

From what I have been reading lately, it appears to me that the next big fight over agriculture's ability to provide consumers with plentiful, safe and affordable meat and poultry products will focus on the use of antibiotics in animals raised for food. And it also appears to me that the information being provided through media outlets is not designed to inform, but to misinform and play on the public's lack of detailed knowledge about the use of antibiotics in animals raised for food. And it also appears to me that the main thrust of the attack will be eliminating the use of antibiotics needed to maintain healthy animals in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs. Eliminating antibiotics to control or prevent infections in our herds and flocks will eliminate many CAFOs and drive up the cost of protein to the point where many will have to look elsewhere for this portion of their diets. And many opponents of the use of antibiotics in animals say: "And that would be a good thing." So is the agenda to protect me from multi drug resistant bacteria or is it to reduce the amount of animal products we consume? To try and answer that question I want to supply the readers with some facts, facts that I will provide links for and can be repeated time after time as the truth, if anyone cares to listen to you. First of all, a statistic often repeated by the crowd calling for change is that 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used in animals. The 80 percent number is meant to be a distraction from the real truth. In truth, the numbers posted on the FDA's website, titled 2010  SUMMARY REPORT on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals, are in total kilograms of drugs sold. The listing is not indicative of what the antibiotics were used for, nor is it an accurate reflection of illnesses treated vs. prevented, etc.
For instance, a 2,500 pound prize bull with pneumonia is going to be treated with a much larger dosage of an antibiotic than an 8 pound newborn with the same bacterial infection. But the numbers are the best we have for animal antibiotic use, so I will be using them today. For human use of antibiotics, the same caveat about weight applies. The antibiotic numbers sold for human use that I will use for this discussion come from a letter to Congresswoman Slaughter from the FDA dated April 19, 2011, citing the IMS Health, IMS National Sales Perspectives data Year 2009.
According to the FDA report, 28 percent of all antibiotics sold for animal use in 2010 were Ionophores.  Ionophores have never been approved for use in human medicine. Several other drugs sold for use in animals are also not approved for use in human medicine. When they are combined with the Ionophore total, the percentage of antibiotics sold for use in animals but having no place in human disease treatment reaches 45 percent.
The largest class overall of antibiotics sold or distributed for use in animals in 2010 was the tetracycline class.  This class accounted for nearly 42 percent of total sales. Tetracycline use in human medicine comprises about 1 percent of the total amount sold based on weight. Tetracycline used to be widely prescribed, but is now limited in use to treating the sexually transmitted disease caused by Chlamydia, Mycoplasma infections and Rickettsial diseases like Lyme and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. For these illnesses, there are antibiotics far superior to tetracycline. These other antibiotics, generally in the class called Macrolides, are the first line of therapy.

The above report raises serious questions regarding the role and credibility of scientists, the USFDA, the USDA and others involved in educating consumers regarding the truth vis-a-vis antibiotics use by animal food industry. If logic is the guiding factor the contention by the author of above critique sounds more convincing than the off-the-cuff opinions and views of critics who deride the practice of antibiotics use by the animal food industry. Another issue is that antibiotics in feed increases the yield of meat which is a desirable practice and no one should have quarrel on that unless it is proved unhealthy to the humans. Now that this controversy has been raked up there is a need for scientific clarity and make a revisit of the issue by those in power controlling the destiny of the food industry through their executive authority. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
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SAFE FOOD AND WATER FOR HAJ PILGRIMS-SAUDI ARABIA'S UNIQUE FEAT!

Saudi Arabia is a country known for its strict law enforcement in all areas of day today life and food is no exception. Generally such regulations are not strictly followed when large populations converge in a place and whose food and housing needs are to be met because of big strain on the enforcement personnel. But Saudi Arabia seems to be firm in their resolve to uphold the country's food regulations in letter and spirit. More than 13 million pilgrims make their annual visit to the holy city of Makkah every year during Haj season in November and one can imagine the strain on the resources of the local municipality which already has about 1.7 million population, in providing the required facilities for stay and every day food. It is a tribute to the country that it is unrelenting in its resolve to meet its obligations and the stringent steps being taken to ensure safety of foods are indeed laudatory.

Makkah Municipality has obliged all restaurants to install cameras in their kitchens and place large screens in obvious places so customers and municipal inspectors can see clearly how food is prepared. "We want to make sure that food served to customers, both citizens and foreigners, is healthy and prepared in a clean manner. We also want to be able to see the workers and check they themselves are clean," Mayor Dr Osama Al Bar told Gulf News on Thursday. He said the move was in line with the instructions of the Ministry of Rural and Municipal Affairs which is concerned about improving health standards in the region. The Mayor also pointed out that, under ministerial instructions, every restaurant is required to install a glass partition separating the dining area from the kitchen so that customers are able to see exactly how food is prepared. "These measures enable our supervisors to check what kind of food is being served to customers and how it's being prepared," Dr Al Bar said.He warned all violators would be subject to harsh punishments including closure of the restaurants.Meanwhile, an official source at the Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques has dismissed reports the holy Zamzam water might not be clean."These reports are false. The water is clean and healthy. People should not have any worries," he said. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source added that the distribution of the holy water is being monitored round-the-clock to make sure it is fit for human use. "The presidency gives maximum care to the process of pumping and the distribution of Zamzam water. Random samples are being checked around-the-clock," he said. The blessed water is pumped out of the historic well via stainless steel pipes and filtered using ultra-violet technology. It's then transported to cooling stations before being distributed.The source asked all users to make sure their Zamzam water was hygienically stored.

Probably many pilgrim centers in India must take a leaf out of the example set by Makkah Municipality and invest some of their earnings in strengthening the infrastructure that supports the influx of pilgrims. The use of modern monitoring technology using close circuit television system and forcing the eateries to expose their kitchens to the customers are considered revolutionary. It is a pity that in almost all pilgrim centers in India, food and water pose the greatest danger because of the attitude of both the management authorities concerned as well as the caterers who seem to be more obsessed with making a quick buck exploiting the helplessness of the customers. Sooner this issue is addressed better it will be for millions of devotees who seek solace and comfort from hundreds of deities in different parts of the country.

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ETERNAL "DOUBTERS"-WHAT IS REALLY A SAFE FOOD ANYWAY?

Human beings, being endowed with "intelligence", have the luxury of thinking differently from one another and this probably makes the life on this planet exciting. Opinions, suggestions, criticisms, comments, critiques, debates, discussions etc can bring out divergent views on a single subject and what is truth is supposed to prevail at the end. But being argumentative without a rationale or logic can be self defeating and one cannot avoid such divergent views amongst a world population of almost 7 billion. Here is a typical example of a criticism not based on any science about a food ingredient, made from a herb, consumed for centuries with no known ill effect being questioned about its credentials which cannot stand scientific scrutiny.

"That said, Truvia is not stevia. Stevia looks like what it is — a plant, an herb. It's green, and can be purchased in a dried, powdered form. Some companies make extracts of stevia in a liquid form — something you could do, too, with a little bourbon or vodka on your side. Either way, this is something you can grow and make in your own kitchen. But what about Truvia? Truvia looks like table sugar. It's crystallized sweetness. Can you make Truvia in your kitchen? Of course not! Despite attempts to get straight answers from the folks at Cargill and Coca-Cola who manufacture Truvia, all we know about it is that it's made first by steeping the stevia leaves in boiling water. But how it goes from being "stevia tea" and gets converted into a crystallized ingredient called rebiana is a mystery of the food industry. Surely there's some kind of processing involved, no?

If the convoluted argument put forward by the above critic is taken to its logical conclusion, most of the foods consumed to day, may not pass the test for safety! Is it possible for mankind to go back to stone age and follow the life style of humans living at that time of history? The word "processing" is not a dirty word as implied by the above critic but a necessity in the modern age to conserve food and prevent starvation all around. Just because the active principle in Stevia leaves is extracted, decolorized, concentrated and made into a dry product does not disqualify it from being used as a sweetener. Sugar would not have been available to day if this logic is accepted and probably one would be left with no choice but use the sugarcane juice for sweetening coffee, tea and other beverages. Imagine every family growing sugarcane in its backyard for daily use!

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com