Antibiotics in chicken - nutritional recommendation

Question

Dear editors,
one reads again and again in the press that chicken (and also turkey) are filled up with antibiotics. As we as CF patients are indeed dependent on antibiotics in a special way, the following question comes to my mind: are CF patients allowed to eat chicken etc. at all, as they certainly evoke massive resistances in humans/ in us?
Many greetings,
T.

Answer

Dear T.,
the usage of antibiotics in poultry keeping is for sure not unproblematic, as on the one hand meat of the treated animals can still contain residues of antibiotics at the time of consumption and on the other hand it can lead to selection of resistant germs directly in the animals. Similar to humans, animals for fattening are colonized with bacteria, especially in the gut, that can develop resistances under the influence of antibiotics. These germs can then occur in the food chain. Thus, especially methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and Escherichia coli (ESBL-producing) as more resistant germ variants have been detected in poultry meat. In general, this represents is at first no danger for humans, as all germs are killed, if the meat has been cook sufficiently before consumption. In preparing poultry meat, however, there has to be paid attention that no other non-heated food (e.g. salad) is contaminated secondarily with germs (consider kitchen hygiene!). In case of consumption of meat burdened with residues of antibiotics the concentrations of incorporated antibiotics are hardly sufficient to induce a relevant selection of antibiotic-resistances at the human bacterial flora.
Therefore, there is no need in my opinion to discourage especially CF-patients from the consumption of (sufficiently cooked) poultry meat.
Detailed, also generally understandable information on the meaning and consequences of the usage of antiobitotics in animal fattening for humans can be found i.a. at the German federal agency for consumer protection and food safety, the German federal institue for risk assessment and the Robert-Koch institute.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Hogardt

18.11.2013