Beating the bugs

You may have seen some of the coverage in today's news about an unusual form of the food poisoning bug E. coli that's appeared on a cattle farm in northern England and has been shown to be resistant to a particular family of antibiotics, which includes penicillin.  Quite a few papers referred to it as a ‘superbug’.  The term ‘superbug’ is generally used for bacteria that are resistant to a range of antibiotics, such as MRSA.  Resistance to antibiotics is important because it can make bacterial infections caused by these ‘superbugs’ more difficult to treat.  However, antibiotics aren't generally used to treat food poisoning caused by E. coli so this organism doesn't represent more of a risk to the public than other food poisoning E. coli strains.

There have been no human cases of infection with this particular strain, but it is an unusual finding as only two other incidences of this type of bug have been found before, both outside the UK.  We've been monitoring this issue closely with other Government departments and public health bodies.  We don't live in a sterile environment so can never expect that our food is completely free of bacteria. But there are measures in place throughout the farm-to-fork process to ensure that the level of harmful bugs in our food is as low as possible.  As with other strains of E. coli, our best defence as consumers is good food hygiene habits.  Proper cooking (and the pasteurisation process) destroys E. coli, whether the organisms are resistant to antibiotics or not. Have a look at out our eatwell website for tips on how to prepare and cook food safely.