ATLANTA (AP) — A new report estimates that half the meat and
poultry sold in the supermarket may be tainted with the staph
germ. That estimate is based on 136 samples of beef, chicken,
pork and turkey purchased from grocery stores in Chicago, Los
Angeles, Washington, D.C., Flagstaff, Ariz. and Fort Lauderdale,
Fla. Researchers found more than half contained Staphylococcus
aureus, a bacteria that can make people sick. Worse, half of
those contaminated samples had a form of the bacteria resistant
to at least three kinds of antibiotics. Proper cooking should
kill the germs. But the report suggests that consumers should be
careful to wash their hands and take other steps not to spread
bacteria during food preparation. The nonprofit Translational
Genomics Research Institute in Arizona did the work. © Copyright
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