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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Antibiotic-resistant germs cause more than 2 million illnesses a year. And more than 400,00 people became sick from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant, foodborne bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “When you look at all of the antibiotics that are prescribed in the U.S., about 70 percent of those actually go to animals and not to humans,” says Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic. “The issue of antibiotics in food is a big part of what we need to tackle to help slow down the development of antibiotic resistance.”
Watch: Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse discusses antibiotics in the food supply.
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“The reason that’s a concern is because, when you feed food animals antibiotics, those antibiotics eventually end up in the food supply, end up being ingested by humans or people, and that can contribute to the problems we’re seeing related to antibiotic resistance,” Dr. Rajapakse says.
Approximately 1 in 5 antibiotic-resistant infections are caused by germs from food and animals, the CDC says.
Dr. Rajapakse says consumers have the power: “When you go to the grocery store and you’re buying meat products, you can look often on the labeling. It will tell if that animal may have received antibiotics or not, so you can use that as a way to inform yourself about what you are feeding yourself and to your family.”