Out of forty packs of chicken breast purchased at twenty retail outlets in Milan and Rome, as many as twenty-five — 63 per cent — tested positive for antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli bacteria. This is what emerged from an investigation carried out by the consumer association Altroconsumo, in collaboration with similar organisations in other European countries.

Antibiotic resistance

The alarm over antibiotic resistance in Italian farms had already been raised by Report last May; the programme hosted by Milena Gabanelli focused on the link between growing antibiotic resistance and intensive farming, highlighting how the excessive use of antibiotics has produced extremely resistant bacteria against which no drug has any effect. In Italy, 71 per cent of antibiotics sold are for animal use, and the country is the third European state to make the greatest use of them in farming.

What are the risks

Finding bacteria in meat is a common occurrence and they are usually not considered dangerous because they are eliminated by cooking. The concern is that these bacteria may nonetheless spread within the domestic environment and pose a danger to humans. According to Altroconsumo's findings, the bacteria would be resistant to antibiotics in the cephalosporin class, but not to carbapenems. Antibiotic resistance is in any case a public health problem of global proportions, affecting everyone, regardless of whether they consume chicken or not.

Why have bacteria become resistant to antibiotics

Bacteria are in constant evolution and can become resistant to antibiotics if they are in prolonged contact with the drug and if it is used excessively (this applies both on farms and to people who resort to such drugs even without a medical prescription). Once a bacterium has become antibiotic-resistant, it passes this characteristic on to other bacteria, giving rise to resistant strains that could spread across the entire globe (the bacterium passes from the animal to the person who has eaten it and, through that person, can travel further).

Why are so many antibiotics used on animals?

Because otherwise these animals would not be able to survive the (ever-shorter) time needed to grow and be slaughtered. Over the past eighty years, the growth of broilers — that is, meat chickens (there is a genetic distinction between meat chickens and laying hens) — has doubled thanks to genetic manipulation techniques. Whereas a chicken once lived for 15–20 years, today they are slaughtered on average at around six weeks of age, and their daily growth has increased by roughly 400 per cent. The genetics of chickens have therefore been altered to produce ever-greater quantities of meat and eggs; this sudden and unnatural growth prevents chickens from staying healthy or even surviving, which is why, in the 1940s, antibiotics began to be introduced into chicken feed to reduce the impact of diseases brought on by confinement and terrible living conditions. The "new chickens" created in intensive farming are characterised by muscles and fatty tissue that develop far more rapidly than bones, making them prone to fractures, deformities and disease. It becomes clear, then, why on these farms it is absolutely necessary to administer massive doses of drugs to the animals in order to allow them to survive for the required length of time.

The power of choice

According to the World Health Organisation, there is a risk of a global pandemic in which common infections that have been treatable for decades could once again become lethal. Countering this dangerous trajectory that the livestock industry has taken, with the support of the pharmaceutical industry, is possible and is up to each one of us, by giving up the consumption of animals raised in intensive farms.