Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Food Safety,Our Blog on June 23, 2026
A recent study analyzed FDA sampling data for bacterial contamination in meat. What they discovered was shocking!
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 48 million people get sick from foodborne illnesses in the United States each year. An unfortunate 128,000 are hospitalized for those illnesses and 3,000 people die. Considering that bacterial contamination in meat has been a major contributor to these statistics, researchers wanted to better understand these statistics.
Over a third of US retail meat samples tested positive for at least one harmful pathogen. Nearly 25% of those were multidrug resistant.
What kinds of bacterial contamination in meat did they find? Which states had the most contaminated meat? What can you do to reduce your risk?
Let’s dive in!
The study on bacterial contamination in meat was performed by TraceOne, a company that designs regulatory compliance software for the food and beverage industry. This company analyzed data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) collected from people, retail meat samples, and animals at slaughter. The data set covered sample information from 2019 through 2021.
Data from samples of ground beef, ground turkey, chicken, and pork chops were analyzed.
Unexpectedly, this data indicated that 36% of meat samples contained at least one pathogen. Nearly one in four (22.8%) of those bacterial samples were resistant to multiple drugs. Meaning, infections with these bacteria will be harder to treat because traditional antibiotics will not work on them.
So, what is the breakdown?
Unsurprisingly, chicken samples contained the highest rates of Salmonella (17.9%) and Campylobacter (17.1%).
The award for most E. coli goes to ground turkey, with a rate of 67.2%. Ground turkey also contained its fair share of Salmonella (11.4%)
For multidrug-resistance, Ground turkey took first place, with 29.7% of samples being resistant to at least two medications.
While chicken meat did not top the charts for overall multidrug resistance, it came close with 25.6%. It did rank highest for multidrug-resistant Salmonella bacteria though. With 39.1% being resistant.
That statistic likely pushed multidrug-resistant Salmonella to the top of the list, giving it the highest overall resistance rate of 35.5%. E. coli, Enterococcus, and Campylobacter multidrug-resistant bacteria trailed with 26.0%, 15.3%, and 13.6%, respectively.
In addition to types of bacteria and rates of resistant bacteria observed, TraceOne data also took a look at the states these samples were taken from.
So which states ranked highest for overall contamination risk?
According to TraceOne data analysis, these included:
This is a list you don’t really want to be on.
How did your state fare?
You may be wondering, how exactly does meat become contaminated. They “why” and “how” can better shape prevention techniques. Or so it would seem.
Unfortunately, much like other foods, meat can become contaminated at just about any time during the supply chain.
According to the research report, sanitation at slaughter and processing is a common source.
“Meat can become contaminated with these bacteria at several points during the production process – most often during slaughter, handling, or packaging.”
Fecal contamination is the primary culprit.
“Bacteria from the animal’s intestinal tract can spread to the meat surface if sanitation procedures are not strictly followed.”
Additionally, contact with “unclean equipment, workers’ hands, or water used in processing facilities” can contribute to these bacterial contamination problems.
While some aspects of bacterial contamination in meat are entirely out of your control, there are still some things that you can do to reduce your risk of foodborne illness.
Things like, refrigerating your meat as quickly as possible. Cooking meat to a safe minimum internal temperature. Paying attention to excursions into the “danger zone.”
It is safe to assume that a good bit of the meat you buy from the grocery store contains some kind of bacterial contamination. Don’t let those germs get out of control.
Shop for meat and other cold items last in the grocery store. If you have one, place these items in an insulated bag to keep them cool when you get to the car.
Go home right away and place your meat directly into the refrigerator or freezer. Maintaining refrigerated temperatures will help reduce bacterial growth already present in your meat.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a handy table explaining the safe minimum internal temperature meat and other foods should reach. This temperature keeps in mind the make-up of the meat, the potential bacterial risks, and the temperature needed to kill lurking germs that can cause foodborne illness.
For whole meats like beef, pork, lamb, veal, chops, and roast, this temperature is 145 °F. Ground meat (except poultry) should reach 160 °F. All poultry (including ground poultry) needs to reach 160 °F.
Be sure to use a food thermometer (instant read is best) inserted into the thickest part of the meat.
It is also important to keep an eye on the “danger zone.” Even in cooked food.
The danger zone is the temperature range between 40 °F and 140 °F.
In this temperature range, bacteria can grow rapidly. The USDA explains that “between 40 °F and 140 °F, [bacteria begin] doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes.”
The rule of thumb is to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.
Keep hot foods hot by placing them in chafing dishes, steam tables, slow cookers, or on warming trays. Conversely, cold food should be kept cold by placing food in containers on ice or leaving it in the refrigerator until right before serving.
Food held in the danger zone for more than two hours should be discarded. That period drops to one hour if the ambient temperature is above 90 °F.
Did this information shock you, or was it about what you expected? Is your state at the top of the list?
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “Study Uncovers Surprising Rates of Bacteria Contamination in Meat! Which States Had the Worst Statistics?,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe, while The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)