Antibiotic-Free or Organic Poultry Half as Likely to Be Contaminated with Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella, New Research Finds

Meat from conventionally raised poultry was twice as likely to contain multidrug-resistant Salmonella as poultry labeled antibiotic-free or organic, according to a first-of-its-kind study being presented at IDWeek 2019.

A related study of a variety of meat purchased from randomly selected stores found nearly one-third of Salmonella in contaminated samples was resistant to three or more antibiotics and more than one in six were resistant to five or more antibiotics. Researchers also looked at data from people who had developed Salmonella infection and determined their antibiotic resistance rates were only slightly lower.