Re: Does deep frying kill the antibiotic-resistant bacteria on meat products?

Feeding low levels of antibiotics to meat animals is a very contentious issue, with one side claiming it is 100% safe and the other side claiming that doing so jeopardizes our ability to control pathogens.

In my reading, it seems that some incidence of increased resistance (but not total resistance) to antibiotics is occurring, but not at the level that would cause widespread epidemics of food borne illness.

That being said, the only way to insure that food borne illnesses are avoided, whether the pathogens are antibiotic resistant or not, is to handle the foodstuffs properly before, during, and after cooking.

In regards to your question, meat does not necessarily need to be fried to kill pathogens. Provided that the meat is heated quickly enough and heated to the correct temperature, bacteria will not survive. This can be accomplished by any normal cooking method. The USDA website has a vast amount of information regarding proper handling of foods as well as guidelines for cooking to ensure that pathogens are killed.

As a tangent, it is important to remember that toxins produced by pathogens may not be neutralized by cooking even though the bacteria were. This makes proper handling of foodstuffs prior to cooking just as important as cooking to the correct temperature.

For more information, see: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/Doneness_Versus_Safety/index.asp

I hope this answers your questions.

Forrest