How many times have you heard that the meat you eat now is loaded with antibiotics? And that the steaks are left to nothing when they are passed through the pan because the animal has been loaded with antibiotics and hormones to make it grow faster? Sure many, many times. But what is true in these claims? We will tell you.
To begin with, as the food technologist Beatriz Robles points out in her book Eat Safe Eating Everything (Planet), the use of hormones and other substances that promote growth began to be prohibited in the European Union in 1981 . Subsequently, the rules in this regard were toughened. And since 2006 antibiotics cannot be used to make animals fat . “Of course there are authorized veterinary drugs that can be used if the animal is sick or as reproductive therapy, but maximum residue limits and waiting periods are set for all of them (time that must pass from administration to slaughter), so that it is guaranteed that they do not reach the food chain, ”says Robles. Come on, there is a set time in which the animal eliminates antibiotics from its body, just as it happens to us when we have to take them.
And this time of “detoxification” of the antibiotic is fulfilled? The answer is yes. Gemma del Caño, food safety specialist, makes it clear in We no longer eat like we used to, and thank goodness! (Paidos). “The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) collects random samples every year from different farms to make sure that this so-called antibiotic rearing is not carried out. In the last report (2018), 99.8% of the samples analyzed were correct . And thank goodness, since, if the meat contained antibiotics, people allergic to them would not be able to consume it. And the truth is that they do it with all the tranquility of the world ”.
A different thing is if antibiotics are used well or badly, that is, if due to the misuse of these drugs we are generating super resistant bacteria. And that is a problem since if we follow that path, antibiotics will no longer be an effective weapon to fight bacteria.
In the same way that there are people who are sent antibiotics and at their own risk they stop taking them “because I feel fine” when they have been ordered to finish the box or they are directly prescribed them to cure a flu or preventively ” because I start to feel bad ”, there are farmers who do or did the same with their animals. And, again, that is a problem and of the fat ones.
When a sick animal can infect the rest. With the idea of avoiding this situation and having a pandemic on the farm, some farmers gave antibiotics to the animals in a preventive way without them being sick . “The problem is that this prevention has caused the bacteria that are in their environment to generate resistance, and this bad practice has led to the effectiveness of the antibiotics being lower. If we give antibiotics when it is not strictly necessary, the bacteria learn and put on ‘armor’ so they cannot attack them. We call these armor resistances, although we really should be talking about ‘resistant bacteria’. Fortunately, this is being corrected with large state plans that regulate the use and administration of these drugs that, for years, we have taken at our discretion and without measure, ”explains Del Caño.
As for the use of hormones in the meat that later goes to your plate, it is true that they were used in the past to fatten animals , but since it was not clear if they could be harmful to humans, they were prohibited. Gemma del Caño points out in her book that nowadays they can be used for therapeutic purposes and under strict veterinary control, also complying with the safety times from when they are administered until slaughter occurs. He cites the 2018 EFSA report, in which 99.9% of the samples taken were in compliance with the regulations.
Something to keep in mind about the hormones in meat is that, even the one classified as organic, has those hormones that the animal has naturally produced . But, according to the expert, they do not pose a health hazard.
Regarding the fact that chickens today are larger than those of before, Del Caño explains that this is because faster-growing species are selected. And regarding the size of the eggs, he clarifies that the largest ones are from older hens and the smaller ones from younger hens. There are no hormones that are worth it.
