Antibiotics in meat production a 'serious health threat'

The heavy use of antibiotics in meat and poultry is one of the nation's most serious health threats, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week. The report highlights the drug-resistant superbugs that are now prevalent in the meat supply, following a decade of skyrocketing use of antibiotics on livestock. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, so much antibiotic is used that in 2011 73 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. went into producing meat. The CDC says that conservatively more than two million people get sick due to drug-resistant bacteria every year, and more than 23,000 people die. "Antibiotics must be used judiciously in humans and animals because both uses contribute to not only the emergence, but also the persistence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria," the report says

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