PARMA, Italy—The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) stated there is no evidence that eating or handling foods contaminated with meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may lead to an increased risk of humans becoming healthy carriers or infected with this bacterium. The panel also concluded that where MRSA prevalence in food-producing animals is high, people in contact with live animals, especially farmers, veterinarians and their families, are at greater risk than the general population.
In the case of food-producing animals, a specific type of MRSA, called CC398, has emerged and is most often carried without symptoms by intensively reared animals. The panel noted that this strain represents a small proportion of the overall cases of MRSA in the European Union. Various types of MRSA, including CC398, can be found in slaughterhouses and on raw meat, but the panel stated that, based on current data, the risk of infection for slaughterhouse workers and persons handling meat appears to be low.
