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The Consumer Council on Thursday released a report on the real and present danger posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and viruses in chicken meat for human consumption here in Hong Kong. The council examined 100 samples of chicken parts from both local and overseas suppliers and found antibiotic-resistant microbes in more than 60 percent of them. That is a very alarming fact considering the popularity of chicken meat in this city.

A by-effect of modern farming, reckless use of antibiotics on domestic animals for human consumption has grabbed public attention and raised widespread concern in many developed countries such as the US and Britain in recent years. As a result, many studies have been done to find out how damaging antibiotic-resistant microbes in animal meats can be to human health. Although there is no definitive conclusion just yet, scientists tend to agree ingesting animal meat carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria may adversely affect the consumer. In light of this reality the Consumer Council suggests tighter regulation is needed on the use of antibiotics in the local poultry farming industry.

Chicken meat is the top source of animal protein here in Hong Kong because it is the most affordable and versatile of all meats on the market. And live chickens are particularly popular because of the Chinese culinary tradition. People believe fresh chicken tastes much better than the frozen varieties and therefore are not always alarmed when they see traces of blood in their chicken dishes if they know it is fresh chicken. Apparently that is one way for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and any other potentially harmful microbes to get into our systems.

Granted, drug resistance is a growing challenge for modern medicine in animals as well as humans, and antibiotic resistance is arguably the most acute of them all right now. Leading pharmaceutical companies and bio-labs around the world are racing against time to develop new antibiotics, hoping to kick emerging drug-resistant microbes to the curb, but time is not on our side. That is why scientists believe vaccination is a much better way to defeat drug resistance, but vaccines take a lot of time to develop, too.

For daily prevention, however, we can begin by thoroughly cooking all the meat we eat. Temperatures above 100 C can kill most if not all microbes found in our daily foods.

Many people may have already learned by now it is a bad idea to use antibiotics freely but may not be aware the same theory applies to animals as well, which is why antibiotics usage should be strictly controlled one way or another.

(HK Edition 12/16/2016 page1)