Organisms Commons^™

Bacterial Abundance And Resistance In Ground Beef Varieties, Savannah Kumar, Sarah M. Boomer

PURE Insights

Raw ground beef purchased at supermarkets across America have one thing in common: they harbor bacteria, some of which are drug resistant and can be detrimental to public health. To understand the impact of farming and processing practices on the quantity of bacteria and drug resistance, organic and regular beef were assessed using MacConkey media. Bacterial colonies were sorted according to lactose utilization, with positive colonies representing fecal E. coli. Lactose negative colonies were further characterized into one of two groups (fecal Hafnia-like or soil Pseudomonas) using a variety of metabolic tests (oxidase, sulfur, indole). Advanced metabolic testing showed that …