section_path: Health effects/Bacterial contamination
section_name: Bacterial contamination
paragraph_text: Bacterial contamination
  
  Bacterial contamination has been seen with meat products. A 2011 study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute showed that nearly half (47%) of the meat and poultry in U.S. grocery stores were contaminated with S. aureus, with more than half (52%) of those bacteria resistant to antibiotics. A 2018 investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Guardian found that around 15 percent of the US population suffers from foodborne illnesses every year. The investigation highlighted unsanitary conditions in US-based meat plants, which included meat products covered in excrement and abscesses "filled with pus".
  
  Complete cooking and the careful avoidance of recontamination reduce the risk of bacterial infections from meat.