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Researchers in Minnesota have patented a newly discovered, naturally occurring peptide produced by a harmless bacteria that could be added to food as a potent weapon against deadly foodborne bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria. According to scientists, the lantibiotic they discovered is the first natural preservative that destroys so-called “gram-negative” bacteria, typically the harmful kind. The substance could protect many foods – meats, processed cheeses, egg and dairy products, canned foods, seafood, salad dressing, fermented beverages, etc. – from a broad range of disease-causing microbes. Lantibiotics are easy to digest, nontoxic, and nonallergenic. And dangerous bacteria have a hard time developing a resistance to them.
"Researchers Discover Natural Food Preservative That Kills Food-Borne Bacteria", Press release, University of Minnesota, August 04, 2011
A U.S. study has found that poultry farms that switched to organic production methods and stopped using antibiotics had significantly lower levels of drug-resistant enterococci bacteria. The researchers said removing antibiotics from large-scale U.S. poultry farms can result in immediate and significant reductions in antibiotic resistance for some bacteria. The study focused on ten conventional and ten newly organic large-scale poultry houses in the mid-Atlantic region, testing for the presence of enterococci bacteria in poultry litter, feed, and water, and testing its resistance to 17 common antimicrobials. All of the farms tested positive for enterococci. Sixty-seven percent of the bacteria recovered from conventional poultry farms were resistant to erythromycin, but only 18 percent from the organic farms.
"Lower Prevalence of Antibiotic-resistant Enterococci On U.S. Conventional Poultry Farms That Transitioned to Organic Practices", Environmental Health Perspectives, January 01, 1996
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Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, July 31, 2011
Archives of Internal Medicine, July 25, 2011
Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, July 12, 2011
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