The latest investigation into the sources of meat used in 3 famous global restaurants and their branches bearing the same name worldwide showed that they use meat from American farms, from cows that received antibiotics linked to the spread of dangerous germs.

Meat with bacteria that do not die

According to the British newspaper "The Guardian", many American livestock breeders routinely use antibiotics for several consecutive months.

Unpublished U.S. government records obtained by the Investigative Reporting Office and The Guardian show that farms producing beef for the meatpacking companies Cargill, JBS, and Green Bay risk public health by continuing to use antibiotics classified as critically important for human health.

Strangely, the World Health Organization had warned that such drugs are essential for human medicine to the extent that their use in livestock farming should be stopped; these substances are often the last line or one of the limited treatments available for serious bacterial infections in humans.

Warnings from a famous burger restaurant in Egypt

It is known that the spread of drug-resistant bacteria in the environment represents a major challenge to public health, and the spread of drug-resistant bacteria in the environment poses a significant public health challenge.

Livestock farms that sold to JBS, which sold beef to a famous chain of stores, including a famous burger restaurant in Egypt, the United States, and more than 70 countries worldwide, were found.

Overuse of these antibiotics means they can become less effective in humans, and these findings sparked controversy and condemnation from public health experts and activists.

For his part, Cory Booker, a US senator who called for stricter controls on antibiotic use in food production, said: "The growing overuse of medically important antibiotics in factory farms is a key factor in this deadly public health threat to humans."

Risks of antibiotics for livestock

He continued: “Giant agricultural companies have created a system that relies on the misuse of antibiotics to increase their profits, without regard to the serious harm they cause,” especially since there is no ban on the use of antibiotics for treatment or disease prevention, although farmers need a veterinary prescription for many medically important antibiotics that were previously available without a prescription and added to water and feed.

Although there is a ban in the United States on using antibiotics to promote livestock growth, which has been in effect since 2017, many livestock breeders in the US still routinely use antibiotics for several consecutive months.

Also, their use and overuse may enable bacteria to develop resistance, meaning drugs stop working, and antibiotic resistance is considered one of the most serious threats to global public health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is responsible for more than 35,000 deaths in the United States each year, and 1.3 million deaths worldwide.

Despite the risks, residues of many HP-CIAs and other antibiotics were present in many beef supply chains in the United States between 2017 and 2022, tested by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Analysis by the office and The Guardian of data related to 10 of the largest meatpacking companies revealed that all had at least one HP-CIA used in one or more farms, with many up to seven separate HP-CIAs found in use.