Pork in Asda and Sainsbury’s ‘contains deadly superbug MRSA’

Minced pork products in Asda and Sainsbury’s have been shown to contain a strain of the antibiotic-resistant ‘superbug’ MRSA in new tests.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism tested 97 British pork products - and found three which carried the potentially deadly bacteria.

MRSA CC398 is less deadly than the hospital superbug - but can cause persistent infections and has already implicated in six deaths in Denmark.

People could catch the bug via infected meat if it is not properly cooked, the Guardian said.

Earlier this year, superbugs were also found in supermarket chicken - with one in four bits of supermarket chicken were found with antibiotic resistant ‘superbug’ strains of E.coli.

In tests, 22 out of 92 chicken pieces bought at seven major supermarkets contained E.coli, which kills 5,500 people a year in England - and antibiotic-resistant strains are even more dangerous.

In Denmark, the bacteria infects two-thirds of pig farms and is thought to have infected 12,000 people.

Prof Tim Lang, of City University in London, said: ‘If we don’t have tight infection control and we don’t try to control the movement of live animals, infection can spread. The British are up in arms about the movement of people, but the EU also has a large movement of animals.

‘We need biosecurity, we need to tighten up this livestock movement. You may get cheap meat, but in the long term it’s going to add to your public health problems.’