The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has found the prevalence of Escherichia coli with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to be low in retail beef and pork. The findings are the result of surveillance of AMR in E. coli on retail meats, which has been conducted annually since 2015.
The surveillance study involved the sampling of 300 beef and pork products that were on sale in UK retail stores between October and December 2021. Samples were taken from 80 retail stores across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and the retail stores were strategically selected to represent a majority of the UK population. Typically, the annual testing and sampling of retail meats for AMR surveillance occurs in higher volumes over the course of a full year, but Brexit caused a delayed start in sampling and testing activities for 2021.