Some antibiotics with your vegetables?

Residues from animal antibiotics are cropping up not just in chicken, pork, beef, and other animal products, but also in vegetables, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Minnesota found that spreading the raw manure from animals treated with antibiotics on industrial vegetable plots can cause produce like corn, cabbage, and green onions to absorb those drugs.

Antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals are often mixed into animal feed to promote growth and prevent diseases that might result from animal crowding in filthy conditions. The animals don't use all the antibiotics, however, and substantial amounts are excreted in urine and feces and end up in manure. As a result, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, consumers may unknowingly be consuming antibiotics when they eat vegetables.

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The accumulation of antibiotics in the environment and in the food supply is encouraging antibiotic resistance, making it harder to treat animal and human diseases alike. Many of the antibiotics used in animals, including penicillin, tetracycline, and erythromycin, are very similar to those used for people, and the World Health Organization is concerned that indiscriminate use of the drugs in animal agriculture poses a significant health threat. Because of the importance of antimicrobials in human medicine, the European Union began phasing out all growth-promoting uses of antibiotics in animals in 1998. In January 2006, it banned all non-medicinal uses of antibiotics in animals.