The American Meat Institute (AMI) and the American Meat Science Association (AMSA) have released a series of five new Meat MythCrusher videos each addressing common myths surrounding antibiotic use in livestock and poultry production and antibiotic resistance.

The videos feature experts such as Randy Singer, DVM, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota; Keith Belk, Ph.D., professor at Colorado State University and Keith Underwood, Ph.D., assistant professor at South Dakota State University.

“It is unusual for us to devote so many Meat MythCrusher videos to one topic,” said Janet Riley AMI Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Member Services. “But antibiotic use and resistance is such a complex issue with and so much confusion exists.  We felt it was important to address the myths in a series with several different leading experts.”

Myths discussed in the latest videos include: “80 Percent of Antibiotics are Used in Animals,” “Antibiotics are Used in Animal Agriculture to Cover Up for Unsanitary Conditions,” “Antibiotics are Primarily Used for Growth Promotion,” “Animal Agriculture is the Biggest Contributor to Antibiotic Resistance” and “Denmark has Eliminated Antibiotic Resistance by Banning Use of Antibiotics for Growth Promotion.”

In addition to the videos, AMI offers several other resources on antibiotic use including a brochure on the facts about antibiotics in livestock and poultry production and a Media MythCrusher document addressing many of the common myths incorrectly shared in the media.

Five Years of MythCrushing
The new series of videos kicks off the fifth year of the Meat MythCrusher partnership between AMI and AMSA. The series seeks to bust some of the most common myths surrounding meat and poultry production, processing, safety and nutrition. Altogether there are now videos addressing more than 40 different meat myths with several more to come over the next few months. The videos have been viewed more than 80,000 times.

“The Meat MythCrusher program has been a valued resource to help address questions confusion about how meat and poultry products are produced today,” said Riley. “The willingness of AMSA’s meat science experts to participate, as well as the social media response on our Facebook page, has kept the program strong and allowed us to cover a wide range of important topics.”

Other video topics include myths surrounding meat and poultry nutrition, “Superbugs” in meat, Meatless Monday, hormone use in animals, ammonia in ground beef, grass-fed beef and more.

All of the videos and more are available at http://www.meatmythcrushers.com/

Source: AMI