While most scientists agree that the practice of injecting livestock with antibiotics creates no risks to children who eat meat, there are concerns that the level of antibiotics used can lead to a public health threat.

Livestock is commonly injected with antibiotics to treat and prevent illnesses. The practice goes much further though. Farmers also use the antibiotics to fatten up livestock. Critics say that this overuse of antibiotics in livestock is creating antibiotic resistant bacteria in consumers. These strains of resistant bacterium are dangerous in that they can prevent illnesses from being cured. If the public at large is carrying antibiotic resistant bacteria and  if there were to be an outbreak of an illness that cannot be treated with antibiotics due to the resistant bacteria, there could be an epidemic.

Though your child will not become ill from consuming meat that contains antibiotics, this is something to think about. If you wish to curb the amount of antibiotic laden meat that your child and your family ingest the only way to do it is to buy meats that are labelled “organic” and/or “antibiotic free”.