ATLANTA (AP) -- April 15, 2011 -

A new report estimates that half the meat and poultry sold in the supermarket may be tainted with the staph germ.

That estimate is based on 136 samples of beef, chicken, pork and
turkey purchased from grocery stores in Chicago, Los Angeles,
Washington, D.C., Flagstaff, Ariz. and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Researchers found more than half contained Staphylococcus
aureus, a bacteria that can make people sick. Worse, half of those
contaminated samples had a form of the bacteria resistant to at
least three kinds of antibiotics.

Proper cooking should kill the germs. But the report suggests
that consumers should be careful to wash their hands and take other
steps not to spread bacteria during food preparation.

The nonprofit Translational Genomics Research Institute in
Arizona did the work.