Many news sources are reporting on a new study regarding levels of Staphylococcus in meat: (e.g., see Bacteria seen in nearly half of U.S. meat – CNN.com, Study Warns of Tainted Meat, and Almost half of meat in stores may have drug-resistant bacteria). The study, by Lance Price, Paul Keim, and colleagues from TGen reports that not only is their a lot of Staphylococcus in the meat and poultry but much of it is antibiotic resistant. The study was published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. It raises some interesting questions about meat and poultry safety but also to me points to how little we know about the distribution patterns of microbes in food, building, soil, etc.