Many Americans assume the meat they buy at the grocery store is safe—but new data shows that approximately 36% of retail meat samples nationwide are contaminated with potentially harmful bacteria. And with the FDA and USDA facing major budget cuts, efforts to monitor pathogens, investigate outbreaks, and enforce safety standards could be weakened.
A new report from Trace One ranks states by their relative retail meat contamination risk, using the latest data from the FDA’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). It also analyzes contamination trends by meat type, and highlights antibiotic resistance patterns.
Because the analysis focuses only on meat-pathogen combinations consistently tested across all participating states, the contamination rates below reflect a standardized subset of retail meat samples from the NARMS program. Researchers used these to calculate a composite retail meat risk index for each state, with higher scores indicating greater contamination risk.
Retail Meat Contamination Rates in South Carolina
- Chicken is Most Contaminated Meat in South Carolina: 27.8% of retail chicken samples tested positive for Salmonella or Campylobacter in South Carolina, as did 15.8% of ground turkey.
- Beef and Pork Contamination Rates: Ground beef tested positive for Salmonella in 0.5% of samples, and 4.8% of pork chops.
- South Carolina Sees 2nd Highest Relative Risk: Based on these contamination rates, South Carolina receives a composite score of 67.85—the 2nd highest retail meat contamination risk relative to all states in the analysis.
Food Safety Risks: U.S. States With the Highest Bacterial Contamination in Retail Meat
| 1 | Georgia | 69.05 | 29.8% | 13.3% | 2.9% | 1.4% |
| 2 | South Carolina | 67.85 | 27.8% | 15.8% | 4.8% | 0.5% |
| 3 | Tennessee | 66.65 | 25.7% | 12.7% | 6.6% | 1.0% |
| 4 | Minnesota | 63.10 | 22.4% | 11.7% | 10.5% | 1.0% |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 58.35 | 29.4% | 10.4% | 2.2% | 1.2% |
| 6 | Missouri | 55.95 | 17.4% | 7.9% | 6.7% | 3.8% |
| 7 | North Carolina | 54.78 | 27.8% | 14.2% | 2.6% | 0.4% |
| 8 | Ohio | 54.78 | 10.1% | 8.0% | 6.9% | 4.1% |
| 9 | New York | 54.75 | 24.4% | 18.4% | 5.0% | 0.0% |
| 10 | Texas | 52.38 | 24.6% | 10.7% | 0.5% | 2.1% |
| 11 | California | 51.18 | 31.4% | 6.5% | 4.8% | 0.6% |
| 12 | South Dakota | 50.00 | 12.9% | 7.5% | 8.1% | 1.6% |
| 13 | Oregon | 50.00 | 16.3% | 11.9% | 1.9% | 2.1% |
| 14 | Maryland | 47.63 | 23.3% | 14.9% | 3.8% | 0.0% |
| 15 | Kansas | 47.63 | 17.6% | 9.5% | 3.0% | 1.5% |
| 16 | Iowa | 46.43 | 22.0% | 9.5% | 6.8% | 0.4% |
| 17 | Colorado | 44.05 | 27.2% | 10.0% | 1.9% | 0.4% |
| 18 | Connecticut | 41.68 | 9.4% | 22.3% | 5.0% | 0.0% |
| 19 | New Mexico | 39.28 | 24.5% | 9.0% | 1.1% | 1.1% |
| 20 | Hawaii | 29.78 | 20.7% | 4.4% | 1.1% | 1.6% |
| 21 | Washington | 23.80 | 15.7% | 8.6% | 3.6% | 0.0% |
| 22 | Louisiana | 21.45 | 14.0% | 4.6% | 1.1% | 1.1% |
