Some 29.9 million pounds of antibiotics were sold in 2011 for meat and poultry production, compared with the 7.7 million sold for human use, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, and that number has been on the rise.
Although that is a greater number than the 2.1 million illnesses caused by contaminated beef, pork, poultry and other meat, the pathogens found on meat are generally more deadly than those found on vegetables, according to the report.