Chicken Safety – Salmonella, Campylobacter bacteria

Posted by easy eco blog

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Consumerreports.org has investigated Chicken Safety by purchasing fresh, whole broilers at various stores and analyzing them. They found 2/3 contained Salmonella and/or Campylobacter bacteria. This is an improvement from their last test 3 years ago.

Buying organic helps but they found 57% of the organic birds had campylobacter. Perdue chickens were better than other name brands. Bell & Evans did well but sample size was small. Most contaminated were Tyson and Foster Farms. Buying cleaner chickens only increases odds that failing to prepare chickens won’t make you sick.

The scary part is that almost 2/3’s of the bacteria was resistant to one or more antibiotics.

Chicken labeling:

Free range – Chicken had access to outdoors. Door may have left open briefly each day.

Natural – Chicken minimally processed. No artificial ingredients, preservatives, or added color.

No Hormones – Meaningless as USDA prohibits it.

No Antibiotics – Unverified unless chicken is certified USDA organic

USDA Organic – Certified antibiotic free, 100% organic feed, and free range.

Recommendations they suggest include:

1) It is clearly important to cook chicken to at least a 165° F level of doneness to eliminate the bacteria.

2) You also need to prevent raw chicken or its juices from touching any other food to eliminate the risk of contamination. Clean anything it touches thoroughly. Do not use these items with the cooked meat.

3) Buy chicken that is wrapped, is chilled the most, and get it right before checkout.

4) Cook the chicken within a couple days or freeze it.

5) Thaw frozen chicken in a refrigerator inside its packaging and on a plate. A microwave can also be used for thawing. Do not thaw it on the counter as bacteria could grow.

6) Refrigerate or freeze leftovers within 2 hours of cooking.

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