It's worth a quick read....

[ldubois7]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/opini ... wanted=all&

[tex]

Interesting.

It's not just Foster Farms. It's an industry-wide problem.

Here are his suggestions for solving the problem:

1. The F.D.A. must disallow the use of prophylactic antibiotics in animal production. It’s almost as simple as that.

2. The U.S.D.A. must consider salmonella that’s been linked to illness an “adulterant” (as it does strains of E. coli), which would mean that its very presence on foods would be sufficient to take them off the market. Again, it’s almost as simple as that. (Sweden produces chicken with zero levels of salmonella. Are they that much smarter than us?)

The problem with the first one is that if they do that, the problem will be more widespread than ever, and various other pathogens will be added to the mix. The public will end up eating a lot more sick chickens.

The problem with the second one is that virtually all chickens carry salmonella these days. You can count on it. It would be nice if we could emulate Sweden, but I'm not holding my breath to wait for that one. The only practical way to avoid salmonella is to either make sure that chickens are always properly cooked, or totally avoid eating chickens. It's almost as simple as that.

IMO, the chicken industry is broken, and it's going to take a lot more than a couple of simple regulation changes to get it fixed again. I rarely eat chicken these days. When I was a kid, we raised our own chickens, and they were nothing like the obese, tasteless, crippled chickens sold by the major processors today. And the drumsticks and wings weren't broken or misshapen or bruised the way that so many of them are today. The whole thing turns me off. They no longer appeal to me as food.

Tex

[gluten]

Hi Linda, Interesting article. It sounds like the bacterias are becoming resistant to the antibiotics and cooking may not eliminate them. Jon

[ldubois7]

Tex and Jon,

It is very scary. I ate so much chicken (until Enterolab results, 3+) for so many years. Do you remember the apple juice scare in the late 80's? Ever since then, I have developed phobias to foods.....the way they are grown, the handling of them, and even preparing them in restaurants....I remember asking my husband, while at a restaurant, "I wonder if someone left this meat out too long before cooking it, or if I send it back, to be cooked more, will they spit in it?" I think I have always been reactive to foods, but never made the connection to allergies/intolerances. I always instinctively over cooked my foods to try to make them safer too.

As I age, I get more and more skeptical....maybe it's called paranoia, but I want to leave, to my grandchildren and great grandchildren, a thriving country in which they can live peacefully & be safe. If I believed that the government had our best interests in mind, it would be a different story.

It's just crazy.

[MaggieRedwings]

If I believed that the government had our best interests in mind, it would be a different story.


Now that will never happen. Just look at the mess they supposedly just cleared up. They only have their own interests in mind and the heck with their constituents.


Maggie