A local author/muckraker wrote a book about the chicken processing industry, and how easy it is to have salmonella contamination at the processing/dressing stages. basically, about 25% of chickens have salmonella in their guts. If the plucking/cleaning operations are not clean, cross-contamination can happen, and you will have millions of chickens shipped to consumer markets which are contaminated. The USDA claims that they can only test a very small sample (many of these plants process 100’s of millions of chickens a year). moreover, the current tests are not 100% accurate. So,does it make sens the try to do testing, knowing that the results are not accurate? of course, the processing plants should be kept clean-but isn’t it better just to assume your chicken has the bacteria, and handle it appropriately (and cook it well).
I think this is a problem we will have when huge quantities of foods are processed in giant plants. I also recall that irradiation (gamma ray) was proposed years ago-this would sterilize the food-but this was fought by the anti-nuclear crowd. Sooner or later there is going to be a mass outbreak of food poisoning from this-can anything realistically be done?
Frontline (PBS) just broadcasted a show called The Trouble With Chicken that explores the salmonella issue in chicken processing facilities.
It would be great if handling and cooking the chicken well and properly always worked, but it doesn’t, especially with the Salmonella Heidelberg strain that’s popping up.
Catch that Frontline episode, if you can.
Of course something can be done. Spend the money to prevent chickens from getting infected and setup checkpoints across the production chain to detect and isolate contamination like they do in Japan and the Nordic countries where salmonella is virtually unheard of.
I’m always surprised at how American cooking shows talk about handling chicken as if you’re handling nuclear waste, just as friends from Canada are always shocked to find out we eat raw chicken in Japan.
Quite a long time ago (it may have been hamburgers sold by Jack In The Box), e. coli bacteria was making a lot of people sick. The USDA labeled e. coli as an “adulterant”, and any found in beef meant that the beef had to be recalled.
Because of our current political situation and the power of certain lobbying groups, efforts to also label salmonella as an adulterant has failed.
Further, testing methods used by inspectors to detect salmonella and other pathogens are woefully inadequate and quite outdated.
It’s possible, today, to be in perfect compliance with all current food regulations and procedures and still sell chicken crawling with salmonella - even the most virulent “Heidelberg” strain (which has been putting people in hospitals) - and no action such as a recall could be forced.
It’s shameful that this is happening in America.
(Sorry - I cited the above from my recent memory of that Frontline documentary - any errors/inaccuracies are mine, and not the documentary’s)