Don't Choke Your Chicken

Consumer Reports has just published Dirty birds, an article where they researched bacteria levels in store-bought chicken. This recent study found that 83% harbored campylobacter or salmonella, up from only 49% when they did the same tests in 2003.

The high level of infection is a concern, of course, as is the fact that most of these bacteria proved resistant to at least one antibiotic. Properly cooked chicken should eliminate the risk here, but these kinds of levels should still be considered unacceptable.

What is most interesting, though, is what kind of enforcement powers the USDA has. If a plant fails a certain "acceptable" level of infection, the USDA is not able to levy fines. It cannot close the plant simply because these tests have failed, but instead must have another reason. The best they have is the threat of releasing the salmonella test information to the public, and even there private groups were able to beat them to the punch.

None of this comes as a surprise, as the USDA is essentially an arm of the agriculture industry and not a standards organization designed to keep consumers safe. Budget and staffing cuts, along with years of lobbying efforts and the underlying system, have seen to that.