Sick From Bad Chicken? You’ve Got No One To Blame But Yourself

Once upon a time, if a consumer purchased a food product from their local re-seller, prepared it at home, and subsequently got sick, it was assumed that at the very least, the original producer of that product, if not the retailer as well, was culpable. Most Americans probably still hold this belief. Unfortunately, industry and the USDA (our watchdog of food safety) no longer see it that way. Increasingly, the blame for food-borne illness is falling on the consumer.

Take, for instance, the recent case of an outbreak of Salmonella at three Foster Farms chicken facilities sickening more than 300 people. Having pinpointed the source of the outbreak, the USDA reached a cushy deal with Foster Farms: there was no mandated recall, no closed facilities — not even a fine. The company, in turn, did not issue a voluntary recall, but promises to do better. What did happen to protect consumers? Not much. With the contaminated product still available in stores, under both Foster Farms and private store labels, the USDA issued a public health alert instructing consumers on the safe handling and preparation of fresh raw chicken.

Currently, federal law under USDA allows for 7.5 percent of whole chicken carcasses to be contaminated with pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter. This means that products contaminated with Salmonella and Campylobacter have become common and are frequently shipped from production facilities to stores. It is up to the consumer to follow safe handling and cooking practices to avoid being sickened.

In other words, you’re on your own, folks. Both the poultry industry and the regulatory agency tasked with protecting you have given up the idea that chicken production can ever be pathogen-free. And they aren’t about to saddle the industry with the cost of testing a higher percentage of birds. In fact, there is no regulation mandating a percentage at all. Somehow, 7.5 percent (about one in 13 birds) has become an acceptable rate of failure. In truth, about a quarter of all chicken parts are contaminated.

Even if this were truly the best we could do, one would think that when the industry and government identify contaminated product it would be removed from store shelves. This incident puts the lie to that idea. It  now falls to the consumer to ensure that we properly handle raw chicken, avoid cross-contamination with other foods, and cook to a thorough 165°. This, despite the fact that overuse of antibiotics in animal production is creating ever more resilient and difficult to kill pathogens.

Mark Bittman has said, “We should not have to handle chicken as if it were a loaded gun, nor should we be blamed when contaminated chicken makes us sick.” He’s right. This shouldn’t be the case; but it is.

By: Sandi Behrns

Sandi Behrns is a noted policy nerd, new media & web developer, and consultant to progressive organizations and campaigns. She is a senior contributor to Liberaland, and the Executive Editor of Progressive Congress News.