Infected chickens carry salmonella/campylobacter bacteria. Finger lickin sicken chicken report:

Two-thirds of chickens harbor salmonella/campylobacter.

There is a frightening report just out that tells us that we are getting more than eleven herbs and spices with our chicken. Report from CDC indicates that 3.4 million Americans are infected each year with salmonella or campylobacter from poorly processed chicken. There are about 25,500 people hospitalized with as many as 500 who die from these infections. But according to the CDC, these figures may be even higher since some people have lighter cases do not go to the hospital or are misdiagnosed.

It also reports that Tyson and Foster Farms were the most contaminated showing 80% of their birds contaminated.

This report indicates that as many as 8 out of 10 chickens are found to be infected with salmonella, campylobacter or both.

It seems that if the chicken industry does not do a better job of protecting consumers, there will have to be further government intervention. .

How safe is the chicken you bring home from the supermarket to your family? What happens to this widely used dinner staple from the henhouse to your house? Are Americans just too trusting of our food supply corporations in light of the many recent recalls of everything from beef to Eggo waffles. (And with the recent fire here in metro-Atlanta where 22,000 chickens were killed; we may see an even larger increase in cost.)

The most important thing you can get out of this article is that you, the consumer, must do your part by making sure that all chicken is cooked to at least 165 degrees internally. Another absolute must is not to allow chicken juices and blood to contaminate anything in your home after bringing it home from the supermarket. You can do this without realizing it.

Be sure and wash your hands immediately when you return from the store – even the buggy handle could contain these bacteria from the hands of previous customers handling raw chicken when they put it in the buggy before you.

When purchasing meats, take a few plastic bags with you from the produce department and put the fresh meat inside. Have the cashier double bag the chicken after you make sure there are no drippings from a poorly packaged meat. You can cross contaminate other foods in your grocery cart with fluids from raw chicken and even beef for that matter.

Do not lay on surfaces in your kitchen without cleaning with an anti-bacterial cleaner thereafter. It is best to put them in your sink (or a plate) so you can readily sanitize it after removing the chicken. Wash your hands thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap. Often we contaminate things like the handle on the freezer or fridge without realizing it and it just stays there growing more harmful.

Whatever bird you buy, one slipup and you're at risk. Again, most important is to cook chicken to at least 165º F. Even if it's no longer pink, it can still harbor bacteria, so use a meat thermometer.
Re-package your product before freezing. Do not let raw chicken set out for a long period of time before cooking or even leave in the fridge longer than necessary. Bacteria are living organisms and can grow rapidly when not properly refrigerated.

Because of antibiotics given to the birds themselves, the CDC reports that these bugs are proving to be anti-biotic resistant in people. Sometimes a person who has been sicken by either of these “bugs” they will need to try several different anti-biotics before they can eradicate it.

Very scary Consumer Report: “They have been measuring contamination in store-bought chickens since 1998. For our latest analysis, we had an outside lab test 382 chickens bought last spring from more than 100 supermarkets, gourmet- and natural-food stores, and mass merchandisers in 22 states.

We tested three top brands -- Foster Farms, Perdue, and Tyson -- as well as 30 nonorganic store brands, nine organic store brands, and nine organic name brands. Five of the organic brands were labeled "air-chilled" (a slaughterhouse process in which carcasses are refrigerated.

- Campylobacter was in 62 percent of the chickens, salmonella was in 14 percent, and both bacteria were in 9 percent. Only 34 percent of the birds were clear of both pathogens. That's double the percentage of clean birds we found in our 2007 report but far less than the 51 percent in our 2003 report.”

- The cleanest name-brand chickens were Perdue's: 56 percent were free of both pathogens. This is the first time since we began testing chicken that one major brand has fared significantly better than others across the board.( But don’t forget that leaves 44% that was contaminated – you only need to buy one.)

- Most contaminated were Tyson and Foster Farms chickens. More than 80 percent tested positive for one or both pathogens.

As they're raised, chickens can peck at droppings and insects that carry salmonella and campylobacter. The bacteria settle in their intestines, usually without harm, and the chickens contaminate their environment with infected feces. When the birds are slaughtered the bacteria spreads to the inside of the chicken.

Make chicken one of the last items you buy before heading to the checkout line. Choose chicken that is well wrapped and at the bottom of the case, where the temperature should be coolest. Never lead chicken or any meat in a hot car for any length of time. Refrigerate as soon as possible after purchase.
Place chicken in a plastic bag like those in the produce department to keep juices from leaking. If you'll cook the chicken within a couple of days, store it at 40° F or below. Otherwise, freeze it. Thaw frozen chicken in a refrigerator, inside its packaging and on a plate, or on a plate in a microwave oven. Never thaw it on a counter: When the inside is still frozen, the outside can warm up, providing a breeding ground for bacteria. Cook chicken thawed in a microwave oven right away. Don't return cooked meat to the plate that held it raw. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers within 2 hours of cooking.”

Case History: Within a few days of eating salad at a Minnesota restaurant in February 2009, Michele Lundell, a supervisor for a company that makes plastic tubing, experienced diarrhea, fever, and headache. "I kept getting sicker and sicker," she recalled. A test confirmed campylobacter. After her doctor prescribed antibiotics, Lundell said, she felt better for about a day, but then "all the same symptoms came back."

She said she was hospitalized for six days. A Minnesota Department of Health investigation found that 10 people who had eaten at the restaurant were stricken with campylobacter and that the lettuce was most likely contaminated by raw or undercooked chicken. Lundell said she hasn't fully recovered. "It's hard to believe," she said, "that a person goes out to eat and gets so sick that it changes your life."

Make sure you never put cooked chicken back on the plate where the raw chicken had been.
Science lesson: A little bit can make you sick

“As few as 15 salmonella or 400 campylobacter organisms can make you ill. The salmonella found in raw poultry, meats, seafood, and produce can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever, and headache, sometimes followed by arthritis symptoms.

Campylobacter is found mainly in raw chicken. It wasn't recognized as a human pathogen until 1977, but it is now one of the most common causes of bacterial food borne illness. The usual symptoms are diarrhea, often with fever, abdominal pain, nausea, headache, and muscle pain. Rarer are complications such as arthritis, meningitis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a potentially fatal neurological condition.”

Make sure that all ready-to-eat chicken you purchase at a fast food restaurant is fully cooked with no pink inside. Since you cannot test the cooking temperature – this is the only clue you can rely on. If there is any sign of it being undercooked – return it to the place where you purchased it and if that is not possibly right away, call them and let them know so they will not continue selling undercooked chicken to others.

For more information on these reports and chicken safety follow these links.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/food-safety/chicken-safety/chicken-safety-1-07/overview/0107_chick_ov.htm
 
http://www.walletpop.com/consumer-reports/article/how-safe-is-that-chicken/793213?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl2|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walletpop.com%2Fconsumer-reports%2Farticle%2Fhow-safe-is-that-chicken%2F793213
 
The above site shows a chart of top chicken producers and how they did on the test – not good.