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BAD FOOD??? You want bad food go buy a chicken that was raised on 2 feet of manure pack, hauled with thousands and thousands of other birds in over crowded trucks, processed in a mega plant with many employees whose cultural upbringing doesn't push the washing of hands after using the restroom, and then inspected by a USDA official on a line that's moving so fast he doesn't have time to really look at them, then shipped thousands of miles to sit on your grocery shelf. USDA inspection is all flash and mirrors, red tape and paper work to make the public feel safe. Real food safety comes down to the producers integrity and transparency in the process, and I believe that a neighbor processing birds for his local community has a lot more integrity than a mega industrial food company. Not sure about your neighbor, then go over and watch the activities on butchering day Then try to get into a Tyson plant to self inspect and see what happens. There are solid methods for testing food safety, such as swabbing random birds and checking for ecoli and salmanela but the USDA doesn't do that.
I realize that you probably already know this and that's why you sell your own birds, and I appologize for my little rant. However, I think we need to all realize that the USDA is not about keeping food safe. It's about keeping the public at ease and keeping the big producers going. It's my opinion that they are as corrupt as the rest of our government and shouldn't be trusted as far as you can throw them. Laws are laws and we have to follow them, but please don't equate A USDA stamp to "good food". I'm a little fired up about all this because I just finished reading "everything I want to do is illegal" by Joel Salatin. Everyone should read this book, it totally changes your outlook on this kind of stuff.