It just gets worse and worse..... :(

Most salmonella outbreaks occur after the bird leaves the plant, grocery stores, restaurants and homes. What they inspect for is tumors and other disease related to chicken healthy enough to eat. They are slaughtered packaged and frozen so fast they hardly ever come in contact with bacteria.

Improper cooking is actually the culprit.

 

A salmonella outbreak would suggest many, many cases of salmonella have been recorded. Salmonella is a bacteria most commonly found in the bowels and the bowel contents. There can't be THAT many people out there who just don't know how to wash the poop off their hands before preparing the chicken in their own kitchens to warrant a "salmonella outbreak", can there? Plus, these people themselves would have to have an overgrowth of Salmonella in their own bowels/feces, which, believe me, would show up in their health and these would be some very sick individuals.

These birds are contaminated from birth to processing and, yes...if you don't cook the heck and all out of this contaminated meat, you may come down with something bad, such as Salmonella.

So...in the end, I guess "improper cooking" can be blamed for a Salmonella outbreak from eating commercially grown eggs/chickens.

Hardly ever come in contact with bacteria????? Have you ever SEEN inside a poultry house and a poultry processing plant? I have...trust me, bacteria is rampant and opportunities for it getting to the meat are numerous and constant.

 

Best figures I have found is about 10% infection with poultry according to the USDA. Over 20,000,000 a day in the U.S. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_chickens_are_killed_each_day_for_consumption_in_the_us that is not that bad.

Considering it is everywhere in almost all foods to some level.

Homegrown birds are just as susceptible as factory birds and maybe even more if raised on dirt and not handled properly.

Cannot trust government any more than the private sector anyhow so why waste money? Cook it properly and you have nothing to worry about.


Salmonella
Salmonella are the main cause of food poisoning from poultry meat (Dougherty, 1976; Todd, 1980). Little is known about the incidence of Salmonella in South Africa although figures have been reported by Bok et al., 1986 and Geornaras et al., 1994. There are many sources from which poultry may obtain Salmonella, the main sources being from cross-contamination during breeding, hatching and intensive rearing operations. Salmonellas are not part of the normal intestinal microflora of poultry, but are acquired from the farm environment via insects, rodents and birds. Feed is also an important source of salmonellas through contamination of various components of the feed mix. The organisms occur more often in the caecum than in any other region of the gut from where they may be excreted for varying periods, without the host showing any sign of disease (Morris et al., 1970; Mead, 1982; Grau, 1986; Silliker et al., 1986; Mead, 1989; Zottola et al., 1990; Jones et al., 1991). Salmonellas from one flock can contaminate another, usually during conditions of intensive rearing and also when there is inadequate cleaning and disinfecting of the multi-cage transportation lorries used to convey the birds to the abattoir. Studies have also shown that live poultry transported from the farm often introduce Salmonella into the processing plant. Such contamination may result in considerable scattering of salmonellae during processing especially in the plucking machines and the scalding tank and may lead to contamination of the final product (McBride et al., 1980; Mead, 1982; Mead, 1989; James et al., 1992). Clostridium perfringens Clostridium perfringens is considered to be more widespread in the environment than any other pathogenic bacteria. This organism is commonly present in the intestinal tract of many warm-blooded animals and has been isolated from fecal matter, soil and dust. Raw poultry meat is normally stored at temperatures too low (< 15°C) to permit Clostridium perfringens to grow. Therefore, there seems little risk of multiplication in the processing plant. Clostridium perfringens is mainly present on processed poultry as spores ( Bryan, 1980; Todd, 1980; Mead, 1982; Bailey et al., 1987; Mead, 1989). Only type A strains are normally involved in human food poisoning and these may be haemolytic, with heat-sensitive spores or non-haemolytic, with spores that are highly heat resistant. These heat-resistant strains can survive normal cooking procedures and if the cooked meat is held under favourable conditions, the organism can multiply to hazardous levels (Todd, 1980; Mead, 1989; Zottola et al., 1990).

 

Oh come on, self regulation of industries couldn't possibly go wrong.... Meanwhile they are chasing down rogue family pig farmers in Michigan.

 

Yeah anything to divert the attention off from the major companies to the common Joe Farmer down the road who is raising their own meat.......