I knew nothing of this until I saw a report on CNN this morning.
We all accept, I suppose, that poultry can carry salmonella and that good hygiene and cooking practices are important. Perhaps one thing that encourages the spread is intense production methods. If salmonella kicks off in a battery establishment it must spread much more quickly to many more hens than would be the case in a low density but clean environment such as a traditional farm yard. High volume egg producers have no choice but to work to the absolute limit of what the Regulations allow, and then some if employees aren't watched closely. If they were to work to less productive or intensive standards their eggs would be more expensive and people would not buy them. It's tempting to blame 'corporate greed', and the high level permissions to work to intensive methods must come from somewhere, but if a lot of people want a lot of eggs in their shops then battery poultry farms are inevitable.
That's not to say I accept the standards that lead to these outbreaks. There are two appalling examples from the UK that I recall and I have to assume now that nothing much has been learned from them.
Back in the late 1990's I ran a conference for a few staff in a good country hotel. On the last morning nearly all of us were so ill I asked for the local Health Inspector to visit, take swabs and check the kitchen. He told me quietly that the UK had a problem with Salmonella and expected the tests would prove that was what we had. A month later I called him and he angrily denied that it was Salmonella, claiming he had never suggested it was. He said that one of my people must have brought a bug with him and passed it on. I assumed that he was 'protecting' the reputation of the hotel. Only a few days later, the British Minister For Health, Edwina Currie at the time, announced that she had discovered a cover up of a huge problem with Salmonella in the poultry industry. The Civil Service must have been involved for that to happen. We all cheered her courage. She was sacked by the Prime Minister.
Just about three Novembers back, a major turkey producer in England had an outbreak of Avian 'Flu on his 'farm' just as shops were stocking for Christmas. He always promoted his business with an image of green open land and a country squire style. It was, of course, a battery business with big sheds but no-one thought much about that when buying their Christmas turkeys. It was discovered that he had a factory in an Eastern European country where the required standards were lower and he shipped birds over to his premises in England. That East European country had an outbreak of Avian 'Flu. The owner said that the outbreak was in the east and his factory was in the west. Then it was found that he was buying from the east of the country, moving birds to the factory in the west and then on to England.
The owner wasn't finished with. A group of animal rights activists got close to one of his huge sheds one night with a movie camera and filmed employees inside using a live turkey as a football. The movie was soon all over the TV news broadcasts. The owner retired a multi-millionaire this year.
What I have just written about this turkey business is all in the public domain. See Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Matthews
If anyone thinks that intensive poultry rearing is humane, look at this report and the video included in it. The text and video report on investigations in Britain eight or nine years ago. British agriculture is heavily regulated and monitored by government agencies and yet these appaling conditions existed. I wonder whether much has changed since then. Do you think that conditions are the same in some places in the US?
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/turkeys/turkeys-companyinfo.htm
We all accept, I suppose, that poultry can carry salmonella and that good hygiene and cooking practices are important. Perhaps one thing that encourages the spread is intense production methods. If salmonella kicks off in a battery establishment it must spread much more quickly to many more hens than would be the case in a low density but clean environment such as a traditional farm yard. High volume egg producers have no choice but to work to the absolute limit of what the Regulations allow, and then some if employees aren't watched closely. If they were to work to less productive or intensive standards their eggs would be more expensive and people would not buy them. It's tempting to blame 'corporate greed', and the high level permissions to work to intensive methods must come from somewhere, but if a lot of people want a lot of eggs in their shops then battery poultry farms are inevitable.
That's not to say I accept the standards that lead to these outbreaks. There are two appalling examples from the UK that I recall and I have to assume now that nothing much has been learned from them.
Back in the late 1990's I ran a conference for a few staff in a good country hotel. On the last morning nearly all of us were so ill I asked for the local Health Inspector to visit, take swabs and check the kitchen. He told me quietly that the UK had a problem with Salmonella and expected the tests would prove that was what we had. A month later I called him and he angrily denied that it was Salmonella, claiming he had never suggested it was. He said that one of my people must have brought a bug with him and passed it on. I assumed that he was 'protecting' the reputation of the hotel. Only a few days later, the British Minister For Health, Edwina Currie at the time, announced that she had discovered a cover up of a huge problem with Salmonella in the poultry industry. The Civil Service must have been involved for that to happen. We all cheered her courage. She was sacked by the Prime Minister.
Just about three Novembers back, a major turkey producer in England had an outbreak of Avian 'Flu on his 'farm' just as shops were stocking for Christmas. He always promoted his business with an image of green open land and a country squire style. It was, of course, a battery business with big sheds but no-one thought much about that when buying their Christmas turkeys. It was discovered that he had a factory in an Eastern European country where the required standards were lower and he shipped birds over to his premises in England. That East European country had an outbreak of Avian 'Flu. The owner said that the outbreak was in the east and his factory was in the west. Then it was found that he was buying from the east of the country, moving birds to the factory in the west and then on to England.
The owner wasn't finished with. A group of animal rights activists got close to one of his huge sheds one night with a movie camera and filmed employees inside using a live turkey as a football. The movie was soon all over the TV news broadcasts. The owner retired a multi-millionaire this year.
What I have just written about this turkey business is all in the public domain. See Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Matthews
If anyone thinks that intensive poultry rearing is humane, look at this report and the video included in it. The text and video report on investigations in Britain eight or nine years ago. British agriculture is heavily regulated and monitored by government agencies and yet these appaling conditions existed. I wonder whether much has changed since then. Do you think that conditions are the same in some places in the US?
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/turkeys/turkeys-companyinfo.htm
