No chicken recalls, seriously?!
Does factory-farmed meat scare you, too? Stories like this one are the main reason we don't buy meat from the grocery store…
Foster Farms chicken plant opens after 10-day shutdown: U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety officials had shuttered the plant on Jan. 8 after finding live cockroaches for the fifth time in five months. Three Foster Farms sites in California were under federal scrutiny after two outbreaks of salmonella tied to the firm's chicken last year, including one that sickened 430 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Foster Farms issued no recalls. CDC said the outbreak appears to be over. (Source)
Read more about the farm:
Though the privately held operation was tight-lipped about its sales figures, Foster Farms did announce that its 1996 sales had topped $900 million. By then, the company had become the largest poultry producer on the entire West Coast, and the eighth largest in the nation, ranking 231st among all Fortune 500 companies. Moreover, the Livingston plant was the largest slaughterhouse in the world, processing 480,000 chickens each day. (Source)
Factory farmed meat really grosses me out.
Even if not for stories like this one that make you question its safety, I still hate the way the animals are treated, and the meat is not the same as the nutrient-dense food that comes from animals raised the way God intended, not even close. The opposite of a CAFO (“concentrated animal feeding operation”) is this: When the animals are treated humanely, fed what they were meant to eat, and raised roaming around on pasture, that meat is not just safe, but it's also very good for us! If we didn't have a source for local meat, we'd get our meat from online sources we trust. And it's not just a matter of avoiding antibiotics and hormones, or buying organic to avoid the chemical pesticides in the feed, although those things are important. We also should want to know our farmer if we have a local source, or at least find out if they're passionate about raising healthy animals who eat off pasture that is managed properly, so that it provides the most nutrients possible.
Read this: How I Got Lazy and the 5 Ways I Have Recommitted to Real Food and Healthy Eating!
Need help? Ask your local chapter!
- Have you seen this one? Are Meat Eaters Ruining the Earth? “Recently at a local art competition there was a huge exhibit with facts and figures showing the evils of factory farms, and how meat-eaters use up so much more of our earth’s fuels and resources than non-meat-eaters. What got me going was that there was nothing there about sustainable farming methods as an alternative, only gads of information about how ethical vegetarians are. (Thankfully Kent was around the corner because I almost started a scene…he hates scenes.)“
- Or this one? Dairy Cesspools: Neatly Dividing One Solution into Two Problems “This now-common conventional farming method of ‘handling manure’ is what Nina Planck calls, “Neatly dividing one solution into two problems.” (See her comments on this in the video below.) Imagine how much money it took to build that huge holding tank?! And to pay for the system of pipes to get the manure over there! And I wonder what happens to the waste then? I’m just a city girl, but even I have to wonder, wouldn’t it be smarter instead to let the cows out on pasture where they’re happiest and healthiest?“
- More about healthy meat sources
- Where to find safe, good-for-you meat online if you don't have a good local source
- Mother Earth News: “Omega-3 fatty acids are another vital nutrient that’s diminished by a feedlot diet. Calves start losing their stores of omega-3s as soon as they start eating grain. By the time they’re ready for market, very little of this heart-healthy fat remains. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a fat that appears to be a potent cancer fighter. CLA is higher in grazing animals than in feedlot animals. The longer the animals graze, according to a study published by the Journal of Animal Science, the higher the CLA content of their meat.”
- The Amazing Benefits of Grass-fed Meats from Mother Earth News
- Do You Need More Reasons to Find Safe Sources for Healthy Meat?
- An index of posts about pastured meats, how to cook it, what if it ever tastes ‘off', etc.
Marta Cruz says
Is the organic meat at the store any better? It’s an honest question, except ot it being supposingly free of hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, are the animals treated any better? Currently we’re alsways buying beef from the farm, but still buying some organic chicken at the store to try to make our budget 🙁 Arghh
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Hi @Marta,
I’d say that unfortunately, unless you talk to the farmer and/or visit the farm, you won’t really know for sure. We can only do what we can do though, just do the best you can. 🙂
Kelly
Marie says
I read an article about a month ago and it released the finding of a study performed on store-bought chicken. I used to think that purchasing at the very least organic chicken was safe, but the study showed otherwise. Here is a quote from the article:
Consumer Reports found that 97% of the breasts were tainted with at least one of six bacterias that can make people sick, including salmonella, campylobacter, and staphylococcus aureus (common causes of food poisoning); E. coli and enterococcus (which indicate fecal contamination); and klebsiella pneumoniae (a bug that can cause infections such as pneumonia).
Nearly 80% of the samples tested positive for enteroccoccus, followed by E. coli (65%), campylobacter (43%), klebsiella pneumoniae (13.6%), salmonella (10.8%) and staph (9.2%).
Half the samples also tested positive for at least one drug-resistant bacterium.
Alarmingly, the magazine found no significant difference in the amount of bacteria present on chicken labeled as “organic” or “antibiotic free.”
Here is the URL:
https://www.businessinsider.com/report-97-of-chicken-breasts-are-tainted-with-bacteria-2013-12#ixzz2rXXHlTDN
Thanks, Kelly for reminding us to beware of what we purchase. 🙂
Beth says
I wonder if this is why they want to be able to ship the slaughtered chickens to China for processing/packaging and shipping them back here for sale. Less oversight by those pesky inspectors?
Kim says
Kelly,
Thanks again for keeping us informed. Many do not realize how important it is to know your farmer in order to know where our food comes from. You might want to check out the latest move by the Michigan Dept. of Agriculture and Rural Development. They’re attempting to keep folks in residential areas from keeping ANY kind of farm animals. It looks like they might be targeting the “Backyard Chicken” movement. I would encourage all of your supporters to become knowledgeable in the tactics that big government is using to get rid of all of the small farmers.
Adrienne @ Whole New Mom says
Yuck. So why is the gov’t after supplements and natural farms when this kind of ick is going on.
jmr says
I need to read about things like this even though it disgusts me. Every once in a while, I get lazy or tired or overwhelmed, and I just want to buy my food the easy way at the supermarket. And sometimes I wonder why I make myself pay $30 for a chicken when I can get one for a couple dollars at the store. The information you provide reminds me why I plan my schedule so I can get to the farmers market, and why I plan my meals to avoid meat when I can’t get to the farmers market, and why I budget to spend more on food. Thank you.
Also, I’m a city girl so I don’t know much about chickens. Will chickens eat cockroaches if given the chance?
Susan says
There was no recall on the chicken because the “overlords” were too busy chasing people down for drinking raw milk!
Soli says
Once again I feel thankful that my local milk source is a fully working farm and they raise read chickens on pasture. I have one defrosting right now, as a matter of fact. Also, their whole chickens are $5 a pound, whether they are whole or butterflied.