In an effort to stem the tide of foodborne illnesses hitting the country every year via chicken and turkey, the Obama administration has announced new rules for poultry plants, revamping the rules its used for inspections for the first time since 1957. But critics are crying foul, calling the government out for failing to address the role antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria plays in the poultry industry. [More]
poultry
“Organic” Chicken Is Different Than “Antibiotic-Free” And “Natural” Means Nothing
By 12.19.13 — Updated: 12.19.16
Once upon a time, not very long ago, you went to the grocery store — not a big box store, or a warehouse club or online — and bought “chicken.” Now the poultry section can be a confusing mish-mash of labels that may not mean what consumers think they mean, or may not mean anything at all. [More]
Consumer Reports Finds Potentially Harmful Bacteria All Over Chicken Breasts
By 12.19.13
While hundreds of people around the country were getting sick from the recent salmonella outbreak, our co-workers at Consumer Reports just happened to be looking into the tiny life forms clinging to that popular poultry offering, the chicken breast. The results — that potentially harmful bacteria are lurking on and in almost every single chicken breast for sale at the supermarket — may not shock you, but they do highlight the growing concern over everything from what chickens are fed to how their meat is handled and prepared. [More]
Why Are Poultry Processing Plants Boiling Millions Of Birds Alive?
By 10.30.13
Most Americans eat meat, but that doesn’t mean that they want the animals destined for their plates to suffer a painful death. Yet U.S. Department of Agriculture records show that every year, almost a million birds are plunged into boiling water by accident because of small failures within the largely mechanized slaughter process. [More]
50 Ducks Walked Into A CVS… There’s No Punchline, Just 50 Ducks In A CVS
By 10.28.13
Do ducks prepare for the winter by gathering supplies from nearby retail outlets? No, they don’t, so it’s not really clear why about fifty ducks reportedly wandered into a CVS drugstore in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and wouldn’t leave until an employee coaxed them out with popcorn. [More]
Obviously Your Urban Chickens Need $20 Reflective Safety Vests
By 10.24.13 — Updated: 10.25.13
Chicken-keeping has become more and more popular in urban and suburban areas, thanks to a new emphasis on local and more ethically-sourced food in our culture. That’s good. But what happens when your chickens wander outside of the confines of their coop and your lawn and encounter traffic? Don’t worry: neon safety vests for chickens are a thing now. [More]
Quit Washing Your Chicken: It Just Sprays Germs Everywhere
By 8.26.13 — Updated: 8.11.14
Generations of American cooks are wrong. They learned their wrongity wrongity wrong habits from their parents, or from public television’s Julia Child. Their terrible, filthy habit is rinsing poultry before cooking. Public health experts estimate that as many as 90% of Americans do it, and they want us to cut it out. [More]
Trader Joe’s Employees Misleading Customers About The Drugged-Up Meat On Stores’ Shelves
By 2.26.13
Trader Joe’s, like most grocery stores, sells quite a bit of meat from animals that have been treated with completely unnecessary antibiotics. But customers around the country say that some TJ staffers are outright lying about the store’s products being drug-free. [More]
Meat & Poultry To Get Detailed Nutritional Labels Starting In 2012
By 12.30.10
In what the USDA says is an attempt to better inform the meat-buying public about the products they buy, many popular cuts of meat and poultry will be required to carry labels with detailed nutritional information. [More]
This Condom Warning Label Arouses Confusion
By 8.23.10
A reader bought this box of condoms from her local Safeway, and she says this sticker was underneath the outer packaging. People be freaky, but is there anyone who would want a raw chicken condom that you have to keep frozen until use? (Meh, probably.) [More]
Customer Says Supermarket Sold Rotten Chicken With New Sell By Date
By 5.18.10
A woman in Brooklyn has accused a local grocery store of slapping a new “sell by” sticker over an expired one in order to unload some old poultry that was past its prime. [More]
USDA Tightens Chicken Rules
By 5.11.10
Yesterday the USDA announced new poultry safety rules intended to slightly reduce the number of poisonings annually from salmonella and campylobacter. An agency official says that the new rules should prevent about 65,000 cases of food sickness a year, which is only a fraction of the over a million cases annually. However, most of the other food products that contribute to that number fall under FDA regulation, so the USDA can’t say anything. “This is something we can do, so we’re doing it,” the spokesman told the Los Angeles Times. [More]
Should You Keep Your Own Chickens?
By 8.6.09
We’re gonna say “nope.” But since we’re all here, let’s look at the recent New York Times article over the subject and consider whether the current “chicken boomlet” is right for you.
U.S. Balks At Prospect Of Imported Chinese Chickens
By 7.12.09
China is itching to sell their processed chickens directly to the U.S. market, an idea that doesn’t exactly thrill our regulators or representatives. Congress banned the import of processed Chinese chickens in 2007, ruffling Beijing’s feathers to the point where they’re now considering a retaliatory ban on U.S. chickens. Since we’re in a recession and Congress doesn’t want domestic chicken exporters to lose over a half-billion dollars next year, they may let the Chinese chickens come here to roost.
100% All Natural Plumped Chickens Are Stuffed With Water And Salt
By 6.29.09
Do you like overpaying for salt and water? Then “100% All Natural” chicken breasts might be for you! Just look for the labels that boast “enhanced with up to 15% chicken broth,” and you can be sure you’re overpaying for the saltiest, most water-logged chicken that industrial food processors can design. So how does all that chicken water get into the chickens, you ask? Hit the jump for the delightfully graphic description…
Want To Learn How To Make It Yourself? Visit Homegrown Evolution
By 6.26.09
HomegrownEvolution.com is sort of a simplified Instructables for people interested in “mead making, beer brewing, bread baking, urban poultry raising, container planting, pirate gardening, foraging, pickling,” and more, according to Cool Tools. We have a feeling “pirate gardening” isn’t as fun as it sounds.
Shylockian Shrink Ray Extracts Pound Of Flesh From Tyson Frozen Chicken Wings
By 1.2.09
BUH-KAW! Tyson’s five-pound bag of frozen chicken wings is now Tyson’s four-pound bag of frozen chicken wings.
USDA Denies Seal Of Inspection To 20 Million Chickens Fed Tainted Pet Food
By 5.6.07
Pet food tainted with melamine may have been consumed by up to 20 million chickens destined for your dinner plate. The federal government is not taking the matter lightly. The USDA, FDA, and EPA are conducting a risk assessment to determine if the chicken is safe for human consumption. Until the assessment is complete, the USDA will not issue the poultry a seal of inspection, which is required for the meat to be sold commercially. The results of the assessment should be announced early next week.
The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said Thursday that no evidence indicated any harm to humans from chicken or pork that had entered the market after having eaten melamine-contaminated feed.
— CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
