Two-thirds of chicken contaminated – What the cluck???

As much as I hate to see it, I don’t worry much when there is contaminated beef because I don’t eat the stuff. But chicken, I do eat. And this new report is pretty gross.
Consumer Reports (CR) found two-thirds of whole broilers from stores across the country were contaminated with salmonella and/or campylobacter. Two-thirds – that’s a lot, right? But did you know this is actually an improvement? In 2007, CR found eight of 10 broilers were contaminated.

This time, CR had a lab analyze 382 chickens from more than 100 stores across the country. The tests included three top brands – Foster Farms, Perdue, and Tyson — as well as store brands and organic poultry.

Here are some of the highlights of the findings:

• Campylobacter was in 62 percent of the chickens, salmonella was in 14 percent, and both bacteria were in 9 percent. Only 34 percent of the birds were bacteria-free.

• Air-chilled broilers were among the cleanest overall – about 40 percent were contaminated.

• The cleanest name-brand chickens were from Perdue – 56 percent were free of both bacteria.

• The most contaminated were Tyson and Foster Farms chickens – more than 80 percent tested positive for one or both bacteria.

Obviously, there is no guarantee of uncontaminated chicken here, no matter which brand you buy. So, what can you do? The most important thing is to cook the chicken to at least 165 degrees. Even if it is not pink, it can still have bacteria that can make you sick.

Here are some other tips from CR:

• Make chicken one of the last things you pick up before you checkout at the grocery store.

• Choose chicken from the bottom of the case, where the temperature should be coolest.

• If you’re going to cook the chicken within two days, you can keep it in the fridge. Otherwise, freeze it.

• Thaw frozen chicken in a refrigerator, inside its packaging and on a plate, or on a plate in a microwave oven. Never thaw it at room temperature – when the inside is still frozen, the outside can warm up, creating a breeding ground for bacteria.

• Refrigerate or freeze leftovers within 2 hours of cooking.

Be careful out there. And check out this list of The 10 riskiest foods – they are linked to more than 1,500 separate outbreaks.

[Photo Credit: Consumer Reports]

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