US: Salmonella far too common in ground chicken

Consumer Reports (CR), a non-profit consumer watchdog group, has recently assessed the current state of the American ground meat supply, testing 351 packages of ground beef, pork, chicken, and turkey purchased at stores throughout the country.    

Ground meat is more likely to be contaminated than whole cuts. When the meat is processed, the harmful bacteria, even if present in only one animal, potentially can get distributed into many kilograms of ground meat. Whole cuts can have bacteria only on the surface, so they can be killed easily when cooked, this is not the case with ground meat. In addition, ground meat is usually handled more than a whole cut, so bacteria can easily spread to prep surfaces and other foods.    

CR found Salmonella in almost a third of the ground chicken packages analyzed, plus in a few samples of ground beef, pork, and turkey.    

Particularly alarming was the fact that every single strain of Salmonella found during this investigation was resistant to at least one antibiotic.    

In the US, poultry processors have to regularly test their products for Salmonella, however, the USDA allows them to sell meat that may be contaminated with the bacteria. A plant is allowed to have Salmonella in up to 9.8 percent of whole birds it tests, 15.4 percent of parts, and 25 percent of ground chicken. In case producers exceed these levels, they can sell the meat anyway.    

CR’s investigation highlighted no difference between ground meat from organic chicken and meat from conventionally raised birds.  

A spokesperson from CR stated that “Salmonella in ground chicken is more common than it should be,” and  “this is not an isolated or contained problem."    

 

Source:  

https://www.consumerreports.org/ground-meats/is-our-ground-meat-safe-to-eat-a2700598982/