How Safe Is Your Chicken?
You might be surprised.
You would think that after years of alarms about food safety—outbreaks of illness followed by renewed efforts at cleanup—a staple like chicken would be a lot safer to eat. But in our latest analysis of fresh, whole broilers bought at stores nationwide, two-thirds harbored salmonella and/or campylobacter, the leading bacterial causes of foodborne disease. That's a modest improvement since January 2007, when we found that eight of 10 broilers harbored those pathogens. But the numbers are still far too high, especially for campylobacter. Though the government has been talking about regulating it for years, it has yet to do so.
The message is clear: Consumers still can't let down their guard. They must cook chicken to at least 165º F and prevent raw chicken or its juices from touching any other food. - Consumer Reports
Labels: chicken, food safety
