What would we do without our favourite chicken dinner, or our roast turkey for Christmas? Upon reading the research on the quality, or more aptly, the lack of quality in our poultry supply, I can see where one might choose to become vegetarian! People born before World War II often say, “Chicken doesn’t taste like chicken anymore.” But listen, read on for how to source quality birds!
First, why NOT eat non-organic poultry? This won't be for the faint of heart, and at points it will be down right disturbing. But it will show why NOT very clearly.
1. Commercially raised chickens are often fed antibiotics and much of the feed routinely has antibiotics. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates 24.6 million pounds of antibiotics – about 70% of total US antibiotic production – are fed to livestock animals such as chickens, pigs, and cows for non-therapeutic purposes. (Associated Press Feb. 16, 2001.) The concern with this constant, involuntary medication in our food supply is the new strains of bacteria and disease resistance in humans. In other words, antibiotics have become ineffective in controlling many bugs. The National Academy of Science says, “Factory Farming would not be possible without the routine use of antibiotics and other drugs. Only with drugs can animals survive the overcrowding, stress, and severe deprivation. The practice of feeding livestock a variety of antibiotics at sub-therapeutic levels has become commonplace as producers have adopted confinement practices. The widespread use of antibiotics has reinforced a trend not to manage for disease prevention but rather to accept the costs of antibiotic feeding as a routine production expense.” Poultry can be raised quite successfully without antibiotics. This is more in evidence as the number of farmers raising organic chickens grows.
2. Poultry are fed artificial growth hormones to stimulate birds to kill size in 8 weeks thereby reducing costs of production. Egg layers have their hormone systems overworked so that they lay eggs at a much higher rate than is natural.
3. Genetically engineered (GE) plants and seeds are widely used in commercial agriculture and often poultry are fed GE soy. No one knows how this new unnatural process is going to affect us down the road, not to mention the problem of anyone with allergies or food sensitivities.
4. Salmonella contamination has steadily increased and according to Dr. Douglas Archer, FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition: “There’s no question that the extent of the salmonella contamination is due to the way chickens are raised, the crowding and the stress.” A 1978 report by the US Advisory Committee on salmonella stated that salmonella could be reduced by: 1) producing salmonella free food, 2) developing clean breeding stock, 3) improving processing, and 4) educating the public. One wonders what, if anything, has improved since then with all the food poisonings we hear about.
5. In 1991 the Atlantic Constitution reported: Of 84 federal poultry inspectors interviewed, 81 said thousands of birds tainted or stained with feces, which a decade ago would have been condemned, are now rinsed and sold daily. 75% of the inspectors said that thousands of diseased birds pass from processing lines to stores everyday.
“Fecal Soup” is created when thousands of dirty chickens are bathed together in a chill tank which spreads contamination from bird to bird. Up to 15% of poultry weight consists of fecal soup, for which we consumers pay. A 1988 study by USDA reported that even 40 consecutive rinses did not adequately remove salmonella germs left by fecal contaminants.
Poultry plants salvage meat by cutting away visibly diseased or contaminated sections and selling the rest as packaged wings, legs, or breasts, as reported by 70 of the inspectors. One ConAgra plant inspector said he would NEVER buy cut up parts in a store. Mechanical eviscerating machines and feather pickers further increase contamination by ripping open intestines and spilling feces as well as pounding dirt and manure into pores. Some poultry plants also use chlorine to wash chickens, bleaching feces rather than removing it. Ingesting chlorine is as scary to me as ingesting feces!
6. Commercially raised chickens lose all natural hen behaviour patterns such as nest building, perching, foraging for food, dust bathing, and wing stretching. Often all lighting is artificial, sometimes to promote laying of eggs and forced moulting, to keep egg production cycles in place. Battery cages (wire cages where each bird has 64 square inches) and de-beaking are other practices used for maximum production.
7. Large commercial operations that are non-organic are causing concerns, for example, with groundwater. “Roughly 80% of the poultry industry is located on lands above valuable aquifers. Nitrates and other pollutants from manure piles seep down through sandy soils into the groundwater.” Non-organic farms do not support soil health; organic farms focus on naturally replenishing the soil to ensure mineral rich soil with the proper balance of nutrients. Keeping chemicals used in grain productions off of our plate benefits our water, our land, our atmosphere, and our bodies.
What do I want when purchasing poultry? Ideally, organic, for the above-mentioned reasons. Certified organic means no antibiotics, hormones, or chemicals, or GE food. I want birds raised with humane practices and the slaughter process to be safe and health-promoting. I want to know we are leaving the soil and water supplies uncontaminated and healthy for future food supplies. I want to support the family farm and all that entails rather than the large “agri businesses” with their cost saving production practices.
When faced with lack of organic poultry suppliers check with the farmer: Do they have a stress free environment, such as open pasture and natural roosting, which supports a strong immune system for the birds? Are the birds given space, natural light, and non-medicated feed? hormones? antibiotics? GE soy? How do they slaughter them? Are they allowed to grow at a natural rate? Free range poultry is leaner, the colour and texture are richer, and there is very little fat.