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| Not my kind of "party" |
Many people who watched Food Inc. saw chickens packed in dark, dirty pens, walking in each others’ feces and swore off chicken. On the other hand, maybe you blocked those images out and remain unconvinced of any danger. Well, if you thought salmonella, arsenic, injected hormones or chlorine baths were your biggest concerns with feedlot chicken, think again. Researchers found that the culprit for almost all UTIs (urinary tract infections) in women isn’t from “holding it” or improper wiping but chicken. Yup, that chicken and broccoli may contain an extra ingredient namely E. coli bacteria.
I love skeptics. If you’re reading and wondering how the E. coli was traced to chicken, I’ll explain. Researchers from McGill look at the bacteria from women in California and Canada and played a little genome matching game with bacteria found in beef, pork and chicken. There is E. coli in other meat but it’s good old chicken that most closely resembles that in UTIs. And the icing on the vile cake? Due to the overuse of antibiotics in factory farms many strains of E. coli are antibiotic resistant. The study was published in the March issue of the CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases.
From CDC website:
Every year, 6–8 million cases of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) occur in the United States; greater than 80% are associated with E. coli. The urinary tract is the most common source for E. coli causing bloodstream infections, which cause 40,000 deaths from sepsis each year in the United States. Drug-resistant infections often require more complicated treatment regimens and result in more treatment failures.
This "extraintestinal E. coli" is somewhat less lethal than the 0157 strain that is responsible for many food recalls but "may kill you but chance is lower" doesn't reassure me. Additionally, this bacteria can lay dormant for six months before causing problems, what about the effects for children? A friend (who recently mentioned she had a UTI) upon reading this information said, “Is anything safe to eat?” I hear that a lot and the truth is yes... but you have to do your homework. A few options:
- I get it if you’re repulsed. How can you not be? These poor chickens peck at droppings from their fellow birds or drink water contaminated by stool. If sayonara chicken is what feels right, that’s one option
- Organic Chicken- chickens are not given antibiotics. Increasingly, probiotics and essential oils are being used to reduce bacteria content naturally. They are also less cramped and therefore much less likely to be contaminated. I will not eat chicken that’s not organic and do not serve it to my family. In addition to organic or the next best thing is "Certified Humane" . Unfortunately there are many loopholes around "raised without antibiotics." For example, some companies inject chickens before they hatch (seriously). Other producers, same name as a well-known sketchy boxer, use drugs that aren't technically antibiotics but ionophores. Once you're dealing with this kind of deceit, I'm shopping elsewhere.
- Cook properly- this is often put out there as a way to prove sub par chicken is safe. If you just cook it to the proper temperature (165 Fahrenheit for chicken) everything is killed off. Well maybe not everything there’s still the arsenic and antibiotics. Did I mention my husband and I happen to be doing a raw, vegan week? No "dark" meat chicken for us.
Do you eat chicken? Are you selective about where it comes from? What do you do at restaurants? Which option above 1, 2 or 3 works for you?
Oh yum, I had chicken last night! However, I will say I ONLY buy my chicken from our company's "natural line" of chicken, which is antibiotic free (although, who knows if they were injected "in the womb") Yikes. Needless to say, I have several vegetarian meals planned for the upcoming weeks!!
ReplyDeleteI have to say I turned on the TV and Ina was doing a show "chicken 101", I didn't watch. Gina, your probably (since you're on the front lines) the perfect person to find out 1) where are those chicken from (if crowded likely E coli) 2) if it's factory farming sitch even *if* no antibiotics administered (free means at time of selling really "raised without" slightly better) was it washed in chlorine? injected with a sodium solution? It is a little complicated but worth the effort to look into.
ReplyDeleteWe buy organic chicken but who knows what they are really serving you in restaurants and prepared foods???
ReplyDeleteIf it's not a place you trust/can talk to chef or ask then assume the worse. You can control what you buy though, good job choosing organic.
DeleteWhen I first read this, I swore off chicken forever. Next I thought, "but all the chicken we get is organic!" Then I realized that certainly the chicken at school and at restaurants is NOT organic. Finally I swore off chicken anywhere but home. I find this so upsetting as I had chronic UTIs throughout my 20s, so much that I was on low-dose "preventative" antibiotics. To find now that it was all in my food...ugh.
ReplyDeleteAs Oprah said (miss her!) you know better you do better. It's crazy to me that not only did we not know this E. coli was so prevalent but that the connection from food to infection was just established. Then throw in the antibiotic issue and these infections (as cited by CDC) can get dangerous. Voting organic means voting that we'll have antibiotics that work when we need them. The more you look into chicken the more issues, at least people are aware of beef problems.
DeleteI miss Oprah so much...
DeleteThis makes my stomach turn... a big reason why I don't eat meat. I had lots of UTI's in college and I ate a ton of chicken. Haven't had 1 since I stopped eating meat!!
ReplyDeleteLisa, I bet there are many stories like yours and Marie's (above). What do you do for your children, do they eat chicken?
DeleteEW!! this is insane. i am definitely an organic pain in the ass when it comes to chicken/meat at home, but need to be even more at restaurants.
ReplyDeleteIf we all started asking places we frequent about the chicken, who purveyor is and if they would do organic would make a difference.
DeleteI do not eat chicken at restaurants. Look at any menu and see how chicken-heavy it is. There are a lot of chicken farms in Iowa and just driving past them was what put me off chicken. The smell is vile. And NOTHING with a heartbeat should be raised that way. I rarely eat chicken, even at home.
ReplyDeleteSee how my comments jump around? Regarding the menu comment, I mean to say that it is everywhere for a reason - it's cheap. And it's cheap for a reason. You buy a proper chicken and discover they don't give those things away. We can raise chickens in Des Moines, but the people I know who do, do so for eggs rather than meat.
DeleteAgree Caron and it's cheap b/c chickens are fattened quickly via antibiotics and crowded in areas they shouldn't be.
DeleteThe farm featured in Food Inc where the government tried to shut him down because he slaughters them out in the open is near me. They tested his chickens and found his contamination was near zero and the chickens from government regulated places was off the charts.
ReplyDeleteI wish people were more aware of the crap they are forcing into the food supply these days.. and more importantly, I wish more people cared.
I know Bzybee but I think some people do care. We have to show the "good" farmers via farmers markets that we care and spread the word when something is delicious and well-produced. If we all had everyone read this post and then seek out humanely raised chicken that would be one step forward.
DeleteI like chicken as a food, but can't go near it raw - and I can't think about it too much when I eat it. It partly has to do with the issues mentioned above and partly with this great YouTube video on facsia (I'll tell you later). It takes every ounce of my being not to gag if I have to prepare raw chicken - and I spray bleach EVERYTHING after. I completely recognize this is totally irrational and abnormal behavior, but hey, it could be worse. And yet, when it comes to raw beef, I have no issues. Then again, I know where my cow came from (yay Angus Acres).
ReplyDeleteI get more grossed out thinking of what happens to the chicken before I "meet" it. The unknown...
DeleteOK, I read this twice, but I still want to double check...when you said "chicken and broccoli", you meant the chicken in the dish, right? Because if it's also in the broccoli, I might cry. I don't cook chicken, because it gives me the heebie-jeebies. Honestly, I don't understand why factory farming is even legal.
ReplyDeleteHa, though veggies can carry E. coli I was just referring to the chicken Stephanie. Your broccoli (organic important too) is fine.
Deletescary in regard the coconut unsweetened shredded would work fine
ReplyDeletetotally scary and I'm sure just the tip of the chicken iceberg. Those cumin/coconut string beans sound fantastic. When I'm off of the "raw" week I must try.
DeleteThis is so gross and scary. It is definitely true that we are seeing a lot of drug resistant e.coli, but I thought it was my profession's fault for over-prescribing antibiotics. Antibiotics are not benign drugs and I have been really trying to be vigilent about prescribing them. People think that a z-pack cures everything!
ReplyDeleteThis is up there with the "pink slime" that is being put in school food. I actually heard an education official say "well, the fda says that it is safe."
I am not a big chicken fan and would rarely order it out, but now I think I am going to say sayonara chicken.
So interesting Melanie b/c even with the c diff increases I think it traces back to food (and maybe lots oral antibiotics too). And if antibiotics plump up chicken, what are they doing to our weight?
DeleteThis has my nerd mind in a tail spin! I have seen patients with c-diff with no recent hospitalizations or antibiotic use (expect for the meat they must eat). C-diff is a very serious and potentially deadly disease that not alone causes morbidity or mortality but costs the health care system millions.
DeleteI have an off the cuff theory about why antibiotics may make chicken (and people fat). We have a normal gut flora that helps us digest food and keeps harmful fungus and bacteria at bay. Perhaps when we kill of the "good" bacteria, food can not be properly digested.
All in all an utter disgrace. Will do more research about this and speak with the head of infectious disease at my hospital. He guards our heavy duty antibiotics like gold and is very up to date.
BTW..love one lucky duck and am jealous of your husband's week of their food! He sounds like a good sport.
keep me posted Melanie, we did the One Lucky Duck week together, delicious.
DeleteI always take your advice, Lauren. Thanks for the reminder! :D
ReplyDeleteAmy, "always"? Thanks so much.
DeleteWhat's done to our food supply is really infuriating. I agree with you though that we can make a difference by what we buy.
ReplyDeleteWe don't eat a lot of chicken, and when I buy it, it's always organic. And we don't eat chicken when we eat out.
A raw, vegan week sounds good...
more on the week tomorrow, I'm with you on not eating chicken out.
DeleteI've had to say sayonara myself... and my husband is prettymuch there too. The thing I stress about is ever having kids! How do you even begin to control what they eat at school/a friend's house/etc?? But with how vigilent I am about what I eat, it seems silly to be less so for a defenseless child.
ReplyDeleteMaybe by the time we are ready for that world, it will all be organic ?! :)
All organic, with filtered water everywhere, temperatures where they should be, sounds good to me. With kids I do everything I can at home and they are starting to get it now that they are older and try to make good choices. Do they eat nasty chicken fingers? Sure, just not on my watch.
DeleteI really try to not eat any animal products mainly due to the conditions they are put in. But honestly, once and a while I cheat and will have chicken. I have to remind myself that chickens are one of the worst.
ReplyDeleteThis is horrible. I get UTIs often, but eat chicken maybe once a month. I wonder if I should look more into this.
wow didn't realize you ate so little animal protein. I think "reminder" is a good word because it's easy to think "it's not so bad" when meat from factory farms is nasty.
DeleteWow...this is a good post but I am so turned off to chicken right now.... :(
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, I am almost happy I 'm turned off because it keeps me connected to what's in it and not just good taste.
DeleteSo interesting {and scary} about the e coli and UTI's. I always buy organic and, usually, free range chicken when I cook it at home. I'll admit that in the past I didn't really think about what was being served in restaurants, but more recently I've only been eating meat at restaurants where I know and trust the source. Thanks for sharing Lauren!
ReplyDeleteEA I think most of us, in the past, didn't think what we were being served particularly at a nice restaurant. However, we have to ask because at least the friendly nice restaurants may care and may be serving acceptable chicken etc.
Delete