Skip to content Skip to navigation

Backyard chickens are boosting salmonella needlessly

I saw recently that the CDC reported that nearly 400 people in 47 states have been sick from salmonella from backyard birds. Although these are mostly egg laying birds involved as most backyard chicken fanciers want the birds for eggs not meat, it reminds me of the quote by Edmund Burke, “Those that don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”Now we are seeing this push to raise birds outside, in some cases, with no concern for their welfare, because people do not have a good understanding of what is best for the birds but project their own needs and comfort somehow to food animals.  No wonder there is an upturn in salmonella cases. We need young people to have experiences raising farm animals as they are our next generation of farmers and we will need them to produce food for the rapidly expanding population.  However, we need to make sure that they have a solid understanding of how food animals should be raised.It is a tragedy when children get a life threatening disease because people do not understand consequences of treating food animals like pets.  The poultry industry has made improvements that have significantly reduced the incidence of food borne illness and will continue to make improvements so that we can enjoy safe food. People can enjoy producing their own food but it should not come with a risk of disease.

Article Link: 
Article Source: 
Meatingplace (free registration required)
category: