Organic Chickens Have Less Salmonella Than Conventional Chickens, Study Says

There is less salmonella in live organic chicken than in conventionally raised live chickens, according to a study published in the journal Foodborne Pathogens and Diseases.

A team from the University of Georgia, Ohio State University and North Carolina State University tested 300 organic and 400 conventional samples, which included floor droppings, feed sample and drinking water. The scientists concluded that the organic broiler (chickens raised for meat) farms had a 4.3% rate of salmonella prevalence, while the conventional farms rate was nearly seven times that at 28.8%.

Tom Philpott of Grist.com took a look at the study and explained that "39.7 percent of the salmonella found in the conventional birds had resistance to no fewer than six different antibiotics. None of the salmonella from the organic birds showed antibiotic resistance."

Philpott noted that the rules on organic chickens are somewhat subject to interpretation, but at the very least they must not be given any antibiotics or other "animal drugs," nor can there be any "animal slaughter byproducts" in the feed. Beyond that, organic standards may vary.

Comments

[JerryAguy]

07:58 AM on 04/03/2011

Why no stories about the cost of food rising under this president? I guess the advice to plant a garden wasn't a bad idea after all. I wonder how many meals were served at the white house from its garden?

[PLDgyrl]

10:15 AM on 04/03/2011

Your stupid.....

[KurtMichaelFriese]

08:36 PM on 04/06/2011

Actually they've had several stories on HuffPo about the cost of food, but if you think that the Obama administration has much say in that then you are woefully uniformed.

And several meals at the White House were sourced in whole or in part from the garden, and the rest goes to a nearby food bank. Meanwhile there are quite a few money-saving advantages to growing your own food and/or sourcing locally/sustainably. Consider looking into it instead of assuming that an idea is a bad one simply because a Democrat thought of it.

[Reiner-von-Sinn]

11:18 PM on 04/02/2011

Visit a large, industrial poultry farm and processing plant and you'll wonder why everybody isn't sick all the time.

Support your local, organic farmer or co-op.

[pita143]

09:19 PM on 04/02/2011

There would be far more problems with chicken if people would learn how to hands fresh chicken. Far too many people do not bleach or clean their cutting boards after cutting a chicken which can easily lead to cross contamination and illness. Few home cooks really know what temperature to cooks meats to and few of them have a probe thermometer to find what temp they are cooking their foot to.
the solution is easy, buy plastic cutting boards for chicken and for meats and veggies. Wash those cutting boards WITH BLEACH and allow them to air dry.

[William Waterway Marks]

02:42 PM on 04/02/2011

In a way - makes common sense. Where I live on the island of Martha's Vineyard - we try to buy local - which, when it comes to chicken, eating organic chicken and organic, free-range chicken eggs.

[rockthecook]

01:42 PM on 04/02/2011

Wow! Really? You wouldn't say?

[raker]

09:25 AM on 04/02/2011

Raw chicken is not intrinsically toxic. There was a time before the era of reckless Republican deregulation when raw meat was not a biohazard. Raise and slaughter chicken carefully and humanely and naturally it will be less prone to carry salmonella.

[MANGO K]

02:50 AM on 04/01/2011

What you sow, ye shall reap. What you eat, might make you weep...

[Lucas Ventura]

11:34 PM on 03/31/2011

As a raw foods advocate, I recognize the importance of organic farming and animal husbandry practices. In future studies, I hope to see more details on differences between caged, indoor, and pastured chickens.
Salmonella thrives, as most pathogens do, in conditions that are more confined (more hosts within closer quarters), warmer (packed indoors, rather than in open air), and lacking sanitary conditions (on contaminated soil, rather than having enough ground to roam freely on to stay away from the animal's own feces). There is certainly more science to it, than just those simple concepts, but those generalizations hold true to scientific data.
Hopefully, a consistent and high standard for poorly regulated terms such as "free range" and "organic" and even "sustainable" will come into play in the food industry. At present, these terms are dubious and abused, which makes a challenging situation for the consumer to sift through half-truths and deceptive labeling.
For those of us that are fortunate enough to have access to good farmer's markets, it is my opinion that the best quality eggs be purchased from local farms (although it is true that deception occurs in these places, too). And though I have yet to see chicken meat at these markets, I have seen many that are attended by pastured cattle farmers.
Another great option, if you are lucky to live someplace that has such a luxury, is a raw foods market, such as Rawesome, in Santa Monica CA (I promise I don't represent the company).

[FlaviaDeLuce]

12:42 PM on 04/01/2011

well said, organic is the way to go

[pita143]

09:22 PM on 04/02/2011

The problem is the label of "Organic" can be very misleading because the Government has lowered the standards so much that many operations that are NOT really Organic can label themselves as Organic. You really need to do your homework to insure you are truly getting Organic stuff. I am lucky enough to live in Central NY and we have some great farms in the area. I trust the small family farms much more than what I get in the grocery store. We also have a small chicken farm that ONLY allows free range chickens. The taste of those chickens and eggs are far superior to corporate farms products.

[O Dannyboy]

08:18 PM on 03/31/2011

In response, Republican legislators from the Chicken Belt states have advanced the It Is Illegal For Organic Chicken To Have Less Salmonella Than Conventional Chicken bill.

Analysts predict easy passage in the House, constipation in the Senate, and nauseau everywhere else.

By the way can we pause to recall that for most of human history and all pre-history, Organic = Conventional? The petro-fed, GMO'd, Frankensteined method is the never-fully-tested, "radical" approach.

Find a local CSA. Subscribe. Eat clean meat and vegetables. Get less salmonella.

[Finnegans Wake]

01:39 PM on 03/31/2011

What about pastured chickens? I would bet the incidence of salmonella or listeria at sustainably-raised pastured farms to be much, much lower than organic chickens that aren't pastured.

[exoticdoc2]

10:26 AM on 03/31/2011

Chicken with less salmonella? COOKED!

[Shadow Karl]

07:14 PM on 03/31/2011

In simply pulling the chicken out of its packages salmonella can get on cutting surfaces, counters, and eventually on other food. The fact that you can't see it makes its presence a big problem. Once it gets onto your food anywhere you're going to wish you were buying organic. That is the problem with bacteria, the more of it there is and the more prevalent it gets the more likely even sanitary food preparation practices won't be enough to avoid outbreaks of it.

[O Dannyboy]

08:20 PM on 03/31/2011

Yeah, I mean who cares about potentially fatal micro organisms ramopant in the food supply.

[J David Auner]

09:48 AM on 03/31/2011

Wonder if the organic guys object to photos of their chickens? Do 4 week old chickens start dying suddenly in the organic houses too? Is grain-fed better than some organic chicken? What about an organic chicken webcam?

[CR46]

10:15 AM on 03/31/2011

You are welcome to come and film my free range chickens at anytime. Though I only produce enough to keep my family and a few friends in eggs.

:)

[Adam Betz]

12:13 PM on 03/31/2011

I'm liking the organic chicken webcam idea .... You could call it something like "All-Natural Chicks".

I'm sure you would get so much redirected and unintentional traffic, and make millions :D

[Sungaal]

01:16 PM on 03/31/2011

LOL Brilliant!

[stansmusic]

09:00 AM on 03/31/2011

This is a perfect example of the "sleaze factor" driven by greed and an open system of keynesian rule.
Why do we have to make it a law for growers to make our food safe to eat? Imaging this scenario:
You are seated at a restaurant. Next to you, is a grower having dinner with his family, and you say out loud: "That guy right next to me, grows chickens that stand in their own urine, feces, and decaying body parts from chickens killing each other...." Do you really think anyone else would say anything? Do you really think the restaurant would throw him out? Do you really think there is anything that would keep the police from arresting you for harrassment if they were called? NO, because almost everyone unconsciously can't process the information, as their belief levl is contorted by having eaten thousands of chickens and hasn't become sick or seen someone die from it.
How screwed up are we?

[J David Auner]

09:54 AM on 03/31/2011

Straight, oxidized fat molecules from the fryer vats across the country are fed to chickens. When the correct research is done, I think we will find these molecules accumulating on the receptors for p-par gamma which is part of the cascade for insulin receptor construction. Cheap chicken to diabetes. Diabetes to obesity.

[Free Thinker2012]

02:23 PM on 03/31/2011

Food, inc.

[Subsoil73]

10:35 AM on 04/01/2011

"Why do we have to make it a law for growers to make our food safe to eat?"

Why do we have to hang up signs in restaurant restrooms saying that workers must wash their hands before returning to work.

And how is their belief contorted? Their belief is PROVEN by eating thousands of chickens and not becoming sick. It's the organic producers that are marketing half-truths and misinformation in order to increase sales and charge more for their product.

[stansmusic]

10:18 PM on 04/01/2011

Hi...well don't we also eat crap in place of real food? And I agree about the organic thing...when nit comes to money.in this case, saving expenses on growing FULLY organically.....it's, once againg, all about the money. The reason most people dn't get sick, is that most everyone really does pay attention and cook their chicken to at least 170 degrees internal.
I havbe always thought it funny, that we go "ewwwwww" to some of the things the japanese eat, that are poisonous if not prepared properly, when we are essentially doing the same thing.....PLUS, deliberately adding poisens to our food in many cases. The issue over HF corn syrup is screwed up too.....in the alteration of the sugar, they really do change a molecule into one the body doesn't "recognize" and therefore slings it around like a red haired stepchild.

[aisabri]

03:47 AM on 03/31/2011

Does anyone who has no problem with eating non-organic, non-free range animals know precisely what else they are getting with their meat besides antibiotics?

Unfortunately state social, economic and other policies are not primarily oriented towards the promotion of health (whether human or more broadly ecological).

[Adam Betz]

12:19 PM on 03/31/2011

Probably not .... quantities and doses of antibiotics given to farm-raised animals is not one of those things that are printed on food packaging labels. And even if a law was passed to make it so, it would be tough to implement - meat packaging and processing facilities take in animals from a variety of different sources, with different methods in how they are raised. Given that, it would be nearly impossible to say precisely where the origin of meat came from.

The problem is that organic / free-range does not protect you from this problem, either. Unless you are buying directly from the farmer themselves, can you honestly say you know where your meat came from, and under what conditions it was raised?

Most people would prefer to eat organic meat, as I think its commonly believed that organic is healthier than conventional (I also believe this). But once again, the biggest decision factor for consumers at the grocery store falls on price.

[Finnegans Wake]

01:49 PM on 03/31/2011

"The problem is that organic / free-range does not protect you from this problem, either. Unless you are buying directly from the farmer themselves­, can you honestly say you know where your meat came from, and under what conditions it was raised?"

That's a great point. I would love to see people buying from farmers, preferably farmers who practice sustainability and raise livestock on pasture (as opposed to grain), and actually going out to visit the farms.

I know a bunch of farmers on a first-name basis, and have visited the farms to see what sort of conditions exist there. When I do buy "on the grid," it's always with a feeling of compromise.

[asmir]

02:59 AM on 03/31/2011

they don't call poultry fowl for nothing! ever left a few bones in the trash overnight to wake up to the most putrid smell ever. I refuse to cook anything but turkey as I let Popeyes do the yard bird!