Chicken: The Unhealthy White Meat

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Chicken: The Unhealthy White Meat
by Rachel Naba

Column: Earth Talk Volume 47: People are eating more chicken due to Mad Cow Disease and dieting...but how healthy is it?

Consumption of chicken has increased dramatically in the last two decades; the average North American eats over 50 pounds of chicken each year, which is twice the amount that was consumed twenty years ago. Most people see chicken as a healthy alternative to beef and as a low-fat and wholesome part of their diet. If you add the fact that chicken is cheap, versatile and fast, the unassuming bird seems to be the ideal entree. Meanwhile, the bird that is held in such high regard in our diets is responsible for over 1000 deaths and between 7 million to 80 million illnesses each year in the US alone!

From factory farms to sick birds, the chicken industry is far from wholesome. Time magazine has called chicken Òone of the most dangerous items in the American homeÓ. Recent reports tell us that over 30% of US chicken is contaminated with Salmonella, and 62% is contaminated with Camphylobacter; these two pathogens cause 80% of the illnesses and 75% of the deaths associate with meat consumption, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The chickens we eat are overweight, overgrown, and unhealthy. Yet people happily throw buffalo wings, chicken breasts, drumsticks and frozen dinners into their shopping carts, blind to the realities of eating the popular bird.

Is Chicken A Healthy Meat Alternative?

Fears of cholesterol and high amounts of fat have turned more people on to chicken than ever before. Many people began eating more chicken and less red meat, believing that chicken is a healthier and smarter choice. Unknowing consumers will be surprised to learn that chicken is not a low-fat food, as even light, skinless chicken derives almost 18% of its calories from fat, while skinless roast dark chicken is 32% fat! Reports also show that the cholesterol content of chicken can be comparable to beef at 25 milligrams per ounce. A lower-fat alternative? Possibly, depending on which cut of beef one compares his chicken to, but chicken is definitely not a low-fat food!

Food poison-ing is also a major problem when dea-ling with chick-en. The US Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the number of illnesses caused by chicken tripled between 1988 and 1992; according to Consumer Reports, fewer than 5% of cases of food poisoning are recognized and reported. In the UK, the Government Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food found one in three chilled, raw UK-produced chickens on retail sale was contaminated with Salmonella, while 41% of frozen chickens carried the pathogen.

Salmonella

In the last 20 years or so, Salmonella Enteritidis has become the single most common cause of food poisoning in the United States. Salmonella is particularly adept at infecting chicken flocks without causing visible disease, and it spreads from hen to hen very quickly. Many people have blamed the recent increase in the rise of Salmonella infections on the use of mass production chicken farms. When hundreds of thousands of chickens live together, die together, and are pro-cessed together, a Salmonella infection can rapidly spread through-out the whole food chain. A compounding factor is that chickens from a single farm may be distributed over many cities and states, so Salmonella infections can be rapidly spread through millions of people

After Salmonella is eaten, it passes through the stomach to the intestine, where it binds to the intestinal wall. The Salmonella bacteria produces proteins in response to intestinal conditions which allow it to break through the walls of the intestine, and soon it finds its way into the liver and spleen. Once the bacteria is in the liver, it reproduces and is again introduced back into the intestine. Of course, not all of the Salmonella pass through the intestinal wall, and many of them are expelled from the intestine through diarrhea. Salmonella can then survive in soil and rivers, enabling people or other animals to become infected.

Symptoms of Salmonella include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps that develop 12 to 72 hours after infection. Other symptoms include ing, fever, chills, weakness, and dehydration. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days. If the bacteria enter the blood, blood poisoning, meningitis and death can occur. Some people who are infected with Salmonella will develop Reiter's syndrome, characterized by pains in their joints, irritation of the eyes, and painful urination. It can last for months or years and can lead to chronic arthritis that is difficult to treat.

Campylobacter

Campylobacter jejuni/coli is at the top of the list of pathogenic organisms found on broiler chickens. Studies have shown that this bacteria is very prevalent: in one study, 1144 of 1297 chickens (over 88%) collected from federally-inspected slaughter plants between 1994 and 1995 were infected with the bacteria! In Northern Ireland, 94% of fresh chickens were infested with the bacteria. Campylobacter is said to be the leading cause of food-borne illnesses in the USA and is the most common cause for Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralytic disease that can cause fatal nerve damage.

Symptoms of campylobacteriosis include cramps, chills, pain, fever, nausea, headache, backache and diarrhea. Some cases can be extremely severe and prolonged, and can lead to arthritis and neurological complications.

Campylobacter is very resistant. It can survive on even frozen birds for three months. The bacteriaÕs resistance to normal antibiotic treatment is rising, and the illness is becoming more difficult to treat.

Listeria

Listeria is an illness that can be caused by chicken meat that is less commonly known. It has been found in up to 66% of fresh and frozen chicken products, and it has been found to be able to survive microwave cooking. Listeria can cause miscarriage, still birth, serious illness in newborns, and death.

The Chicken Business

Chicken is big business, and as news of Mad Cow disease and other threats from eating red meat spread, sales are on the rise. Gone are the days when chickens roamed freely among the farm, laying eggs naturally and eating grain and small bugs as is their nature... todayÕs chicken farms are full of tiny cages that are overcrowded with birds, whose beaks are cut so that they do not kill each other while fighting for room in their cramped quarters. Chicken feed is nowhere near natural, and chickens are consuming rendered animal parts that have been banned from bovine (cow) and human consumption. It is called Òfactory farmingÓ, and the practice is endangering the lives of chickens as well as humans.

Factory Farms

More than 90% of chickens and eggs are produced on factory farms in the USA. Chickens are either penned up in tiny cages, unable to move (this is common for egg-laying hens) or are placed in huge pens with thousands of other chickens. Regardless of their cage, factory-farmed chickens have little to no room to move, and dead and dying birds can be found throughout the pens or cages. The chickens also have to face intense heat.

Meat chickens are usually given less than 1/2 a square foot in which to move. Their beaks are cut off to reduce injuries caused by cramped quarters. Disease spreads quickly. Chicken live and breathe in excrement, which not only makes them sick, but affects the meat that we eat. They are breathing ammonia-filled air and are walking in feces and dead birds, and while the toxins fill their lungs as they breathe, their meat becomes tainted and unsafe.

Slaughterhouses

Many people would never again touch a bite of meat if they were to witness the activities and filth in a slaughterhouse. Chicken slaughterhouses are notorious for their filth, hazardous practices, unsanitary conditions and the dirty meat they produce. Birds are processed at such fast speeds that quality is all but ignored.

Worker conditions inside slaughterhouses are degrading. More than 80% of slaughterhouse jobs are held by minorities and women 18-25 years of age, making between $5 and $6 an hour. Their tasks are numbingly repetitive and crippling, and workers gain no skills for their future. ÒThe work often was so fast-paced that it took on a zany chaos, with arms and boxes and poultry flying in every direction. At break times I would find fat globules and blood speckling my glasses, bits of chicken caught in my collar, water and slime soaking my feet and ankles, and nicks covering my wrists,Ó Wall Street Journal writer Tony Horwitz wrote in his 1994 undercover investigation of slaughterhouses. Maggots and larvae breed in storage and transport tubs and boxes, on the floor, in equipment and packaging, and on the conveyer belt. Material can almost always be found on coolers, walls, floors and equipment, including excrement, blood, chicken parts, oil, grease, rust, paint, insecticides and rodent droppings, to name but a few.

The chickens that are processed in the slaughterhouses are far from appetizing. Up to 25% of slaughtered chickens on inspection lines are covered with feces, bile and feed. Dead or diseased animals are slaughtered and put into the food chain. Shipments, when inspected, are found to be contaminated with everything from black grease and metal shards to dead insects and feces. In one shipment alone, inspectors retained 14,000 pounds of chicken speckled with metal flakes, 5000 pounds of rancid necks and 721 pounds of green chicken that made employees gag because of the smell.

Environmental Concerns

Water: It takes roughly 660 gallons of water to produce one pound of chicken, including the skin and bones. Using the same amount of water, farmers could produce 16 pounds of broccoli, soybeans for three pounds of tofu, or wheat for five pounds of whole wheat bread. Annually, the US poultry industry uses over 96.5 gallons of water each year, which is enough to meet the yearly needs of 4.5 million Americans per year.

Energy: To produce a pound of chicken, 1/5 of a gallon of gas is needed, which is 8 times as much fuel needed to produce the same amount of tofu.

Pollution: One large chicken complex produces about 125 tons of manure each day! This manure often finds its way into our water supply or soil. In Arkansas, chickens produce as much waste as 8 million people, which is more than three times the population of the state! Once clean and pristine streams and waterways are now polluted with chicken feces. Other contaminents from chicken farming include: production water, dead animals, silage, bedding, medicines and chemicals.

Unhealthy Chickens

Chickens suffer from many health problems. In the poultry industry, bigger is better, and birds are forced to experience multiple growth-enhancing techniques to ensure that they are big, meaty and ready for sale long before they naturally mature.

Broiler chickens (common meat chickens) grow very quickly, thanks to advances in breeding. These chickens are no longer the natural birds we once chased after on family farms: they are hybrids made from various types of chickens genetically bread for fatter breasts and resistance to disease. While it used to take 90 days for a chicken to make its weight for slaughter, chickens of today are ready in a mere 35 days. Not only is the time to grow a chicken reduced by more than half, but the amount of food they require has also been lessened, thanks to genetic engineering. In the 1950Õs chickens were fed three pounds of grain, but now they need only 1.7 pounds of feed for every pound of meat! These changes produce overgrown, unhealthy chickens, as they are forced to put on too much body weight in too short of an amount of time for their skeleton to support the weight. Because the skeletal system grows at its natural pace, it becomes soft and malleable under the enormous pressure put on it by the chickens size. In all, chickens have multiple health problems, which include:

Heart and Lung Problems: The heart and lungs have a hard time keeping up with the needs of the chicken that is growing too quickly for its own body. Heart attacks and accumulation of venous blood in body cavities (ascites syndrome) are common, and suffocation and death occur. Dust and ammonia prevalent in the environment attack the lungs, and the birds develop respiratory infections.

Skeletal Issues: Abnormal weight gain causes the skeletal system to become weak. Bone deformities, Òkinky backÓ, and paralysis often occur. Crippled birds starve and are attacked by other birds fighting for food and space. A high number of leg problems are seen in all commercial flocks, as bones simply cannot hold the weight of the overgrown chicken.

Surgeries: Male chickens are debeaked, detoed, and their combs are cut off. Meanwhile, they have been bred for hyperaggressiveness, and they injure hens. They are typically given less food than needed, so they are kept chronically hungry.

Lack of Sleep: Chicks are forced to start eating immediately and are kept in light much of the time to encourage eating and quick growth. They then do not sleep enough, and this affects their health and immunity.

Diet: Chickens are fed an unnatural diet that contains poultry and other animal products. Their feed contains bones, feathers, blood, offal, manure, grease, fishmeal, and diseased animal parts. Chicken feed contains things that have been banned for cows and humans, and include diseased rendered animals, roadkill and waste. Most producers of poultry feed, such as Perdue, refuse to reveal the composition of the feed.

More Poultry Facts

90% of the poultry production in the USA is controlled by ten companies. Four companies control fifty percent of the broiler industry
.Chickens are soaked in chlorine baths to remove slime and odor.
Some slaughterhouses that, by law, must be inspected at least once per shift, sometimes allow two weeks or more to pass without inspection.
The USDA has no authority to recall contaminated meat or to regulate farms. Chickens contaminated with salmonella, campylobacter and other diseases are sold to consumers regularly. Furthermore, the USA Code of Federal Regulations: Animals and Animal Products allows feces-contaminated birds to be washed off, and birds with tumors can be sold after cutting off the visible diseased portion.
No federal regulations require a Òsell-by dateÓ on chicken or chicken products, so the consumer has no reliable way to know when the chicken was slaughtered.
The term organic, according to the National Organic Program of the US Department of Agriculture, means that chickens for slaughter must be raised under organic management from the second day of their life. Feed products must be 100% organic, but chickens can be provided vitamin and mineral supplements. Birds cannot be given hormones to promote growth or any antibiotics, but vaccines can be used as preventive management. Organic chickens must also have access to the outdoors.

Despite millions of people becoming ill from chicken each year, the USDA continues to stamp every breast, thigh, wing and drumstick with its seal of approval. The fact is that chicken is big business, and neither the government nor the producers care as much about human or animal health as much as they do their profits and bottom line. Consumers must educate themselves and make informed choices. Perhaps if more people knew the truth about chicken raising, both the industry and the agencies regulating it will be forced to act responsibly.