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In the U.S ., most poultry that comes from concentrated animal feeding procedures( CAFOs) is laundered in a strong chlorine or other antimicrobial solution as a direction to kill pathogens. 1 The chlorine rinses or sprayings are intended to act as antimicrobials that reduce Salmonella and other common causes of foodborne illness.
The EU, however, does not use chlorine baths on its chicken and craves no part of America’s “chlorinated chicken” either — it has censored U.S. chicken importations since 1997 due to the practice of chlorine cleansing. The concern isn’t inevitably due to the chlorine wash itself, but to the fact that it may allow for poor sanitation and dirty poultry to enter the food supply.
“The real fright is that heavily soiled birds may not be sufficiently sanitized, and that relying on chlorine bath could lead to poorer hygiene criteria overall, ” wrote food security expert Simon Dawson of Cardiff Metropolitan University.
However, the U.K.’s plan to exit from the EU has opened up the issue for debate, as “the two countries ” will have the option to reconsider their current laws, including whether or not to accept “chlorine chicken” from the U.S.
US May Pay to Influence British Media Over Chicken
The U.S. government offered to pay up to $93,257( PS75, 000) for an organization to gather up prominent British writers and take them on tours of U.S. chicken farms. The objective is to create a favorable spin on the U.S. chicken industry as a whole, including the practice of chlorine rinsing. In a tender( a British word for a contract entreat) determined by BuzzFeed News, it’s stated that the purpose of the press tour is to alleviate misconceptions about U.S. farming: 2
“The delusions include animal welfare standards, GMOs and labeling, and the use of antibiotics in livestock production … Media stories about’ industrial scale’ U.S. agriculture, generally focused on so-called’ chlorinated chickens’, are negative, misleading, and often inaccurate.
… Participants will explore small-time, medium, and big farms representing various certification standards( organic, natural, conventional ), research establishments corroborating science-based agricultural practices, government agencies that focus on ensuring food is nutritious and safe, and other relevant institutions connected to U.S. farming.
… The sites should be carefully chosen to be geographically and culturally diverse and reflect the breadth of choice the U.S. buyer has when constructing meat decisions.”
The tender also cited a British survey that found “only 1% of British buyers would buy American meat over British meat.”3 As it stands, the EU allows simply water to decontaminate flesh, which intends imports of chlorine-washed chicken aren’t permitted. The disallow was put in place based on precautionary measures, according to Dawson, who wrote: 4
“When the ban was introduced, officials were keen that food manufacturers should focus on overall hygiene rather than relying on a single chemical decontamination stair to eliminate micro-organisms. It was also believes that the chemical decontamination stair could foster antibiotic resistance.”
CAFO Chicken Softens Up the World
Sir Ian Boyd, manager scientific consultant at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs( Defra ), made the green light to chlorinated chicken in an interview with Sky News, stating there were no health concerns from devouring such meat: 5
“From a health perspective there really isn’t a problem with chlorinated chickens. The issue is about production processes and animal welfare, and that is a values-based choice that people need to construct. My view is that we need to be allowed to attain that choice.”
A briefing from the Centre for Food Policy called Boyd’s statement misleading. One of the briefing’s co-authors, Tim Lang, professor of meat plan at City University, stated, “For the director scientist at Defra to say what he did is not accidental.”6
“Professor Boyd’s statement may be an early sign that Westminster is trying to soften up the public for lower-standard food imports from the U.S ., ” he added. “They are very keen to have a’ trophy’ trade deal post-Brexit and the lowering of U.K. meat safety and animal welfare standards is at stake. We cannot accept what is sure to lead to an unprecedented and revolutionary decline in food quality standards.”7
Chlorine Cleans May Not Remove Bacteria
Research published in mBio grew serious concerns over the use of chlorine launder, exposing that it may not remove bacteria as expected. 8 The study involved spinach infected with listeria and salmonella, which was subjected to chlorine washing.
After the treatment, the bacteria were not killed but rather participated a “viable but non-culturable state( VBNC ), ” meaning they could still cause food poisoning but couldn’t be picked up by standard testing. “These data is demonstrating that VBNC foodborne pathogens can both be generated and evaded detecting by industrial practices while potentially retaining the ability to cause disease, ” the study mentioned. 9
Further, in a compliance guidelines released by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service( FSIS ), it’s explained that chlorine cleanses and sprays have the potential to stimulate impurity worse instead of better, depending on the force of the sea pressure utilized and the direction of the spray 😛 TAGEND
“When applying water rinses and sprayings, establishments should consider the water pressure utilized. Some studies have found that elevated spray pressure may force bacteria into muscle or skin rather than washing it off.
… Rinses or sprays should be designed, installed, and calibrated to remove incidental contamination. When not properly designed or implemented, rinses or sprays may not effectively remove contamination and may even spread impurity from one part of the carcasses to another part or even to adjacent carcasses.”
Aside from the notion that chlorine laundries are simply a course to perpetuate unsanitary and inhumane conditions on poultry farms, the use of chlorine washes, and chilling poultry in chlorinated water, can be achieved through residual disinfection byproducts( DBPs) in the poultry.
DBPs are highly toxic and can be carcinogenic. While studies show poultry chilled in chlorinated water likely lends simply 0.3% to 1% of daily exposure to DBPs, 10 it’s still a contaminant you’re better off avoiding.
Rates of Food Poisoning Higher in US
The British have a right to be concerned about opening their refrigerators to U.S. meat, considering an analysis by Sustain uncovered rates of foodborne illness in the U.S. are significantly higher than in the U.K. They found that, annually, 14.7% of the U.S. population suffers from foodborne illness, compared against 1.5% in the U.K. 11
Kath Dalmeny, chief executive of Sustain, said in a news release, “Our analysis shows that if we are adopting imported flesh without robust standards, we may also import increased food poisoning and possibly even fatalities. The U.S. is demanding we drop our meat standards for trade, but our research appearances cheap U.S. meat will come at a cost to our health and economy.”1 2
Indeed, chicken is easily one of the most polluted meat in the U.S. and also has a weak nutritional profile compared to other protein generators, including pasture-raised chicken.
One study by the USDA Agricultural Research Service( ARS) found that chicken tests gathered at the end of production after having been cut into proportions, as you would purchase in the grocery store, had an astonishing positive rate of 26.2% impurity with salmonella. 13 Many people are not aware that chicken is responsible for an alarming number of cases of foodborne illness every year.
According to U.S. CDC statistics, there were 5,760 reported foodborne outbreaks between 2009 and 2015, ensuing in 100, 939 sickness, 5,699 hospitalizations and 145 fatalities. 14 Of these, chicken was responsible for the most outbreak-associated maladies — 3,114 healths in total( 12% ).
Salmonella contamination is of particular concern, as data suggests multidrug-resistant salmonella has become particularly prevalent. And raw chicken becomes a notorious carrier of salmonella, campylobacter, clostridium perfringens and listeria bacteria. 15 Even a significant number of urinary tract infections may be caused by polluted chicken. 16
Inspection Standards Not Being Met
A June 2018 FSIS report found that the extent of salmonella contamination in U.S. chicken constituents is largely unknown because 35% of huge chicken-slaughter facilities in the U.S. are not meeting FSIS inspection standards. 17
Perhaps in response, in November 2018 FSIS for the first time publically published chicken producers and their rankings on salmonella safety standards, which are updated each week as new samples are tested.
The higher-rankings range from category 1 to 3. Category 1 describes facilities that had less than 50% of the maximum permissible salmonella during the testing window. Category 2 describes facilities that had more than 50%( but still within the maximum let ), while category 3 is the worst — facilities that exceeded the maximum level of salmonella. 18
If you look at the FSIS higher-rankings, 19 what you’ll notice is the frequency of category 2 and 3 on the listing. A category 3 ranking isn’t grounds for immediate suspension, either. Instead, FSIS notifies facilities if they don’t gratify standards and at that point decides whether further action is needed.
Don’t Buy Raw CAFO Chicken
As recently as the 1920 s, chickens were raised chiefly for their eggs — not their flesh. Back then, chicken meat was expensive , not considered very tasty and only available seasonally, as chickens were typically slaughtered in the autumn after they were no longer are essential for laying eggs.
Unfortunately, it’s virtually impossible to mass-produce clean, safe, optimally nutritious foods at rock-bottom rates, chicken included, which is why most people are better off avoiding CAFO chicken — whether it came from the U.S. or elsewhere. If you can’t imagine giving up chicken, procuring a neighbourhood grass fed farmer heighten chickens on grassland is the safest, and healthiest, route to go.
There are farmers employing poultry-centered regenerative agriculture systems, in which tall grass and trees protect the fowls from piranhas instead of enclosures — in addition to optimizing soil temperature and moisture content, obtaining excess nutrients that the chickens sediment, bringing up valuable minerals from below the soil surface and being a high-value perennial crop.
It’s the opposite of CAFOs — regenerating the property instead of destroying it, raising chickens humanely instead of cruelly and producing nutritionally superior, safe meat. You might even consider developing your own backyard chickens. You can also try leaving all CAFO chicken at the storage and opting for another chicken-produced food instead: eggs, particularly organic pastured varieties.
While chicken is advertised as a healthy informant of protein, due to contamination concerns, stick with only non-CAFO pastured chicken or eggs. Whole eggs are an excellent source of protein, healthy fats( omega-3) and antioxidants, including choline, together with vitamins A, D, E and K.
Pastured eggs can provide you with much of the nutrition that CAFO chickens cannot, without the risks of contamination( and no chlorine rinsing expected ).
Read more: articles.mercola.com
