Consumer Report on Chicken flesh
Consumer Reports carried out tests on 525 chickens purchased from local supermarkets, mass retailers, gourmet shops and natural food stores in 23 states. What they found is disturbing: 83% of chickens tested contained Campylobacter and Salmonella. This is a substantial increase from their 2003 study that showed 49% tested positive for one or both pathogens.
According to the National Institutes of Health, Campylobacter is the most common foodborne illness in the United States, infecting 2.4 million, hospitalizing 10,000 and killing 100 each year. Salmonella is another common foodborne illness infecting 1.4 million, hospitalizing 40,000 and killing 1,000 people every year in the United States. The most common source of both these organisms is chicken flesh.
Another startling statistic from the Consumer Reports study is that 84% of the salmonella and 67% of the campylobacter organisms analyzed exhibited resistance to antibiotics.
Read the report