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Salmonella: Why it’s a chicken and egg thing

Every year, food tainted with Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria causes nearly 3 million illnesses in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among those sickened by Salmonella, 26,500 will be hospitalized and 420 will die, accruing an estimated $365 million in direct medical costs. Though Campylobacter is less likely to lead to hospitalization or death, it’s still no fun, causing diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and, in some cases, long-term health problems. Preschoolers and the elderly are most at risk.

These pathogens can lurk in many different kinds of foods, but chicken and eggs are major sources. Researchers regularly find Salmonella or Campylobacter…

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Featured

 With Salmonella, It's A Chicken-Or-Egg Conundrum

Eggs have been getting a bad rap lately as the number of people being made sick by eggs contaminated with salmonella continues to rise. But from an egg's point of view all of this is a bit unfair. Eggs get contaminated because the hen that's laying them is infected. Eggs themselves -- if they come from a healthy bird -- are remarkably resistant to contamination.

Articles of Interest

We're All Cooking Chicken Wrong

You've made 126 different types of banana bread in unison with everyone on earth this past week. Now, take a few minutes to upgrade your chicken prep. If you've ever wept pathetically on your bathroom floor, stomach muscles convulsing with a power you'd marvel at were you not instead wishing for death, you'll get why this matters.

America Is Sick of Chicken

Winner winner, chicken dinner? Not anymore. Chicken is the most consumed meat in the United States but it is literally making us sick.

America’s Food Safety System Failed to Stop a Salmonella Epidemic. It’s Still Making People Sick

For years, a dangerous salmonella strain has sickened thousands and continues to spread through the chicken industry. The USDA knows about it. So do the companies. And yet, contaminated meat continues to be sold to consumers.

Backyard Chickens Carry a Hidden Risk: Salmonella

Salmonella is a bacterial disease people often associate with eating raw cookie dough and other products with undercooked eggs or meat. But it can also be contracted when people put their hands, or equipment, that has been in contact with live poultry, in or around their mouth. Risk of that type of contact increases as backyard birds become more popular. That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t get backyard birds...

Can We Get to Zero Salmonella in Poultry?

People may think that the chicken and turkey they buy at the grocery store is bacteria-free, but the government actually allows some salmonella in the raw poultry that’s sold to the public.

Don't Get Too Close To Your Chickens, Ducks And Geese

Don't snuggle with chickens, ducks or geese. I know what you are thinking: There go your weekend plans. But you're not alone.

Don’t worry about eggs—these other foods are way more likely to give you Salmonella

The good news is that eggs are mostly not to blame for foodborne illnesses, and neither is chicken. The bad news is that there’s not a ton you can do about avoiding the true hiding places of these bacterial pathogens.

Fried, Scrambled, Infected

Salmonella enteritidis in chicken eggs mysteriously began to appear in many countries at about the same time in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One theory, by Andreas J. Bäumler, a microbiologist at the University of California, Davis, ties the bacterium’s emergence to the virtual eradication of two related strains of salmonella that make chickens sick.

Go Ahead, Lick That Spoon

I’ve consumed 360 raw eggs in my life and have never gotten salmonella poisoning. Here’s why.

Got Chicks For Kids? Watch Out For Salmonella!

Many people know that raw eggs can contain bacteria that cause salmonella, and the majority of annual US infections — about 1 million — come from food. The CDC has recommendations for reducing risk of infection. But most of the remaining infections frequently come from animals that carry salmonella, such as chickens, turkeys, snakes, turtles and lizards.

Health Check: how to avoid getting ill from chicken

Most people would know chicken meat can cause Salmonella infections, but there is a lesser known yet more common bacteria that also loves chicken meat and can make you ill. Campylobacter actually causes very similar clinical illness to Salmonella, but is less likely to cause outbreaks (defined as two or more people infected after eating a common food or meal) so gets less publicity than the outbreak-prone Salmonella.

How does salmonella get into eggs?

It may seem that since the inside of an egg is protected by a shell that the whites and the yolk would be protected from salmonella, but contamination usually happens before the shell forms. It occurs when a hen's ovary or oviduct are infected with the salmonella.

Is Your Meat Safe?

Many health experts have raised concerns that the use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry industry -- whether to promote growth or prevent illness -- may contribute to the emergence of new drug-resistant bacteria.

Raw Chicken Isn't the Only Thing Making You Sick

A new report from a US government taskforce has tallied up the food groups most often associated with food poisoning, and it turns out that raw chicken is the least of your worries.

Salmonella in eggs: From shopping to consumption—A review providing an evidence-based analysis of risk factors

Nontyphoidal salmonellae are estimated to be the cause of approximately 153 million cases of gastroenteritis and 57,000 deaths globally each year

The US has a salmonella outbreak caused by eggs, leading to the largest recall since 2010

Salmonella is a genus of bacteria that can spread through chicken droppings and can live on the inside of eggs or their shells. The bacteria can also survive on beef, poultry, fruits, and vegetables. In most cases, food poisoning caused by Salmonella bacteria—also called salmonellosis—isn’t life threatening. In fact, there are over a million cases of salmonellosis annually. However, the CDC warns that the can be fatal in especially old or young populations, or others who have compromised immune systems.

There's a big salmonella outbreak in the US because people keep kissing chickens

A big salmonella outbreak in the US has infected at least 181 people in 40 states. And it's been caused, in part, by people getting a little too close to their live poultry — specifically, kissing and cuddling chicks, chickens, ducks, and ducklings.

This is just a horrifying paragraph about food safety in America

Back in 2013, US officials had good reason to believe that Foster Farms, a company in California, was shipping tainted chicken and causing a massive drug-resistant salmonella outbreak that was sickening hundreds. Yet for months, there was little that regulators could do, legally speaking, to stop it...

To Prevent Disease, Stop Kissing and Snuggling Your Chickens

Backyard flocks blamed for number of salmonella outbreaks.

Un oeuf is enough

Unsafe eggs are the latest food scare.

USDA rethinks approach to controlling salmonella in poultry

Currently, it is legal to sell raw chicken with salmonella bacteria on it, which is why health officials stress the need for safe handling of raw poultry, including thoroughly cooking the meat to kill potential germs. They also warn people should not rinse raw chicken, which can spray bacteria everywhere.

Why The U.S. Chills Its Eggs And Most Of The World Doesn't

We Americans, along with the Japanese, Australians and Scandinavians, tend to be squeamish about our chicken eggs, so we bathe them and then have to refrigerate them. But we're oddballs. Most other countries don't mind letting unwashed eggs sit next to bread or onions.

Resources

CDC

Backyard poultry, like chicken and ducks, can carry Salmonella germs even if they look healthy and clean. These germs can easily spread to anything in the areas where the poultry live and roam. You can get sick from touching your backyard poultry or anything in their environment and then touching your mouth or food and swallowing Salmonella germs.