I'd get rid of it if I were you.
If you have Foster Farms
chicken with the following numbers on the packaging: P6137, P6137A,
P7632, either throw it out or take it back to the store and exchange
it for a non-salmonella tainted batch, or how about a different brand
all together. With 278 reported cases of salmonella poisoning, and
42% of those cases resulting in hospitalization, all the CDC and
Foster Farms have to say is, gee, that's a higher number than normal,
people really ought to be using a meat thermometer when they cook
their chicken. Really. So for the hundreds of thousands of people
that ate chicken in the last month, these guys just happened to cook theirs improperly, I doubt that has much to do with why so many have fallen so ill in such a brief period of time. I believe the real culprit here, besides the despicable business and welfare practices of most companies in the food industry, is cross-contamination.
As someone licensed by
the state of California in food management and safe handling
procedures, and I don't mean a food handler's certificate, I am
licensed to oversee the food handlers, food, and environment in which
it is handled. In the 18 years that I oversaw a restaurant kitchen,
we never had a reported incident of food borne illness and were
actually put on an elite program, by the Health Department, to
receive yearly inspections rather than quarterly or every six months,
as our standards of cleanliness, and lack of reported safety issues,
were above par. And yes, we handled raw meat in that kitchen.
With an established background in food safety, what makes me
think the salmonella outbreak is related to cross-contamination,
well, you can cook your chicken all day long but do you cook your
cutting board, your knife, how about the sponge you clean those
things with, what about your hands? Here's the deal, all chickens
have the possibility of becoming contaminated by salmonella, one sits
around in a vat too long and the bacteria begins to grow, then more
chickens are thrown in there with the contaminated chicken, the
bacteria begins to multiply, then the chickens are processed and all
the machinery, workers and surfaces that these chickens touch, become
contaminated. You, dear consumer, unwittingly take home a package of
this salmonella chicken, you put it in the refrigerator, you take it
out, it sits on the counter, into the sink to get rinsed, onto the
cutting board, into the pan, you wipe your brow with your hands
before washing/bleaching/cooking them thoroughly and there you have
it, a trip to the hospital. I am very curious to know, besides the
number of individuals this has affected, the number of households.
In a situation where you have brought home a product tainted by
salmonella, your only recourse, the only way to be entirely safe, is
to bleach the hell out of everything, including your hands.
This is what the food
industry is telling us, it is our responsibility, as consumers, to
cook the meat thoroughly, bleach, or don't use, a sponge, designate
cutting boards for different tasks, and pray you aren't one of the
unlucky ones who forgets to do all these things and makes themselves
ill. Excuse me, accountability, anyone? Ever notice that meat is
only recalled if it has Mad Cow Disease but any produce that is
related to a food borne illness is immediately recalled, wonder why?
Because you aren't expected to cook all your veggies, but the meat,
that's all on you, not on the companies willing to allow contaminated
product out of their facilities, into stores and into vulnerable
bodies. In some European countries, salmonella has nearly been
eliminated simply by tossing out batches that include any infected
meat, this is considered to be too expensive of a practice to attempt
in the United States. The United Chicken Council even noted that:
"Publicly available data show the prevalence of Salmonella on raw
poultry products has been significantly reduced since the
performance standards were implemented, but the incidence of
salmonellosis in the human population shows no measurable
improvement during the same time period."
"For consumers, the bottom line is that
chicken is safe when properly cooked and handled, and that chicken
producers and processors are continually working to make them even
safer. Instructions for safe handling and cooking are printed on
every package of meat and poultry sold in the United States –
when followed, one can be assured of a safe eating experience every
time."
Its still up to you, its all on the label afterall. Foster
Farms can generate infected meat for the rest of the year (remember,
this is the second outbreak this year, the first was in March) and
never be held accountable for it because it is your responsibility to
cook your meat properly. With that in mind, we can all just stop
buying Foster Farms chicken and if you can afford it, go organic,
right? Coastal Range Organics is Foster Farms line of organic
poultry so beware, just because it says organic, doesn't mean its
safe or being handled better, they also refused to tell me what
“natural flavor” was added to their “organic” ground turkey,
so I've got an issue with them already.
My conclusion, leave
Foster Farms products on the shelves, cook your chicken as you see
fit and keep an eye on what is laying about where in your kitchen.
And please, don't try to cook the salmonella out of the contaminated
batches, its absurd and irresponsible to expect people to tote around
bacteria laden meat and then blame them when it infects other
products, surfaces, or hands, in their kitchen, in my opinion, you are owed uninfected product.
If none of that ruffled
your feathers, the USDA has approved 4 plants in China to process U.S
chicken and then send it back to the U.S. without labeling that the chickens have more stamps in their passports than many of us.
Profit before safety, this is what the warning on meat labels ought to say.
