"poultry" news and stories

Even if you don't follow big agriculture as closely as Eric Schlosser or Michael Pollan might, we're pretty sure that at some point in the last few years you've recoiled at brutal undercover footage of poultry workers stomping chickens to death, or cringed watching sick cattle being prodded on their way to slaughter. The images, captured by groups like The Humane Society of the United States or PETA, reflect a disturbing reality for some of the animals we raise for meat in our country, and have helped propel issues of humane handling and greater food safety much closer to our dinner tables.

Now the government is hoping meat and poultry producers might choose to do some videotaping of their own.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued draft guidelines designed to help producers implement in-plant video monitoring as a way to improve operations. Federally inspected processing plants may chose to use video or other electronic recording equipment "for various purposes including ensuring that livestock are handled humanely, that good commercial practices are followed, monitoring product inventory, or conducting establishment security," according to the release.

Farmed-animal welfare advocate, Dr. Temple Grandin, is supportive of video monitoring in meat processing plants.

Eating a peach that's tree-ripened and so full of life that the juice dribbles down your chin when you take a bite is to know what fresh tastes like. But sometimes, says Melissa Clark, in this New York Times story, unripe peaches are where it's at. For this dish, photographed by Andrew Scrivani, Clark used the hardest peaches she could find, so they would stand up to roasting with chicken thighs, fragrant basil, ginger, garlic, and wine. It worked, and the dish, a classic combination of poultry and fruit, produced plenty of pan juices for sopping up with bread. (For Melissa's recipe, click here.)

The peach as we know it has, through selective breeding, been made firm enough to travel great distances. Yet flavor is often lost along the way. California farmer David Mas Masumoto, who grows some of the country's best organic peaches and nectarines, writes beautifully in his book 'Epitaph for a Peach' about what it takes to grow and nurture the tender fruit, and about life, through good times and hard times, on his family's farm.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool for a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is stepping up its standards for young chicken (broilers) and turkey inspections to reduce contamination by Salmonella and Campylobacte, CNN.com reported.

This marks the first revisions to the Salmonella standards for chicken since 1996 and the first-ever standards for Campylobacter, a corkscrew-shaped bacteria that can cause diarrhea, pain, fever and abdominal cramping. The new guidelines set standards for poultry slaughter facilities to prevent contamination and offer best-practices to keep live birds bacteria-free.

The USDA estimates that the new Salmonella standards will result in 26,000 fewer illnesses from contamination during the first two years of their implementation. The new Campylobacter standards should help avoid 39,000 illnesses.

"There is no more important mission at USDA than ensuring the safety of our food, and we are working every day as part of the President's Food Safety Working Group to lower the danger of foodborne illness," Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

"The new standards announced today mark an important step in our efforts to protect consumers by further reducing the incidence of Salmonella and opening a new front in the fight against Campylobacter."

Two supermarket chains pulled College Inn No MSG Chicken Broth from store shelves after Del Monte Foods Co. issued a voluntary recall for mislabeling, the Associated Press reports.

The broth contains a wheat allergen left off the label in addition to monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer.

Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. and Giant Food Supermarkets both pulled the product over the weekend, the AP said. Del Monte told Slashfood in a statement it had not received reports of illness related to consumption of the mislabeled broth.

Cans included in the recall are 14.5 ounces with the UPC 2400032230.

"College Inn values the health and well-being of its consumers, and regrets this situation," Del Monte spokeswoman Chrissy Stengel told Slashfood in a statement.

Are you concerned about food safety? Tell us about it in the comments below.

[Via Associated Press]

Two-thirds of all store-bought whole broiler chickens contain salmonella and/or campylobacter, according to a study by Consumer Reports.

The magazine tested 383 chickens it purchased in 100 supermarkets, gourmet- and natural-food stores, and other mass retailers in 22 states and found an alarmingly high level of contamination.

More than 80 percent of Tyson and Foster Farms chickens contained either one or both salmonella and capylobacter, making them the name-brand chickens with the most contaminates.