Salmonella isn't just a problem for large chicken producers.
Salmonella isn't just a problem for large chicken producers.
December 7, 2015
This story was written and originally published by Reveal, a new public radio show and podcast from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. Learn more at revealnews.org.
This looks like a humble black work boot with a filthy white sock over it. But it actually is a secret weapon in the fight against salmonella, a microscopic bacteria that can make people sick.
It’s one of many things farmers in Denmark have started doing since surging human illnesses prompted the country to no longer tolerate the bacteria in its chicken. It’s pretty simple: Danish farmers wear the socks over their boots when they’re in chicken houses to gather samples of the bacteria in the chickens’ poop.
If those socks test positive for salmonella, all the birds in that house are declared contaminated. The house must be thoroughly cleaned out after the chickens are killed. The meat can be offered to customers only if it is cooked before being sold.
The United States is far more tolerant of salmonella. There’s no mandate to control it on the farms or hatcheries that raise chickens for slaughter. Limited testing is required only at the final step: the slaughterhouse. By that time, chickens already can be carrying the bacteria in their guts, its natural habitat. Or it can be on their feathers, feet or skin from their feces. It can spread from carcass to carcass during processing. While processors try to clean the bacteria off the skin and meat with chemicals, some often escapes removal.
That means that if you want to eat chicken in the U.S., salmonella is a risk you have to live with. It’s one that’s getting more prominent, too. Americans are eating more chicken than ever as they move away from red meat. Antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria can make it harder to combat. And it can be fatal.
After a 2013 outbreak linked to Foster Farms in California, Reveal and a number of other media organizations—including The New Yorker, The Oregonian and FRONTLINE—have uncovered holes in our food safety system that allow people to get sick from our most popular meat.
Here’s a list of what you should know before you eat your next chicken dinner.
1. It’s legal to sell raw chicken that has bacteria on it that could kill you.
In the U.S., it’s simply accepted that salmonella may be on the raw chicken we buy in the grocery store. In fact, about 25 percent of raw chicken pieces like breasts and legs are contaminated with the stuff, according to federal data.
Not all strains of salmonella make people sick. Cooking the raw meat can kill the bacteria that is dangerous, but you still can get sick if you don’t handle it exactly right. There’s a chance of contaminating the cutting board, the knife, the kitchen counter and the sink. Here’s official guidance on how to deal with your chicken before it is your dinner.
If you do get sick, it can be a lot worse than a few days with an upset stomach. Salmonella can cause diarrhea so bad that it can lead to hospitalization. When illness is severe, infection can spread from the intestines into the bloodstream and to other places in the body. The illness can be truly gruesome. Without treatment with antibiotics, people can die.
Rick Schiller’s infected leg swelled to twice its normal size, thanks to salmonella from Foster Farms chicken. His purple limb was filled with a “chunky, meatlike substance” that a doctor drained with a syringe. Noah Craten, an 18-month-old, had a persistent fever for nearly a month. Doctors eventually found abscesses on his brain, which they linked to a salmonella infection in his bloodstream.
Every year, about 48 million people in the U.S. get sick from foodborne illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But not all pathogens are created equal. The New Yorker puts this well:
About 200,000 of those illnesses come from poultry every year. Chicken is a common source for salmonella infection in people.
When the Foster Farms outbreak occurred, the processing plants in question were easily meeting the federal salmonella standard, which allows 7.5 percent of whole chickens tested to be contaminated.
But that standard applies only to whole carcasses—not the cut-up pieces, such as breasts, wings and thighs that most shoppers buy. When birds are cut up, salmonella may be released from the skin. And birds can contaminate each other while they’re being cut up and when the pieces are mixed together.
That helps explain why a processing plant could be meeting current federal regulations but still making lots of people sick. The standard also does not distinguish between strains of salmonella that are harmless to humans and those that are the most dangerous.
Currently, the government has standards for whole carcasses and ground chicken, not individual parts sold at supermarkets. New rules are in the works that would change this, but they likely won’t be finalized until early next year. Plus, the proposed standard would represent only an improvement over the current level of contamination of chicken parts —about 25 percent—by still allowing 15.4 percent of them to carry the bacteria.
4. There’s no requirement to test chickens for salmonella where it spreads—on the farm.
The only regulation of salmonella in our chicken meat occurs at the slaughterhouse. But healthy birds can acquire and spread the bacteria to each other long before that. Most strains don’t make them sick; the chickens are just carriers.
“We have such a convoluted food safety system in the United States,” saidGreg Gunthorp, who has a very small processing plant on his farm in Indiana where he slaughters chickens. He describes an imaginary line around his processing plant. Inside it, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has “ultimate jurisdiction,” but out on the pasture where the birds grow, “they couldn’t come out here if they wanted to,” he said.
Chickens can get salmonella from the breeding flocks that produce them. The chicks can pick it up at hatcheries, grow houses or pastures on farms where they fatten up. Any measures that producers take to control salmonella in those places are entirely voluntary.
USDA food safety inspectors have no authority to try to force breeders, hatcheries or growers to reduce or eliminate salmonella, no matter what the strain, even if it has been linked to an outbreak of human illness.
By failing to control salmonella at the source, even back to the breeding flocks, the bacteria is allowed to spread throughout the whole life cycle of the chicken. In the slaughterhouse, the bacteria gets on to the meat. Processors try to blast it off with chemicals to meet the federal standard, but that allows some meat to head out to consumers contaminated with salmonella.
5. Processing plants aren’t shut down when they’re cranking out contaminated birds.
In the midst of the Foster Farms outbreak, one of the plants in question was shut down—not for salmonella, but for cockroaches. After many months of reported illnesses, Foster Farms eventually did recall some chicken at the government’s request. But that recall was voluntary.
The USDA cannot shut down poultry processing plants even when they have violated its salmonella standard year after year. That’s because the government doesn’t classify salmonella as what’s known as an adulterant. It is instead treated as a normal part of chicken that’s a potential hazard but can be destroyed by proper cooking.
The USDA tried to shut down a beef processing plant that was consistently failing its salmonella tests in the late ’90s. But a 2001 court ruling found that the government couldn’t do so because the bacteria wasn’t an adulterant. Once something is considered an adulterant, it cannot be sold as food for human consumption unless it has been inactivated by cooking or some other process.
6. Efforts to reform the system have been opposed by the industry and failed.
So why not decree salmonella an adulterant? The USDA did so with E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef after a 1993 outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants killed four children and sickened hundreds of other people.
But testifying at a congressional hearing last year, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said his agency does not have the authority to declare salmonella an adulterant, even for antibiotic-resistant strains like those implicated in the Foster Farms outbreak.
Members of Congress, such as Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., have disputed that interpretation of the law. DeLauro told Vilsack at the hearing that the agency should ask Congress for more authority if it lacks it. Today, she says there’s been no such request from the USDA.
DeLauro argues that the USDA doesn’t want to take on the food industry on this issue because the agency has too many conflicting priorities.
“I have advocated for many, many years a single food safety agency, because the USDA—where trade always trumps food safety—they have too many missions,” she said. “They have to sell a product, they have to market a product and then they have responsibility for food safety, which takes a secondary position.”
If the agency were to declare any strains of salmonella an adulterant, it almost certainly would face a legal challenge from the industry. But it’s worth noting that the USDA tangled in court with the beef industry over E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef and won.
Consumer advocates and members of Congress have strongly advocated for at least some dangerous strains of salmonella to be labeled. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit advocacy organization, petitioned the USDA to declare four strains of antibiotic-resistant salmonella an adulterant, which would mean recalling meat and poultry when the pathogen is detected instead of waiting for human illness to strike. Earlier this year, DeLauro and Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., introduced legislation that would require the USDA to recall meat and poultry contaminated with pathogens that are resistant to two or more antibiotics considered important for human medicine. But so far, neither of those efforts has gained traction.
Industry lobbyists have fought attempts to crack down on salmonella. They say the price of chicken would go up and farmers would suffer if salmonella were labeled as an adulterant.
“If salmonella did become an adulterant, it has the possibility of wiping out about a third of the chicken supply in the U.S.,” said Ashley Peterson, senior vice president for science and technology for the National Chicken Council.
7. Avoiding industrial chicken by buying local isn’t any safer.
Smaller isn’t better when it comes to controlling salmonella at chicken processing plants, a Reveal analysis of more than nine years of USDA data shows. Samples taken from very small processing plants had higher rates of salmonella than those from small or large ones, records show. Samples from the largest plants had the lowest rates of contamination.
For some smaller plants, there’s a trade-off between controlling salmonella and other values. Some purposefully avoid washing the carcasses with harsh chemicals such as chlorine after they’ve been processed. Being chlorine-free can be a selling point for some customers. Europe banned such chlorine treatment in the ’90s out of fear that it could cause cancer, NPR reported.
Kadejan, a very small processing plant in Glenwood, Minnesota, processes about 7,000 birds a week without chlorine. Since 2008, Kadejan has shown up on the official list of plants failing to meet the USDA salmonella standard over and over again.
“The standard doesn’t make a lot of sense in our opinion,” says Weston Gienger, who works in company operations for Kadejan. “We have never had any issues with anyone getting sick.”
8. Raising backyard chickens won’t protect you, either.
You don’t have to eat your chicken to get salmonella from it. As backyard chickens have become more popular, salmonella outbreaks from live poultry have risen, too.
When DeAnna and Dan Gabriele’s 14-year-old son ended up in the hospital in 2013 with chest pain and a 103-degree fever, his parents say doctors suspected cancer. Fluid had built up around his heart and lungs. But the cause was salmonellosis – an infection from salmonella. It took the lacrosse and football player months to recover. The source of the infection: chicks from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries in Ohio. The Gabrieles had backyard chickens.
The Gabrieles’ son didn’t have to get sick. Although the family had no idea, the hatchery had been fighting a serious salmonella problem linked to hundreds of illnesses and two deaths in the previous two years.
But salmonella isn’t regulated in hatcheries. So the Ohio hatchery went on selling chicks carrying the bacteria. The year the Gabrieles’ son got sick, the hatchery was linked to 158 reported illnesses. The year after that, the problem continued, with 363 people known to have gotten sick in 43 states.
The CDC offers this advice on protecting yourself from illness if you have backyard poultry. Pro tip: Wash your hands—a lot.
9. Antibiotic-resistant strains of salmonella are on the rise.
Salmonella is an old problem, but it has gotten worse as antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria have developed.
The strains of salmonella Heidelberg involved in the Foster Farms outbreak were resistant to several commonly prescribed antibiotics, according to the CDC. The good news was that those antibiotics were not ones typically used to treat salmonella blood infections or other severe infections from the bacteria.
Still, the agency noted that being infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria can lead to increased risk of hospitalization. Nearly 40 percent of the patients known to have been sickened by the Foster Farms outbreak ended up in the hospital.
Resistance may spread across classes of drugs, rendering whole groups of them less-effective antidotes. It may require the use of more expensive drugs. In the worst-case scenario, it can make severe infections impossible to treat.
10. Other countries don’t stand for salmonella the way we do.
Some European countries have taken a different approach to controlling salmonella in poultry—by reining it in long before the birds make it to the slaughterhouse. After a spike in salmonella infections from chickens in the ’80s, Denmark managed to reduce salmonella in its chicken to almost nil. The country now goes years without a single reported illness from salmonella in its chicken meat.
The Danes have managed to control it in breeding flocks, going so far as to slaughter infected ones. In grow houses, farmers adhere to strict biosecurity controls, from hand-washing to changing their clothes frequently. They put on a different pair of coveralls and boots before entering each chicken house on the farm, so that if one house is contaminated, the bacteria won’t be spread to the next.
And then there are the socks. Danish farmers put them over their boots to pick up chicken manure, so each flock’s poop can be tested for salmonella. Birds from Danish flocks that test positive cannot be sold as raw meat in the supermarket. It must be cooked before it reaches consumers as sandwich meat or other ready-to-eat foods.
Back here in the U.S., chicken industry lobbyists say it’s not fair to compare our country with Denmark, which is much smaller and produces much less chicken. Also, the chicken meat there is more expensive: as much as almost double the average U.S. price at between $4 and $6 a pound.
It’s not just Denmark that’s taken on salmonella. Europe as a whole managed to cut its rate of salmonella infection dramatically in a five-year period, according to the European Food Safety Authority.
In the U.S., the rate of salmonella illness has been holding steady at around 15 reported cases per 100,000 people. But for every reported case, the CDC estimates there are 29 that go undiagnosed.
Photo credits from top:
A worker prepares for the weekly harvest of chickens in the kill room at Gunthorp Farms in LaGrange, Ind. In the U.S., regulation of salmonella in chicken meat starts at the slaughterhouse.
Danish farmers wear socks over their work boots when they’re in chicken houses to gather samples of the manure, which is tested for salmonella. Credit: Courtesy of Birgitte Helwigh.
Chickens are placed in shackles in the kill room at Gunthorp Farms. Salmonella sickens about 1 million Americans a year, and chicken is a common source.
A 2013 outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella linked to Foster Farms chicken processing plants sickened over 600 people in 29 states. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press.
Kara Gunthorp checks on pasture-raised chickens at Gunthorp Farms in LaGrange, Ind. USDA food safety inspectors have no authority to try to force breeders, hatcheries or growers to reduce or eliminate salmonella.
Processed chickens go into an antimicrobial bath at Gunthorp Farms. The federal government allows 7.5 percent of whole chickens tested for salmonella to be contaminated.
All Gunthorp Farms photos by Darren Hauck.
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Salmonella si tatizo la wazalishaji wakubwa wa kuku tu. Salmonella si tatizo la wazalishaji wakubwa wa kuku tu. "Hadithi hii ilitolewa na ""Reveal,"" kipindi kipya cha redio ya umma na podcast kutoka kwa Kituo cha Uandishi wa Habari wa Uchunguzi na PRX." Jifunze zaidi kwenye revealnews.org. Hii inaonekana kama boot kazi ya kawaida nyeusi na soksi nyeupe chafu juu yake. Lakini kwa kweli ni silaha ya siri katika kupambana na salmonella, bakteria ndogo sana ambayo inaweza kuwafanya watu wagonjwa. Ni mojawapo ya mambo mengi ambayo wakulima nchini Denmark wameanza kufanya tangu kuongezeka kwa magonjwa ya binadamu kulifanya nchi hiyo isivumilie tena bakteria katika kuku zake. Ni rahisi sana: wakulima wa Denmark huvaa soksi juu ya buti zao wanapokuwa katika nyumba za kuku kukusanya sampuli za bakteria katika kinyesi cha kuku. Ikiwa soksi hizo zinaonyesha salmonella, ndege wote walio katika nyumba hiyo watatangazwa kuwa wameambukizwa. Nyumba lazima isafishwe kabisa baada ya kuku kuuawa. Nyama hiyo inaweza kutolewa kwa wateja tu ikiwa imepikwa kabla ya kuuzwa. Marekani huvumilia zaidi salmonella. Hakuna amri ya kudhibiti katika mashamba au hatcheries kwamba kukuza kuku kwa ajili ya mauaji. Upimaji mdogo unahitajika tu katika hatua ya mwisho: nyumba ya kuchinjia wanyama. Kufikia wakati huo, kuku tayari wanaweza kubeba bakteria hiyo katika matumbo yao, makao yake ya asili. Pia inaweza kuwa kwenye manyoya yao, miguu au ngozi kutokana na matumbo yao. Inaweza kuenea kutoka kwa mnyama mmoja hadi mwingine wakati wa usindikaji. Ingawa watengenezaji wa vyakula hujaribu kusafisha bakteria kutoka kwenye ngozi na nyama kwa kutumia kemikali, mara nyingi baadhi yao huokoka kuondolewa. Kwa hivyo, ikiwa unataka kula kuku, Salmonella ni hatari. Ni moja ambayo ni kupata zaidi mashuhuri, pia. Wamarekani wanakula kuku zaidi kuliko wakati mwingine wowote kwa kuwa wanaacha nyama nyekundu. Aina za bakteria zisizoweza kutibu viuavijasumu zaweza kufanya iwe vigumu zaidi kupambana nazo. Na inaweza kuwa mbaya sana. Baada ya mlipuko wa 2013 uliounganishwa na Foster Farms huko California, Reveal na mashirika mengine kadhaa ya vyombo vya habari - ikiwa ni pamoja na The New Yorker, The Oregonian na Frontline - wamegundua mashimo katika mfumo wetu wa usalama wa chakula ambao huruhusu watu kuugua kutoka nyama yetu maarufu zaidi. Hapa ni orodha ya nini unapaswa kujua kabla ya kula chakula chako cha jioni ya kuku ijayo. 1. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli Ni halali kuuza kuku mbichi ambayo ina bakteria juu yake ambayo inaweza kukuua. Nchini Marekani, inakubaliwa tu kwamba salmonella yaweza kuwa kwenye kuku mbichi tunayonunua katika duka la vyakula. Kwa kweli, karibu asilimia 25 ya vipande vya kuku mbichi kama vile matiti na miguu vimechafuliwa na vitu hivyo, kulingana na data ya shirikisho. Si aina zote za salmonella zinazowasababisha watu wagonjwa. Kupika nyama mbichi kunaweza kuua bakteria ambazo ni hatari, lakini bado unaweza kuugua ikiwa huitendei kwa usahihi. Kuna nafasi ya kuchafua ubao wa kukata, kisu, counter jikoni na sinki. Hapa ni mwongozo rasmi juu ya jinsi ya kushughulika na kuku wako kabla ya ni chakula chako cha jioni. Ikiwa utaugua, inaweza kuwa mbaya zaidi kuliko siku chache na tumbo lililovurugika. Salmonella inaweza kusababisha kuhara sana hivi kwamba inaweza kusababisha kulazwa hospitalini. Ugonjwa unapokuwa mkali, maambukizo yanaweza kuenea kutoka matumbo hadi kwenye damu na sehemu nyingine za mwili. Ugonjwa huo waweza kuwa wenye kuogopesha sana. Bila matibabu ya viuavijasumu, watu wanaweza kufa. Mguu wa Rick Schiller uliokuwa umepatwa na maambukizo ulivimba mara mbili ya ukubwa wake wa kawaida, kwa sababu ya salmonella kutoka kwa kuku wa Foster Farms. Sehemu yake ya mwili ya zambarau ilikuwa imejaa "kiungo chenye umbo la nyama" ambacho daktari alitoa kwa kutumia sindano. Noah Craton, mtoto wa miezi 18 alikuwa na homa ya kudumu kwa karibu mwezi mmoja. Hatimaye madaktari walipata vidonda kwenye ubongo wake, ambavyo walivihusianisha na maambukizo ya salmonella katika damu yake. Kila mwaka, watu milioni 48 nchini Marekani wanapata ugonjwa unaosababishwa na chakula, kulingana na Kituo cha Kudhibiti na Kuzuia Magonjwa. Lakini si vimelea vyote vinavyosababisha magonjwa vinavyofanana. "The New Yorker inasema hivi: ""Kila mwaka, karibu magonjwa 200,000 hutokana na kuku." Kuku ni chanzo cha kawaida cha maambukizo ya salmonella kwa watu. Wakati wa kuzuka kwa ugonjwa wa Foster Farms, viwanda vya usindikaji vilikuwa vikikidhi kiwango cha shirikisho cha salmonella, ambacho kinaruhusu asilimia 7.5 ya kuku nzima zilizochunguzwa kuwa na uchafuzi. Lakini kiwango hicho kinatumika tu kwa mifupa nzima - si vipande vilivyokatwa, kama vile matiti, mabawa na viuno ambavyo wanunuzi wengi hununua. Ndege wanapokatwa vipande-vipande, salmonella yaweza kutolewa kwenye ngozi. Na ndege wanaweza kuambukizwa kila mmoja huku wakikatwa vipande vipande na wakati vipande hivyo vinapochanganywa pamoja. Hii inaelezea kwa nini kiwanda cha kusindika inaweza kukidhi kanuni za sasa za shirikisho lakini bado kusababisha watu wengi kuugua. Pia, kanuni hiyo haitofautishi kati ya aina za salmonella ambazo hazina madhara kwa wanadamu na zile zenye hatari zaidi. Kwa sasa, serikali ina viwango vya mifupa nzima na kuku iliyopondwa, si sehemu za kibinafsi zinazouzwa katika maduka makubwa. Sheria mpya ziko katika kazi ambazo zitasababisha mabadiliko haya, lakini inawezekana hazitafanywa hadi mwanzoni mwa mwaka ujao. Kwa kuongezea, kiwango kilichopendekezwa kitakuwa ni uboreshaji tu juu ya kiwango cha sasa cha uchafuzi wa sehemu za kuku - karibu asilimia 25 - kwa kuruhusu asilimia 15.4 ya sehemu hizo kubeba bakteria. 4. Uwe na uhakika Hakuna mahitaji ya kupima kuku kwa salmonella ambapo inaenea katika shamba. Udhibiti pekee wa salmonella katika nyama yetu ya kuku hutokea kwenye nyumba ya kuchinjia wanyama. Lakini ndege wenye afya wanaweza kupata na kueneza bakteria hizo kwa kila mmoja wao muda mrefu kabla ya hapo. Aina nyingi za virusi hivyo haziwafanya wagonjwa; kuku ni wabebaji tu. "Tuna mfumo mgumu sana wa usalama wa chakula nchini Marekani", alisema Greg Gunthorp, ambaye ana kiwanda kidogo sana cha usindikaji katika shamba lake huko Indiana ambapo anaua kuku. Anaeleza mstari wa kuwaziwa unaozunguka kiwanda chake cha kusindika. Ndani yake, Huduma ya Usalama wa Chakula na Ukaguzi wa Idara ya Kilimo ya Marekani ina "utawala wa mwisho", lakini nje kwenye malisho ambapo ndege hukua, "hawezi kuja hapa ikiwa wangependa", alisema. Kuku wanaweza kupata salmonella kutoka kwa makundi ya uzazi yanayozalisha kuku. Watoto hao wanaweza kuichukua katika mashamba ya kuzalisha, kukuza nyumba au malisho katika mashamba ambako wao hupata mafuta. Hatua zozote ambazo wazalishaji huchukua kudhibiti salmonella katika maeneo hayo ni za hiari kabisa. "Wakaguzi wa usalama wa chakula wa USDA hawana mamlaka ya kujaribu kulazimisha wazalishaji, viwanda vya kuzaliana au wakulima kupunguza au kuondoa salmonella, bila kujali aina, hata ikiwa imehusishwa na mlipuko wa ugonjwa wa binadamu. """ Kwa kushindwa kudhibiti Salmonella katika chanzo, hata nyuma ya makundi ya uzazi, bakteria inaruhusiwa kuenea katika mzunguko mzima wa maisha ya kuku. Katika nyumba ya kuchinjia wanyama, bakteria huingia kwenye nyama. Wanasayansi wanajaribu kuharibu nyama kwa kutumia kemikali ili kufikia kiwango cha serikali, lakini hilo huruhusu nyama fulani iende kwa watumiaji iliyochafuliwa na salmonella. 5. Uwe na mtazamo mzuri. Viwanda vya usindikaji havifungwi wakati vinapokuwa vikitoa ndege walioambukizwa. Katikati ya mlipuko wa Foster Farms, moja ya viwanda vilivyotajwa ilifungwa - si kwa salmonella, bali kwa vipepeo. Baada ya miezi mingi ya magonjwa yaliyoripotiwa, Foster Farms hatimaye ilikumbuka kuku fulani kwa ombi la serikali. Lakini kuondolewa huko kulikuwa kwa hiari. Serikali ya Marekani haifanyi kazi za kufungia viwanda vya kufanyia kazi kuku, hata kama vimevunja viwango vya Salmonella mwaka baada ya mwaka. Hiyo ni kwa sababu serikali haitaorodheshi salmonella kama kile kinachojulikana kama adulterant. Badala yake ni kutibiwa kama sehemu ya kawaida ya kuku ambayo ni hatari ya uwezekano lakini inaweza kuharibiwa na kupika sahihi. Wizara ya Kilimo ya Marekani ilijaribu kufunga kiwanda cha kutengeneza nyama ya ng'ombe ambacho kilikuwa kikishindwa mara kwa mara katika vipimo vya salmonella mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1990. Lakini uamuzi wa mahakama ya mwaka 2001 uligundua kwamba serikali haingeweza kufanya hivyo kwa sababu bakteria hiyo haikuwa ya kuharibu. Baada ya kitu fulani kuonwa kuwa ni kiharamu, hakiwezi kuuzwa kama chakula kwa ajili ya matumizi ya kibinadamu isipokuwa kama kimekuwa kimepigwa marufuku kwa kupikwa au kwa njia nyingine. 6. Uwe na uhakika Jitihada za kurekebisha mfumo huo zimepingwa na sekta hiyo na zimeshindwa. Kwa hiyo kwa nini usitangaze kwamba salmonella ni kichocheo cha uzinzi? E. coli O157H7 katika nyama ya ng'ombe baada ya mlipuko wa 1993 katika mikahawa ya Jack in the Box kuua watoto wanne na kuambukiza mamia ya watu wengine. "Katika taarifa yake katika mkutano wa bunge la Marekani mwaka jana, waziri wa kilimo Tom Vilsack alisema shirika lake halina mamlaka ya kutangaza salmonella kuwa ""mchanganyiko,"" hata kwa aina za dawa za kuua vimelea kama zile zinazohusika katika mlipuko wa Foster Farms." Washiriki wa Bunge, kama vile Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., wamepinga tafsiri hiyo ya sheria. DeLauro alimwambia Vilsack katika kusikilizwa kwamba shirika linapaswa kuuliza Bunge kwa mamlaka zaidi ikiwa linakosa. Leo, anasema hakuna ombi kama hilo kutoka kwa USDA. DeLauro anasema kwamba USDA haitaki kuchukua sekta ya chakula juu ya suala hili kwa sababu shirika lina vipaumbele vingi vya kupingana. "Nimekuwa nikitetea kwa miaka mingi, miaka mingi shirika moja la usalama wa chakula, kwa sababu USDA, ambapo biashara daima inashinda usalama wa chakula, wana misheni nyingi sana", alisema. "Wanaweza kuamua kuanzisha bidhaa, na pia kuanzisha soko, na kisha wana jukumu la usalama wa chakula, ambayo inachukua nafasi ya pili. ""Ikiwa shirika hilo lingetangaza aina yoyote ya salmonella kuwa ya udanganyifu, karibu hakika ingekabiliwa na changamoto ya kisheria kutoka kwa tasnia." "Hata hivyo, kwa mujibu wa taarifa ya USDA, ""Ulimwengu wa nyama ya ng'ombe"" umekuwa ukishindana na E. coli O157H7 katika nyama ya ng'ombe iliyopondwa na kushinda." Wananchi na wanasheria wa Marekani wamekuwa wakisema kwamba aina fulani za Salmonella zinapaswa kuandikwa kwenye chapa. Kituo cha Sayansi kwa Maslahi ya Umma (Center for Science in the Public Interest) kimewasilisha ombi kwa Wizara ya Kilimo ya Marekani kutangaza aina nne za Salmonella zinazopinga viuavijasumu kuwa ni za udanganyifu, na hivyo kuondoa nyama na kuku wakati vimelea vya ugonjwa huo vinapatikana badala ya kusubiri ugonjwa wa binadamu uingie. Mwakilishi wa Bunge la Marekani, DeLauro na mbunge wa jimbo la New York, Louise Slaughter, wameweka sheria ambayo inahitaji Wizara ya Kilimo ya Marekani kuondoa nyama na kuku zilizoambukizwa virusi vya kuambukiza ambavyo ni sugu kwa dawa mbili au zaidi zinazotambuliwa kuwa muhimu kwa dawa za binadamu. Lakini hadi sasa, hakuna mojawapo ya jitihada hizo ambayo imepata umaarufu. Wanasheria wa viwanda wamepinga majaribio ya kukomesha ugonjwa wa salmonella. "Wanasema bei ya kuku ingeongezeka na wakulima wangeteseka ikiwa salmonella ingewekwa kwenye lebo kama ""mchanganyiko.""" "Ikiwa salmonella itakuwa adulterant, ina uwezekano wa kuharibu karibu theluthi moja ya ugavi wa kuku nchini Marekani, ""alisema Ashley Peterson, makamu mkuu wa rais wa sayansi na teknolojia kwa Baraza la Taifa la Kuku." 7. Uwe na mtazamo gani? Kuepuka kuku wa viwanda kwa kununua wa ndani si salama zaidi. Utafiti wa Reveal wa zaidi ya miaka tisa ya data ya USDA unaonyesha kuwa ndogo sio bora linapokuja suala la kudhibiti salmonella katika viwanda vya usindikaji wa kuku. Kwa mfano, sampuli zilizochukuliwa kutoka kwa viwanda vidogo vya kusindika zilikuwa na viwango vya juu vya salmonella kuliko zile kutoka kwa viwanda vidogo au vikubwa. Sampuli kutoka kwa mimea mikubwa zaidi zilikuwa na viwango vya chini zaidi vya uchafuzi. Kwa baadhi ya mimea midogo, kuna biashara kati ya kudhibiti salmonella na maadili mengine. Baadhi yao huepuka kwa makusudi kuosha mifupa hiyo kwa kemikali kali kama vile klorini baada ya kuifanyizwa. Kutokuwa na klorini kunaweza kuwa sababu ya kuuza kwa wateja fulani. Ulaya ilipiga marufuku matibabu ya klorini katika miaka ya 1990 kwa hofu kwamba inaweza kusababisha kansa, NPR iliripoti. Kadejan, kiwanda kidogo cha kusindika ndege huko Glenwood, Minnesota, hutengeneza ndege 7,000 hivi kwa wiki bila kutumia klorini. Tangu mwaka 2008, Kadejan imekuwa ikionekana kwenye orodha rasmi ya mimea inayoshindwa kukidhi kiwango cha USDA cha salmonella mara kwa mara. "Kwa maoni yetu, kiwango hicho hakina maana sana", anasema Weston Gienger, ambaye anafanya kazi katika shughuli za kampuni ya Kadejan. """Hatujawahi kuwa na matatizo yoyote na mtu yeyote kupata mgonjwa." Kufuga kuku katika bustani ya nyuma hakutakulinda, pia. Si lazima ula kuku wako ili upate salmonella kutoka kwake. Kwa kuwa kuku wa nyuma wamekuwa maarufu zaidi, milipuko ya salmonella kutoka kwa kuku walio hai imeongezeka pia. Mwana wa DeAnna na Dan Gabriele, mwenye umri wa miaka 14, alipopelekwa hospitalini mwaka 2013 akiwa na maumivu ya kifua na homa ya digrii 40, wazazi wake wanasema madaktari walimshuku kuwa ana kansa. Umajimaji ulikuwa umejaa karibu na moyo na mapafu yake. Lakini kisababishi kilikuwa salmonellosis - maambukizo yanayotokana na salmonella. Mchezaji huyo wa mpira wa miguu na wa mpira wa miguu alichukua miezi kadhaa kupona. Chanzo cha maambukizo: vifaranga kutoka Mt. Viwanda vya Kuza Watoto Vilivyo na Afya katika Ohio. Familia ya Gabriele ilikuwa na kuku katika bustani ya nyuma. Mwana wa Gabriele hakuhitaji kuugua. Ingawa familia hiyo haikujulikana, kiwanda hicho kilikuwa kikipambana na tatizo kubwa la salmonella lililohusiana na mamia ya magonjwa na vifo viwili katika miaka miwili iliyopita. Lakini salmonella haidhibitiwi katika viwanda vya kuzalisha. Kwa hiyo kiwanda cha kuzalisha wanyama cha Ohio kiliendelea kuuza vifaranga walio na bakteria hiyo. Mwaka wa kwanza wa maisha ya Gabriela, familia yake ilipata ugonjwa wa kichefuchefu na kuambukizwa virusi vya corona. Mwaka jana, tatizo hilo liliendelea, na watu 363 walipatikana na ugonjwa huo katika majimbo 43. CDC inatoa ushauri wa jinsi ya kujilinda dhidi ya magonjwa ikiwa una kuku wa nyuma. Ushauri: Osha mikono yako mara nyingi. 9. (a) Kwa nini? Aina za salmonella zisizoweza kutibu viuavijasumu zinaongezeka. Salmonella ni tatizo la zamani, lakini limekuwa baya zaidi kadiri aina za bakteria zinazopinga viuavijasumu zilivyokua. Aina ya Salmonella Heidelberg iliyohusika katika mlipuko wa Foster Farms ilikuwa sugu kwa dawa kadhaa za kuua viini zinazopendekezwa kwa kawaida, kulingana na CDC. Habari njema ni kwamba dawa hizo hazikutumiwa kwa kawaida kutibu maambukizo ya damu ya Salmonella au maambukizo mengine mabaya yanayotokana na bakteria hiyo. Hata hivyo, shirika hilo lilisema kwamba kuambukizwa bakteria zisizoweza kutibu viuavijasumu kunaweza kuongeza hatari ya kulazwa hospitalini. Karibu asilimia 40 ya wagonjwa waliopatikana na ugonjwa wa Foster Farm waliishia hospitalini. Upinzani waweza kuenea katika madarasa ya dawa, na kufanya vikundi vyote vya dawa hizo visiwe na matokeo mazuri. Huenda ikahitaji kutumia dawa za gharama kubwa zaidi. Katika hali mbaya zaidi, inaweza kufanya maambukizo makali yasiweze kutibiwa. Kumi. Nchi nyingine hazitumii salmonella kama tunavyofanya. Nchi fulani za Ulaya zimechukua mbinu tofauti ya kudhibiti salmonella katika kuku - kwa kuizuia muda mrefu kabla ya ndege kufika kwenye nyumba ya kuchinjia. Baada ya kuongezeka kwa maambukizi ya salmonella kutoka kwa kuku katika miaka ya 1980, Denmark iliweza kupunguza salmonella katika kuku yake hadi karibu sifuri. Kwa miaka mingi, hakuna hata mmoja aliyeripotiwa kuwa amepatwa na ugonjwa wa salmonella katika nyama ya kuku. Wadanimaki wamefaulu kuudhibiti katika makundi ya uzazi, wakienda mbali sana hadi kuua wale walioambukizwa. Katika nyumba za kukuza, wakulima wanashikamana na udhibiti mkali wa usalama wa kibiolojia, kutoka kuosha mikono hadi kubadilisha nguo zao mara kwa mara. Wao huvaa jozi tofauti ya mavazi na viatu kabla ya kuingia katika kila nyumba ya kuku katika shamba, ili ikiwa nyumba moja imechafuliwa, bakteria haitaenea kwa inayofuata. Na kisha kuna soksi. Wakulima wa Denmark huweka vifuniko hivyo juu ya viatu vyao ili kukusanya mbolea ya kuku, ili kila kundi liweze kupimwa ikiwa lina salmonella. Ndege kutoka makundi ya Denmark ambao hupima chanya hawawezi kuuzwa kama nyama mbichi katika maduka makubwa. Ni lazima kupikwa kabla ya kufikia watumiaji kama nyama sandwich au nyingine tayari kula vyakula. Nchini Marekani, wanasheria wa sekta ya kuku wanasema si haki kulinganisha nchi yetu na Denmark, ambayo ni ndogo zaidi na inazalisha kuku kidogo zaidi. Pia, nyama ya kuku huko ni ghali zaidi: karibu mara mbili ya bei ya wastani ya Marekani kati ya $ 4 na $ 6 paundi. Si Denmark tu inayokabiliwa na salmonella. Ulaya imepunguza kiwango cha maambukizi ya salmonella kwa miaka mitano, kulingana na Shirika la Ulaya la Usalama wa Chakula. Katika nchi za Ulaya, kiwango cha ugonjwa wa salmonella kimekuwa kikidumu kwa karibu kesi 15 zilizoripotiwa kwa watu 100,000. Kwa kila kesi iliyoripotiwa, CDC inakadiria kuwa kuna 29 ambazo hazijagunduliwa. Mfanyakazi mmoja anajitayarisha kwa ajili ya mavuno ya kila wiki ya kuku katika chumba cha kuua katika Shamba la Gunthorp huko LaGrange, Ind. Katika nchi za Ulaya, sheria za kuzuia salmonella katika nyama ya kuku huanza katika mashamba ya nyama. Wakulima wa Denmark huvaa soksi juu ya viatu vyao vya kazi wanapokuwa katika nyumba za kuku kukusanya sampuli za mbolea, ambayo hujaribiwa kwa salmonella. Utoaji: Kwa neema ya Birgitte Helwigh. Kuku huwekwa katika minyororo katika chumba cha kuua katika Shamba la Gunthorp. Salmonella huambukiza Wamarekani milioni moja kwa mwaka, na kuku ni chanzo cha kawaida cha ugonjwa huo. Mlipuko wa Salmonella unaoweza kuua wadudu unaosababishwa na viwanda vya kusindika kuku vya Foster Farms ulisababisha magonjwa ya watu zaidi ya 600 katika majimbo 29. Mikopo: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press. Kara Gunthorp hukagua kuku waliolelewa kwenye malisho katika Shamba la Gunthorp huko LaGrange, Ind. "Wakaguzi wa usalama wa chakula wa USDA hawana mamlaka ya kujaribu kulazimisha wazalishaji, viwanda vya kuzaliana au wakulima kupunguza au kuondoa salmonella. """ Kuku waliotengenezwa huingia katika bafu ya viini visivyo na virusi katika Shamba la Gunthorp. Serikali ya Marekani imependekeza kwamba asilimia 7.5 ya kuku wote waliochunguzwa kwa ajili ya Salmonella wawe na virusi vya corona. Picha zote za Shamba la Gunthorp na Darren Hauck. "Kama ilivyoelezwa na mwanaharakati wa mifumo ya chakula wa zamani, ""ndani ya kilimo, tuna hitaji la kina zaidi la mabadiliko, na hatua ya nguvu zaidi ya mabadiliko ya kijamii ya taasisi zingine zote za binadamu."""