There are many more reasons to avoid poultry besides the presence of fecal bacteria!
It has happened again. A nationwide outbreak of salmonella has hit the USA with a vengeance, sickening hundreds of people - this time via raw chicken. USA Today reports that the illness is in 18 states so far. Articles following this food borne illness often advise everyone to handle their chicken "safely" and to cook meat thoroughly before eating. The truth is, however, that there is no way to escape the cross contamination of chicken fecal bacteria to your body, kitchen surfaces, utensils and other foods for hours or days after handling raw chicken. The same is true when handling raw egg. In the following two minute video, Dr. Greger explains that salmonella remains indestructible when you bring chicken products into your kitchen.
Total recall - nutritionfacts.org
You can't escape salmonella cross contamination even if you incinerate the egg!
Just now you are probably thinking, "Turkey! I'll just switch to turkey instead of chicken." Not. Turkey meat has been found to carry even more fecal bacteria with just as many disease hazards as handling chicken. See this article about turkey here.
Fecal bacteria like salmonella is only one of the health hazards of handling and consuming poultry. Check out this article, Nutrionfacts.org, to see the long list of diseases that are traced back to exposure or consumption of poultry. Here is a short list of the most common illnesses that have been positively linked to poultry:
- Lymphoma (non-Hodgkins type)
- Leukemia
- Urinary tract infections
- Obesity via the obesogenic virus
- Superbug contamination
My favorite reasons to avoid chicken:
- High methionine content. Chicken and fish are the highest sources of methionine. Cancer cells thrive on this amino acid and studies have shown positive connection between consumption of small amounts (just 1/2 breast) of chicken and growth of cancer in humans.
- Highest content of saturated fats. Eggs in particular, but also chicken flesh, is very high in saturated fat which is the cause of elevated cholesterol which leads to artery disease. (Removing the skin of the chicken does not eliminate the saturated fat in the meat.) The cholesterol in one egg is equivalent to that of an 8 ounce steak. Imagine eating two 8 ounce steaks every morning for breakfast! That kind of artery clogging power can even cause a child to have a high blood cholesterol count.
