Nearly half of supermarket chicken sold in the U.S. is tainted by feces, according to laboratory test results of chicken samples from 15 grocery chains in 10 major cities. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) investigated chickens from 22 popular brands and found e.coli -- a type of bacteria found in chicken dung -- in 48 percent of them.
Slaughterhouses are supposed to check chickens for visible fecal matter, but lines can process up to 140 birds per minute, giving little time to examine each carcass. Feces are then transfered from one dead bird to another through the water in scalding tanks.
Germs in feces are usually killed with proper cooking, but fecal matter may contain tapeworms, roundworms and other things the chickens may have eaten. Americans eat an average of 83 pounds of chickens a year, and most are unaware of the frequency of fecal matter in what they're eating.The public has a right to know what's in their food. Please sign the petition to convince the FDA to show feces warning labels on supermarket chicken!
To: Food and Drug Administration
We, the undersigned, are concerned with a recent study indicating high frequencies of e coli in supermarket chicken. In a laboratory test, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) investigated chickens from 22 popular brands from 15 grocery chains in 10 major cities and found e.coli in 48 percent of them.
Slaughterhouses are supposed to check chickens for visible fecal matter, but lines can process up to 140 birds per minute, giving little time to examine each carcass. Feces are then transfered from one dead bird to another through the water in scalding tanks.
Germs in feces are usually killed with proper cooking, but fecal matter may contain tapeworms, roundworms and other things the chickens may have eaten. Americans eat an average of 83 pounds of chickens a year, and most are unaware of the frequency of fecal matter in what they're eating.The public has a right to know what's in their food. We respectfully urge you to enforce the use of warning labels to indicate the possible presence of feces in supermarket chicken. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider our petition.
