Happy Chickens are Healthier Chickens
Professor Tom Humphrey of the University of Bristol suggests that stress increases the incidence of Campylobacter in chickens. He looked at the annual cycle of Campylobacter infection in chickens and found a significant increase in the summer. One possible reason for this, according to Professor Humphrey, is the stress the chickens undergo in the summer due to the higher temperatures. He pointed to an Irish study lead by Professor Paul Whyte that demonstrated that transport-induced stress increased the shedding of Campylobacter in fecal material of chickens (broilers) that would provide the opportunity for extensive carcass contamination.
As consumers, we should consider a number of factors before we buy chicken, including how the chicken was raised, what it was fed, how it was processed, and whether it was a happy chicken. The problem is that we usually don't have access to this information when we are deciding whether to buy chicken at a grocery store or restaurant. Perhaps consumers should insist on it. Perhaps if we did, we would get healthier food to eat. Isn't, for example, what a chicken has been fed as relevant to the consumer as how many calories or grams of protein are in a serving. The reality is that it is more important. We have to start thinking about what we eat. Ask your grocers and restaurants you frequent questions about the chicken they are selling. If they can't give you answers, ask them to find out. Ask them every week. Ask your friends to ask them every week. Let's make a difference one grocery store and one restaurant at a time.