Two-thirds of store-bought chickens contaminated with food-borne illness microbes

Two out of every three store-bought chickens may be contaminated with bacteria that commonly cause human illness, according to a study conducted by the Consumers Union.

"Consumers still need to be very careful in handling chicken, which is routinely contaminated with disease-causing bacteria," said Urvashi Rangan, the union's director of technical policy.

Researchers conducted tests on 382 fresh broiler chickens purchased at 100 retailers in 22 states in spring 2009. A full two-thirds of the chickens were contaminated with either one or both of the bacteria strains most often responsible for food-borne illness. Although this figure is an improvement over the 2007 figure of 80 percent, the Consumers Union still called the numbers "far too high" and called for stricter government regulation.

Sixty-two percent of chickens tested positive for campylobacter, the number two cause of food-borne illness. Fourteen percent tested positive for salmonella, the number one cause, and 9 percent tested positive for both. Read more...

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