Kosher Poultry – in the news

So once again someone with little real understanding of the industry weighs in on what may or may not be “safe” in the eyes of academia.

Antibiotic Resistant E.Coli in Kosher Chicken

There are so many things questionable about this article that I considered not even bothering to publicize the article but my disdain won out and I felt it needed to be called to task.  Couple that with the fact that IFT is trying to get comments – giving the article some credence as science, and I was forced to make my thoughts know.  What counts as solid information these days continues to disappoint me.

As mentioned again and again in the comments section, from persons obviously more familiar with the practice than the author bothered to become, kosher has little to do with raising the animal and everything to do with slaughtering the animal.  The next, and in my opinion most ludicrous, claim is persons buying Kosher because it is higher quality and safer.  Having worked in a kosher slaughter plant for a few years I can assure all that this is not the case.  The meat is not higher quality, it is not lower quality.  It is meat that has been treated in a manner to ensure it is kosher – period.  It is as safe as any other, for the most part, and may taste a bit better (again my opinion) due to the salting process.

The bit in the article about E.Coli strains and the fact that most are not harmful to humans pushes this article into the irresponsible.  Why even test for generic e.coli?  and then try to wind people up by playing the antibiotic resistance card?  Absolutely ridiculous.  These persons should be soundly shot down in all forums to the point that they hesitate to distribute this tripe in the future.

Very disappointing indeed.