>a recent article says US chickens are all infected, and should be
>avoided raw.

Roberta,

While I most certainly appreciate your sentiment in bringing such
information to light, I also feel that it is perhaps a bit of a
generalization to say that _all_ US Chickens are unfit to consume raw.

Some of my thoughts on the subject of meat contamination (of course, only my
personal opinion):

- without a doubt, a high percentage of our meat in the US is raised in such
a poor fasion, that a high percentage of the animals are truly unhealthy
when compared to their free-range, well-cared for counterparts.  Some of
these factors that most of us are aware of in livestock are:
    -lack of living space/exercise
    -poor diet
    -high use of hormones/antibiotics
    -commercial processing, for example irradiation
These factors obviously contribute to much unhealthier animals who are much
more prone to wide-spread bacterial infections.

So, regardless of one's views on "germ theory," is it not agreeable that
most of this "bacteria/contamination scare" would be mostly geared towards
commercially produced meats?  Granted, there is much more to this issue than
my simplistic assessment, but I genuinely feel that healthy, free-range
animals are not given to the high amount of contamination and disease that
commercially raised animals are.

I have never had any contamination problems whatsoever with fresh, raw meats
that have come from reliable, natural sources.  I am afraid that I would
have to experience something for myself before I would buy in to the idea
that all chicken is not fit to consume.

I'd be interested to hear what others have to say on the subject.

-Ben