Health Hazards of Imported Poultry Meat

Most of us in Africa has grown up eating all sort of Bush Meat, especially chicken with great delight without any fore-thought of dangers to our health.
Maybe, it's because we were all ignorant of the health factors.

Then average age of a chicken that is processed to market is around 6 weeks old.

This is made possible by feeding the chicks with a vast plethora of growth hormones & antibiotics with Genetic Modify CORN.
In short, we can continue eating this imported purveyor of sickness to oneself and will be treated with pirated, out of date, imported medicines that will add to our early demise or we can learn sense and educate ourselves to the Dangers of mass produced imported weapons of self destruction.

KFC coming to Ghana, well KFC sells their own designed GM Chicken that is born featherless and is harvested in only 3 weeks.
One of the secret ingredients in Sanders’ chicken coating is MSG. MSG is a flavour enhancer that works by stimulating the taste receptors in your brain to trick you into thinking that the food tastes twice as good as it really does and it makes the food addictive. This is part of what made KFC so "finger licking good".
One of the side effects from MSG is that your brain cells can get over stimulated which can cause brain cell damage and cell death. MSG is a neurotoxin. Avoid it like the plague unless you look forward to headaches, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and brain tumours. MSG is also the core ingredient in Chinese dishes world-wide.
Fried Food is TOXIC as Hell.
The problem is most of us are in denial about that fact because it is served to us everywhere we go and so the ubiquitous nature of the fried food makes it seem innocuous. I have dined with many health practitioners and health conscious people and watched them absent minded eat the tortilla chips that were placed on our table at the Mexican restaurants or eat the French fries that were put on their plate to go with their sandwich.
It’s hard to think of the acryl amide (French fry carcinogen) and free radical damage when you have a plate of piping hot delicious French fries in front of you.
Fried food causes the fats in the food to become trans fats, which means that the high temperatures cause mutations in the molecular configuration that your body does not know what to do with. Trans fats are one of the highest causes of cancer and heart disease. Sanders himself died of leukaemia.
Cancer is Truly an Epidemic
Just by avoiding fried foods you can dramatically decrease your risk. Instead of relying on fast food when you travel, I suggest packing a cooler full of healthy sandwiches (wheat-free), salads, finger foods, veggies, nuts, and fruit. Restaurants are in the business of making a profit, which means keeping their food costs as low as possible which means low-quality food. I hope this message helps you dramatically decrease the MSG and fried food in your diet if you do eat those foods.
The many health hazards associated with consumption of poultry produced in the United States may be divided into two categories: (1) health hazards associated with consumption of any chicken flesh, and (2) health hazards associated with the methods of animal agriculture practiced in the United States. It is important to note that any chicken flesh produced using the methods of industrial animal agriculture which were first devised by the U.S. poultry industry may be hazardous to human health, regardless of the country of origin. In addition, certain hazards associated with chicken flesh are present regardless of the method of production. The safest strategy is to consume no chicken flesh at all, substituting healthful vegetarian sources of protein in the place of chicken flesh.

Health Hazards Associated with Consumption of any Poultry Products

1. Pathogens
Microbial pathogens (which include bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi) found in chicken flesh can and do cause illness and death in humans. The most common pathogens in chicken flesh are salmonella and campylobacter. Salmonella is a bacterium which can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, fever, chills, weakness and exhaustion. Campylobacter is a bacterium which can cause diarrhoea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever. Infection by either of these bacteria can be deadly for children, the elderly, and people with suppressed immune systems. As will be discussed below, chicken flesh from industrial poultry production operations has a high incidence of contamination with pathogens such as salmonella and campylobacter. However, all chicken flesh is at risk and must be handled as if contaminated. Techniques such as refrigeration and complete cooking can lessen, but not completely eliminate, the risk of transmission of these and other pathogens to consumers.

2. Heterocyclic aromatic amines
Chicken flesh must be cooked in order to be edible to humans. However, the process of cooking chicken flesh leads to the formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines in the meat. These are cancer-causing compounds and have long been known to be one of the reasons consumption of meat is linked to cancer. A recent report from the U.S. National Cancer Institute reveals that oven-broiled, pan-fried, or grilled chicken flesh actually contains more of these carcinogens than red meat. The longer the meat is cooked, the larger the load of carcinogens in the meat. Grilled chicken contains 480 nanograms per gram of the carcinogen PhIP. PhIP is suspected as a cause of both breast and colon cancer.

3. Saturated fat
Excessive consumption of saturated fat is associated with heart disease and obesity. Obesity is related to diabetes and certain musculoskeletal disorders. Contrary to popular misconceptions, chicken flesh is not low in fat. Skinless roasted dark meat from chicken legs is 32 percent fat. Skinless roasted light meat from chicken breasts is 18 percent fat. Chicken with skin cooked in other ways may be up to 51 percent fat. The fat in chicken meat permeates the flesh; it cannot be cut away. The fat found in chicken flesh is saturated fat, which is the most dangerous kind of fat. While people need fat in their diets, the safest fats are those found in vegetable foods, such as olive oil & Shea Butter.

4. Cholesterol
Cholesterol is associated with heart disease and memory loss. Cholesterol affects the heart and the brain by collecting on the walls of blood vessels and thereby reducing the flow of blood. The cholesterol content of chicken flesh is similar to that of beef, approximately 25 milligrams per ounce. In contrast, foods made from plants have no cholesterol.

Health Hazards Associated with Consumption of Chicken Flesh
Produced by Industrial Methods

1. Antibiotic resistance
Chickens raised in industrial operations in the United States and other nations are typically fed or injected with antibiotics in order to stimulate unnaturally rapid growth. In the United States alone, 10.5 million pounds of antimicrobial medications are fed to chickens every year. These medications are excreted and then wash into groundwater and waterways, leading ultimately to the development of a variety of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. International trade and travel carry these “super bugs” around the world.

In addition, the antibiotics fed to chickens stimulate the evolution of antibiotic-resistant pathogens within the birds. These pathogens remain in the flesh and can be contracted by humans through contact with the blood or the uncooked meat. In a recent survey published by the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found 13 different strains of salmonella in samples of ground chicken, beef, turkey, and pork taken from supermarkets in the United States. Of those strains of salmonella, 83 percent were resistant to at least one antibiotic and 53 percent were resistant to three or more antibiotics; 6 percent of the bacteria were specifically resistant to the antibiotic, which is the treatment of choice for children with salmonella poisoning.

2. Increased incidence of food poisoning
Pathogens such as salmonella and campylobacter thrive in overcrowded industrial poultry production facilities, where these bacteria are easily spread from bird to bird. In addition, the feed used by commercial poultry operations has been shown to be sometimes contaminated with salmonella.

In the factories in which chickens are slaughtered and processed, the fast pace and unsanitary practices associated with mass production expose chicken flesh to contaminants such as faeces, bile, mucus, and partially digested feed, any of which might cause illness if ingested or even touched by humans. In the United States and other exporting nations, powerful corporations have prevented the implementation of effective inspection procedures, which would identify and remove tainted meat. Meat is processed more and more quickly but inspection procedures have not evolved in response to the increased risk. Inspectors do not have access to the tools they need to identify certain pathogens or diseases and even obviously diseased birds are often not detected. As a result, contamination with pathogens is so common that health officials in the United States recommend treating all chicken flesh as if it were contaminated. A survey of 55 different studies concluded that approximately 30 percent of U.S. chicken is contaminated with salmonella and 62 percent with campylobacter.

Compilation by Teacher Baffour

Response to : Ministry concerned about the collapse of smallholder poultry (Dated 17.12.12)