 Salmonella causes more hospitalizations than any other food-borne illness, more deaths than any other food-borne illness, and it's on the rise. Salmonella causes a million cases of food poisoning every year in the US, and over the last decade or so, the number of cases have increased by 44%, particularly among children and the elderly, and chicken is the number one cause. From Spring 2012 to Spring 2013, the Centers for Disease Control reported over 100 individuals infected across 13 states, with a particularly virulent strain of Salmonella. 1 in 3 were hospitalized. Investigations pointed to Foster Farms' brand of chicken as the most likely cause of the outbreak, the sixth largest chicken producer in the US. The CDC warned people, but nothing was done. Foster Farms apparently continued to pump out contaminated meat. In October, the CDC reported outbreaks expanded to 21 states. Though there's only been a few hundred cases confirmed, for every confirmed case, the CDC estimates 38 cases slipped through the cracks. So that means Foster Farms' chicken may have infected and sickened over 10,000 people. When USDA inspectors went in to investigate, they found 25% of the chicken they sampled was contaminated with the outbreak strain of Salmonella, likely because of all the fecal matter they found on the carcasses. Consumer Reports, in their February 2014 issue, published a study they did on the high cost of cheap chicken in general, finding 97% of retail chicken breasts off store shelves were contaminated with bacteria that could make people sick. 38% of the Salmonella they found was resistant to multiple antibiotics, considered a serious public health threat by the CDC. Consumer Reports suggested the cramped conditions on factory chicken farms may be playing a role, and indeed new research shows the stress of overcrowding can increase Salmonella invasion. The Pew Commission released a special report on the Foster Farms' outbreaks, concluding that the outbreaks bring into sharp focus the ineffectiveness of USDA's approach to minimizing Salmonella contamination in poultry products. The agency's response was inadequate to protect public health, and to this day thousands of people are getting sick with these preventable foodborne illnesses. Among their radical recommendations, closed facilities that are failing to produce safe food and keep them closed until their products stop sending people to the hospital. What a concept. What did Foster Farms have to say for itself? They said their chicken was safe to eat. There's still no recall in effect, and that it is grade A wholesome. In the same breath, though, they say Salmonella on chicken happens all the time. It's a wholesome, but might kill us if we don't handle it right. As outspoken food safety advocate Bill Marlar put it, the poultry industry's reaction to the presence of fecal contamination on chicken is that it happens.