338115 Sun Oct 29 15:15:02 -0800 2006 6 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1980734 I know, or take by faith, that ducks don't carry salmonella. What I want to know is why. It seems like we have done a good job of contaminating all of our meats in the name of mass production, how did Daffy miss this problem? On a side note, does anyone know of someone raising chicken known to be salmonella free? My understanding is that the contamination comes from their feed supply, that is, it's not a naturally occurring thing in chickens. Sun Oct 29 15:15:02 -0800 2006 30158 amkirkland 1 1980960 I eat rare duck all the time. I certainly won't be stopping. But, that said, the USDA Food Saftey and Inspection Service says that duck can contain salmonella and must be cooked to 165 degrees. See here http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Duck_&_Goose_from_Farm_to_Table/index.asp They offer cautions about raw juices contaminating raw foods and mention clearly the risks of salmonella. With regards to cooking, the final statement is: "USDA recommends cooking whole duck or goose to 165 °F. All poultry is safely cooked when the food thermometer reaches a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast. When cooking pieces, the breast, drumsticks, thighs, and wings should be cooked until they reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F." Sun Oct 29 17:29:45 -0800 2006 1980734 24055 Atahualpa 1 1981053 Factory farmed chickens have widesperad salmonella contamination because the facilities, certainly not "farms", are covered with feces. The problem continues through the processing when the bacteria from one chicken can contaminate many chickens. Chickens can always carry salmanolla but small scale free range farms have much better handling and cleanliness. Sun Oct 29 18:32:55 -0800 2006 1980734 10099 JudiAU 1 1981323 One of the problems with salmonella in poultry is that it's often carried by wild fowl so free-range chickens are more prone to infection than chickens which are under cover permanently. It's ironic but Country Hen, a producer of free-range eggs in Massachusetts, lost their organic certification precisely because they keep their chickens indoors to avoid salmonella infection. Sun Oct 29 21:49:14 -0800 2006 1980734 12335 cheryl_h 1 1981532 The only bout I've had with salmonella was from an undercooked duck egg. It was as I found out later an extremely mild case, which made me gladder than I can ever say that it hadn't been a bad one... Shortly after this episode, I read that the Long Island duck industry had begun as a government-funded duck EGG industry, part of the extended program to create jobs for WW2 vets...and then it was discovered that virtually every domestic duck on the North American continent was carrying some amount of salmonella! So they canned the egg-farm idea and just went to raising ducks for meat. And please don't ask *where* I read this as I'm sure it was before at least half the folks on this list were even born, and I don't remember stuff like that. Mon Oct 30 00:09:02 -0800 2006 1980734 11478 Will Owen 1 1981539 Interesting excerpts from the USDA site: Very few drugs have been approved for ducks and geese so antibiotics are not routinely given and are not useful for feed efficiency. No hormones are allowed in U. S. duck or goose production. The Food and Drug Administration strictly prohibits the use of hormones in these birds. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Duck_&_Goose_from_Farm_to_Table.pdf Mon Oct 30 00:14:03 -0800 2006 1980734 40486 Cinnamon 1 1989414 There are lots of bad bugs beyond Salmonella, including many that thrive in domestic and wild fowl populations, such as campylobacter, and which undoubtedly can be found in ducks that end up in markets. Wed Nov 01 21:16:45 -0800 2006 1980734 13305 DonnyMac