Big Chicken

Starred review from August 1, 2017

Health journalist McKenna (Superbug; Beating Back the Devil) recounts the history of chicken production through the dual and interwoven narratives of antibiotic use and the rise of the industrial chicken. In order to accomplish this, the author relies on a number of sources including chemists, lawyers, historians, chefs, farmers, and more, which allows for a complex yet complete exploration of the meat we consume today in ever larger numbers. The author follows a salmonella infection from the patient in the hospital backward to the farm where the bacteria originated. Of particular interest is the discussion of the growth of antibiotics popularity in farm animals and how that in turn affects human resistance to these drugs. McKenna suggests that chicken farming can be safe, offering examples from farms in France, though she notes that we must turn away from the intensive methods of mass production that have been used in this country for decades. VERDICT This book is accessible to nonscientists and will interest anyone curious about food production, as well as those eager to know more about the development of antibiotic resistance in animals and humans.--Lacy S. Wolfe, Ouachita Baptist Univ. Lib., Arkadelphia, AR

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017

Health journalist McKenna (Superbug; Beating Back the Devil) recounts the history of chicken production through the dual and interwoven narratives of antibiotic use and the rise of the industrial chicken. In order to accomplish this, the author relies on a number of sources including chemists, lawyers, historians, chefs, farmers, and more, which allows for a complex yet complete exploration of the meat we consume today in ever larger numbers. The author follows a salmonella infection from the patient in the hospital backward to the farm where the bacteria originated. Of particular interest is the discussion of the growth of antibiotics popularity in farm animals and how that in turn affects human resistance to these drugs. McKenna suggests that chicken farming can be safe, offering examples from farms in France, though she notes that we must turn away from the intensive methods of mass production that have been used in this country for decades. VERDICT This book is accessible to nonscientists and will interest anyone curious about food production, as well as those eager to know more about the development of antibiotic resistance in animals and humans.--Lacy S. Wolfe, Ouachita Baptist Univ. Lib., Arkadelphia, AR

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2017
An investigative journalist specializing in public health and food policy delves into the implications of chicken becoming the most consumed source of protein in the American diet.When chickens are raised or processed poorly, serious or fatal food poisoning can result. Indeed, McKenna (Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA, 2010, etc.) opens her expose with the story of a near death from salmonella poisoning (the cause of 1 million instances of illness each year in the United States) linked to mass-produced chicken. However, the focus of the investigation is not specifically food poisoning. The author is most concerned about how the overuse of antibiotics to prevent or treat human diseases, and in animal feed, has led to drug-resistant bacteria. When antibiotics can no longer neutralize certain bacteria, fatalities can occur. A strength of McKenna's reporting is her inclusion of valuable historical context, as she shows how the antibiotic crisis has evolved over the decades. She divides the roughly chronological narrative into three parts: "How Chicken Became Essential," "How Chicken Became Dangerous," and the somewhat-hopeful section, "How Chicken Changed." Each part contains lessons derived from visits to poultry processing operations both small and large (think Perdue and Tyson), farms where chickens grow only to a certain size, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and private science laboratories. McKenna learned not only from sources in the United States--Georgia is now, in many ways, the center of the chicken industry--but also from speaking with experts in the Netherlands, France, and England. Throughout the narrative, the author also unravels medical mysteries, such as why some urinary tract infections are not responding to treatment with antibiotics. McKenna's ideas for reform seem practical, but she warns in clear, urgent prose that it will take years to fully conquer bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Solid, eye-opening public health journalism.

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September 25, 2017
In this well-written exposé, McKenna (Superbug) dissects the controversy of the routine use of antibiotics to fatten chicken, which has lead to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. She chronicles the history of how poultry became a product of research labs, and lays out a history of antibiotics and poultry. The practice of adding growth promoters began in the 1940s; a well-financed chicken lobby first fended off a 1969 British health committee report decrying growth promoter and then, in 1977, opposed U.S. FDA regulations despite many national disease outbreaks. The author surveys some of the leading progressive chicken breeders and their supporters, examining the campaign to push large enterprises such as Purdue, Tyson, and McDonald’s to forgo growth-enhancing drugs following recent World Health Organization and FDA reports. Throughout, McKenna offers spot-on commentary on the dangerous additives in chickens and concludes on a relatively hopeful note.