According to researchers from Pennsylvania State University, the raw chicken sold at farmers’ markets has a higher content of bacteria like Salmonella and Campylobacter than organic and non-organic chicken bought from the grocery store.

According to researchers from Pennsylvania State University, the raw chicken sold at farmers’ markets has a higher content of bacteria like Salmonella and Campylobacter than organic and non-organic chicken bought from the grocery store.

The researchers bought 100 whole chickens from farmers’ markets, and 100 whole chickens from grocery stores.
Half of the grocery store poultry was organic.

A possible explanation for the discrepancy in the number of bacteria is that farmer’s market vendors who process under 20 thousand chickens a year do not have the same Department of Agriculture inspection standards as larger suppliers.

The data from the study shows that the raw chicken tested from farmers’ markets had the most bacteria infections with 90 percent testing positive for Campylobacter and 28 percent for Salmonella.

Of the grocery stores chicken in comparison, “28 percent of the organic chickens tested positive for Campylobacter and 20 percent for Salmonella, while 52 percent of the nonorganic chickens were contaminated with Campylobacter and 8 percent with Salmonella.”

According to one of the study’s authors, all of the bacteria would be killed as long as the chicken is properly cooked at up to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.