Eating chicken with THE NEW YORKER

It was a mistake, thumbing through my Feb 2nd issue while sitting in front of my organic chicken breast, pan seared with asparagus, shitaki and portabella mushrooms - with roasted potatoes on the side. Oh, yes, delicious; the first chicken I have bought in months. But what loomed from the pages of the magazine after I had noted all of the cartoons and read the two poems, was a chicken outline filled with what appeared to be empty pill capsules and chestnut burrs. Oh, no, more likely salmonella! Did you know that there are NO contamination limits on chicken parts processed for sale in the USA. Not long ago the USDA found that "24% of all cut-up chicken parts  are contaminated by some form of salmonella." And, AND moreover, the most contaminated parts are CHICKEN BREASTS ( Consumer Reports: "a third of chicken breasts tainted with salmonella carried a drug-resistant strain"). Now you know. Needless to say, I have a queasy stomach this morning. There are no Federal rules because of the beef and pork lobbyists who fear that if chicken is regulated, they will be next. Read the article!