"Group Pressures Foster Farms To Address Antibiotics"

After an outbreak of drug-resistant salmonella in 2013 was traced to Foster Farms chickens, the Natural Resources Defense Council used the Freedom of Information Act to get records of the firm's food-safety violations. As a result of the pressure, Foster Farms says it has cleaned up its act and is using less antibiotics.

"Foster Farms had just re-opened its main plant in Central California after a cockroach infestation, but federal inspectors were already writing-up new violations at the sprawling poultry-processing facility.

'I observed one carcass with visible fecal contamination,' a report dated Jan. 23 read. 'The fecal material was olive green in color, pasty in texture.'

Later that morning, an inspector found a bin containing two carcasses contaminated with black 'unidentified foreign material.'  "

David Pierson reports for the Los Angeles Times September 11, 2014.

SEE ALSO:

"Fecal Matter, Mold And More Found on Foster Farms Chickens" (Washington Post)