Live Animal and Bird Markets: Staying Healthy and Safe from Germs | CDC Features
Live Animal and Bird Markets: Staying Healthy and Safe from Germs
We have many choices for buying and preparing our food today. Follow these steps when shopping for, handling, and preparing your food from live animal and live bird markets.
Live Animal and Live Bird Markets
Live animal and live bird markets are places where customers can buy a live animal or a live bird to be slaughtered for food to take home. They are found in many cities around the United States, serving customers with diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds.
Salmonella and Raw Meat and Poultry
New information shows anincrease in outbreaks ofSalmonella infectionslinked to meat and poultry bought from live animal and live bird markets in the United States.
Live animals, such as cattle, sheep, goats, and swine, and live poultry, such as chickens, ducks, and geese, can carrySalmonella and other germs on the inside and outside of their bodies, even when they appear healthy and clean. Salmonellagerms are shed in animal feces (poop) and can contaminate their bodies, including fur, skin, and feathers. These germs can get on raw meat or raw poultry from these animals during slaughter and processing.
Recently, several foodborne illness outbreaks caused by Salmonella germs have been linked to meat or poultry purchased from live animal and live bird markets. More than half of the people who got sick in these outbreaks were children aged 5 years or younger.
In the outbreaks, people may have gotten sick in different ways:
Picking up germs in market environments
Eating improperly cooked meat or poultry from markets
Improperly handling raw meat and poultry at home and cross-contaminating areas at home
Follow these steps when shopping for, handling, and preparing your food:
At the Market
Clean
Wash your hands with soap and water right after visiting areas where live animals and birds are kept.
Even healthy-looking animals and birds can carry germs on their body and can spread them to their environment.
Separate
Do not enter animal or bird areas and do not perform the slaughter and processing if:
You have a weakened immune system
You are pregnant
You have children ages 5 years or younger with you
Do not eat or drink in areas where live animals and live birds are kept.
Do not carry carcasses or raw meat or poultry in the same container as other food items.
Chill
Keep raw meat and poultry carcasses or parts cold during transportation.
Carry food in clean containers that can keep the contents cold, such as a plastic cooler or insulated bag.
Refrigerate raw meat and poultry within 2 hours of purchase or sooner.
At Home
Clean
Wash your hands with soap and water before and after contact with raw meat and raw poultry.
This is especially important before touching your own food, preparing baby bottles, or taking care of babies or children.
Wash utensils, counters, and cutting boards with hot, soapy water before and after contact with raw meat and raw poultry.
Clean and sanitize coolers or bags that held carcasses, raw meat or poultry, and other parts. Click here
to learn how to properly sanitize.
Separate
Cut-up or otherwise handle meat and bird carcasses in an area separate from areas where other foods are prepared.
Keep raw meat and raw poultry away from fruits and vegetables and other foods that are ready-to-eat.
Washing raw poultry before cooking it is not recommended. Bacteria in raw poultry juices can be spread to other foods, utensils, and surfaces.
Cook
Use a food thermometer to make sure that meat and poultry are cooked to safe temperatures.
Raw beef, pork, lamb and veal steaks, chops, and roasts: Cook all raw beef, pork, lamb and veal steaks, chops, and roasts to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F (62.8 °C) as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source.
For safety and quality, it is important to allow meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming.
For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook meat to higher temperatures.
Ground meats: Cook all raw ground beef, pork, lamb, and veal to an internal temperature of 160 °F (71.1 °C) as measured with a food thermometer.
Poultry and ground poultry: Cook all poultry and ground poultry to an internal temperature of 165 °F (73.9 °C) as measured with a food thermometer.
Chill
Keep raw meat and poultry at 40°F or below until you are ready to cook it.
Refrigerate cooked meat and poultry within 2 hours (or within 1 hour if the temperature is 90°F or higher).
Freeze raw meat and poultry if you do not cook it within 2 days of purchase.
What is being done to help prevent illnesses?
Several local and state public health and animal health departments are jointly educating consumers at live animal and live bird markets, including:
Displaying posters and handing out flyers and magnets with safe food handling messages in multiple languages
Collaborating with local community groups
Educating market owners and employees
Inspecting markets with newly-established inspection guidelines
Live animal and live bird markets must meet U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) sanitation requirements and prevent product adulteration. Regulatory oversight by state agencies varies.
Your Community, Working for You
In 2012, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) partnered with live animal markets in South St. Paul to launch “Healthy Markets”, an educational campaign to promote healthy behaviors at live animal markets.
For many communities, obtaining meat and poultry directly from a live animal market is an important cultural tradition, but close contact with live animals and handling raw meat poses certain health risks. “Healthy Markets” promotes simple things customers can do to protect their health and the health of their family members. Learn more at the Minnesota Department of Health website.
More Information for Consumers
USDA-FSIS Kitchen Companion: Your Safe Food Handbook
Is It Done Yet? USDA Safe Cooking Temperature Information
USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline
Ask Karen, Virtual Food Safety Representative
Reusable Grocery Bags Safety
CDC Gastrointestinal (GI) Diseases from Animals website
CDC Foodborne Outbreaks website
CDC Salmonella website
Fight BAC Partnership for Food Safety Education
Foodsafety.gov
More Information for Public Health Professionals
Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal: Human Salmonellosis and Live-Bird and Animal-Slaughter Markets, United States, 2007-2012
CDC Salmonella website
CDC Gastrointestinal (GI) Diseases from Animals website
CDC Foodborne Outbreaks website
Minnesota Department of Health: "Salmonellosis Associated with Exposure to Live Animal Slaughter Markets" presented at 8th Annual OutbreakNet meeting [PDF - 248KB]
Minnesota Department of Health: Healthy Markets
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Food Safety
Boston Public Health Commission: Boston Community Based Food Safety Campaign
USDA FSIS: Federal Meat Inspection Act. Section 623 - Exemptions from inspection requirements
USDA FSIS: Poultry Products Inspection Act
USDA FSIS: Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems [PDF - 1.4MB]