Illustration from Nature’s Chicken by Nigel Burroughs

For decades, United Poultry Concerns has written about the health consequences of raising and killing chickens for food. In 2016, Karen Davis updated her 1998 article, Chicken for Dinner? It’s Enough to Make You Sick, and noted that the health hazards associated with eating chickens and eggs had barely changed. This information is still relevant and now even more urgent.

In July 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and state public health officials investigated a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis infections linked to recalled shell eggs. According to the CDC, 98 people in 17 states became ill, and 26 were hospitalized. The outbreak was linked to eggs from a commercial producer. (CDC, 2026)

Salmonella outbreaks have also been linked to direct contact with chickens and other birds. The CDC also investigated a multistate outbreak associated with backyard chickens and ducks. As of August 2026, the outbreak had sickened 1,061 people across 46 states and one U.S. territory, with 234 hospitalizations and two deaths reported. “Almost a quarter of the sick people in these outbreaks are children under 5 years old.”(CDC, 2026)

Campylobacter is another major cause of foodborne illness worldwide. A new study, published on July 27, 2026 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that industrial chicken farming has accelerated the evolution and spread of Campylobacter. Researchers analyzed 2,747 Campylobacter genomes from farmed chickens and wild birds across 30 countries. They found “an estimated 100-fold increase in chicken-to-wild-bird host transitions since 1900…” The expansion of industrial chicken farming has created conditions that allow Campylobacter to spread, adapt, and develop traits associated with antimicrobial resistance that can make infections harder to treat.(Kyne et al., 2026, PNAS)

Chickens are intelligent, curious, and socially complex individuals. Learn more about chickens and the lives they lead. Show kindness and respect to birds and other animals by not eating them or their eggs or drinking their milk. Instead, discover the variety of animal-free, vegan foods and cooking ideas.

For recipes and cookbooks, go to www.upc-online.org/recipes. For animal-free and healthy food options worldwide, visit HappyCow at HappyCow.net.