Industrielle Hühnerhaltung beschleunigt die Ausbreitung der weltweit häufigsten bakteriellen Ursache von Durchfall. Es gab auch einen Anstieg antimikrobieller Resistenzmerkmale bei zirkulierenden Stämmen. Intensive Zucht hat zu „superwachsenden“ Hühnern geführt, die die Erwachsenengröße erreichen und im Alter von 5 Wochen geschlachtet werden.

Industrial chicken farming is accelerating the spread of the world’s most common bacterial cause of diarrhoea, scientists have found.

The study found a dramatic increase in the exchange of *campylobacter* strains between wild birds and chickens as farming has intensified, creating the ideal conditions for the bacteria to mix, spread and acquire new traits. There has also been a rise in antimicrobial resistance traits in circulating strains, raising concerns that serious illness in people will be more difficult to treat.

“As the chicken population has exploded, they’ve increasingly picked up strains from different wild birds and become a cauldron of bacterial evolution,” said Prof Sam Sheppard of the University of Oxford and senior author of the paper. “Lots of strains come together and hybridise. We do not want that, because that’s where new Frankenstein monster bugs emerge.”

*Campylobacter* is the most common bacterial cause of diarrhoea worldwide, causing [more than three times](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gastrointestinal-infections-in-england/gastrointestinal-infections-in-england-2022-to-2024) as many gastroenteritis cases in the UK each year as all other monitored foodborne bacteria combined. An estimated 60-80% of *campylobacter* infections are caught from raw chicken.

“Cooking kills pathogens, but just a tiny splash and it’s on your lettuce leaves or your hands or your knife,” said Sheppard.

Since the 1960s, global chicken numbers have increased seven-fold to [approximately 27 billion birds](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11592616/), accounting for about 70% of all bird biomass on Earth. Intensive breeding has led to “super growing” chickens that reach adult size and are slaughtered at around five weeks old. The industrialisation of chicken farming has led to affordable animal protein at scale, but also presents new health risks.

The latest work, published in the journal [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2609969123), analysed nearly 2,800 bacterial genomes collected from chickens and wild birds in 30 countries, including the UK, US and China, between 1979 and 2024.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2609969123

For reference, standard/heritage chickens typically reach their full adult size between 5 to 8 months of age, depending heavily on the specific breed.

It’s almost like animals shouldn’t be treated like inanimate objects to be made in a factory.

Curious about the extent of nutrient loss due to poultry farming practices these days.

Anecdotally, getting a store bought rotisserie which is guaranteed to be growth hormones pumped full of anti-microbial , its easy to be hungry soon after eating the entire thing.

Compare to home cooking with more quality meats a rotisserie can easily last 2-4 meals.

I’m trying to imagine growing a chicken to an profitable slaughter size in 5 _weeks_. Even if they’re on the smaller side for modern meat birds (not those oven-stuffing monsters), that sounds physically impossible.

Edit: Good grief, even roasters only need 8-12 weeks to reach slaughter size. Even if the bird isn’t in a cage, that’s got to be a miserable existence. Rapid growth isn’t fun.

Lab meat gets mocked for being expensive while factory farms externalize their costs onto the healthcare system and the environment. If subsidies shifted even slightly, that price gap would vanish. We’re paying for cheap chicken with antibiotic resistance and contaminated water tables.

Better end animal farming before animal farming ends us.