Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats

Health journalist McKenna (Superbug; Beating Back the Devil) recounts the history of chicken production through the dual and interwoven narratives of antibiotic use and the rise of the industrial chicken. In order to accomplish this, the author relies on a number of sources including chemists, lawyers, historians, chefs, farmers, and more, which allows for a complex yet complete exploration of the meat we consume today in ever larger numbers. The author follows a salmonella infection from the patient in the hospital backward to the farm where the bacteria originated. Of particular interest is the discussion of the growth of antibiotics popularity in farm animals and how that in turn affects human resistance to these drugs. McKenna suggests that chicken farming can be safe, offering examples from farms in France, though she notes that we must turn away from the intensive methods of mass production that have been used in this country for decades.