The blog Greater Greater Washington is blaming a recent article in the Washington Post for scaring customers of local farmers markets about the safety of organic chickens and prompting some vendors to stop selling the poultry. The report, written by journalism students at the University of Maryland and reprinted by the Post, found pathogens on raw chickens sold at a farmers market right outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture building. Report critic Ken Archer, who calls the WaPo article “poorly researched,” says there’s an easy explanation for that: “A lab paid by the writers found salmonella in chicken from one of the vendors. This is not surprising, as salmonella is not uncommon in chicken. That’s why you’re not supposed to eat raw chicken.”

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