The rubber is believed to have come from a seal on a piece of equipment, which was pinched during processing and ended up in the nugget "blend." 1 According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the recall is due to contamination with "extraneous materials," and although no adverse reactions have been reported, you should not consume them.

Reason No. 2: Regenerative Farming Protects Water Sources and Diminishes Water Demands Industrial agriculture also promotes water waste through use of flood irrigation, destruction of soil quality and poor crop choices.

However, it isn't just the mind-boggling number of chickens that will speak to the history of this time, but also the animals' shape and genetic changes bred specifically for food.

Given the time of year, the current outbreak is thought to involve romaine lettuce grown in California.4 The probable source of the contamination is manure runoff from a nearby concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO).

According to Purdue University’s Avian Sciences Club, Americans consume roughly 8 billion chickens annually.1 This isn’t surprising at all, given that chicken is a versatile entree that pairs well with various ingredients, and can be cooked in different ways.

A recent report25 published by the Environmental Integrity Project found that 3 in 4 American meat processing plants that discharge nitrogen waste into local waterways have violated the pollution limits of their federal Clean Water Act permits at least once between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2018.

Where CAFOs pollute and destroy the soil, regenerative farming rebuilds it. According to Williams, by using regenerative agriculture techniques, they’re able to build new soil organic matter at a rate of 0.5 percent to 1 percent annually.