You are what you eat

Obviously - I'm a big fan of walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts...  it's a bad joke (ahh - boooo)

The point here is, science is learning every day that what we eat and how it's raised has very significant implications to our own health.  If you want a real example of this - rush to the store this fall about 1 week before your local apple trees are ready for harvest and buy a store bought apple that's a year old or from the other side of the planet.  Put it in your refrigerator and then "enjoy" that apple right next to the one that came fresh off the tree. (or try that with any roadside stand veggie and the store bought counterpart) - there's no doubt there's a massive taste difference.  And it's pretty clear that the difference in flavor has something to do with the "quality" of the product - in health terms.

Well, when it comes to "higher foods" - meats - the same holds true about how they were raised and what they hold in terms of nutrition and flavor - and general health.  A recent study showed a very strong correlation between the production of a stress hormone in chickens and bad bacteria - "They found the animals released higher levels of hormone noradrenalin when under stress which actually helps Campylobacter and Salmonella grow and spread more quickly."  (Article Here)

One of the major contributors to stress in commercial chickens is flock size and overcrowding...  Two things our "stress-free" birds know nothing about...  but - hey - you be the judge.