Salmonella, like other common food-poisoning pathogens E.coli and Campylobacter, are due to fecal residue which in this case is likely from manure used from farmed animals. They are intestinal bugs and with the intensive conditions factory farming brings, becoming more and more normalized to be in our food products. We can look back at the 2010 Salmonella outbreak that caused the United States to recall 550 million eggs and sickened 1,470 people. When FDA officials examined the relevant farms, they were disgusted to discover evidence of manure, along with rodents, flies, cats, and birds in facilities that collectively had 7.7 million caged hens.

And yet, the problem continues. There has been a six fold increase in food poisoning over the last few decades with meat and animal products being the most common cause. It’s a startling figure, but makes sense when you start to look at the contamination statistics where there’s fecal matter in about two thirds of American beef and greater than 80% fecal contamination in poultry

This indicates that this Salmonella outbreak won’t be the last. Yet foodborne illness from fecal bacteria shouldn’t be a reality that we consent to or normalize. Back in the 1930s, Winston Churchill was already envisioning another way. He predicted that in 50 years “[w]e shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.”

Today, that exact solution is coming to light all over the world. ‘Clean meat’, the popular term for meat that is grown in a lab, is becoming a reality. It made its debut on the world stage in 2013 when Mark Post, a Dutch tissue engineer, ate the first lab-grown burger in an event that was televised across the world. The typical way to create meat this way is by using starting cells, and with the help of a growth serum, having them multiply until they are turned into the desired combination of muscle and fat.

Many different sectors are turning towards this production method in hopes that it will solve key world issues. For foodborne illness, producing meat that doesn’t have intestines ensures there’s no risk of these intestinal bugs. Beyond that, the massive inputs of environmental resources of meat take a disproportionate toll, with 83% of farmland used in agriculture to produce just 13% of the calories, and similar disparities among greenhouse gas emissions and water use. It is just extremely inefficient to grow tons of food that is fed to animals for months and years before they are slaughtered for meat. Finally, what does it say about our morality as a species when 80 billion animals a year are slaughtered?

We have been given ample chances to learn our lessons on food safety. We may all be one meal away from the next devastating pandemic unless we realize the cost of our choices.