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The answer to Salmonella-contaminated chicken may lie in chilli
pepper, not antibiotics. Audrey McElroy of Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg,
gave chickens feed laced with capsaicin, the chemical that gives chilli its
bite. The birds were then dosed with Salmonella enteritidis. The spicy
food almost halved the number of birds carrying the germs in their internal
organs. “Birds appear not to have the receptors to the hot, pungent part of the
peppers,” says McElroy. “It appears not to affect them in any way.” Fortunately
for those averse to spicy food, a taste panel found the chilli flavour did not
end up…