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555-605 Level|   Evaluate Argument|                                 
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desertEagle
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Meat from chickens contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause ser 27 Feb 2023, 02:37
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The passage itself doesn't have a conclusion, but we are trying to select an answer choice that would help us determine whether the capsaicin-laced feed would be useful in raising salmonella-free chicken for retail sale. So we need to select an answer choice that represents information that would help us make that determination. Before we do that, make sure you read the passage carefully and pay close attention to the author's word choice:

  • "Meat from chickens contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause serious food poisoning." - The meat from contaminated chickens CAN cause serious food poisoning, but it doesn't ALWAYS cause serious food poisoning.
  • "Capsaicin, the chemical that gives chili peppers their hot flavor, has antibacterial properties. Chickens do not have taste receptors for capsaicin and will readily eat feed laced with capsaicin." - This tells us that capsaicin MIGHT help fight salmonella bacteria (since it has antibacterial properties). Chickens will readily consume capsaicin. So it would not be hard to get chickens to consume a substance that MIGHT help fight salmonella.
  • "When chickens were fed such feed and then exposed to salmonella bacteria, relatively few of them became contaminated with salmonella." - Great, so when chickens are fed capsaicin and THEN exposed to salmonella (AFTER ingesting the capsaicin), few of them contracted salmonella. Note that this does not necessary mean that capsaicin will fight salmonella that the chicken already has.

Quote:
(A) Whether feeding capsaicin to chickens affects the taste of their meat
We are trying to decide whether feeding capsaicin to chickens would help us raise salmonella-free chicken for retail sale. What if meat from chickens that consume capsaicin tastes awful (or just very different than normal chicken meat)? Sure, the meat would be salmonella-free, but if it tastes weird, consumers might not purchase the chicken. In that case, feeding capsaicin to chickens would not be a useful solution for raising chickens for retail sale. But if the chicken meat tastes the same with or without the capsaicin, then this could be an effective solution. Determining whether feeding capsaicin to chickens affects the taste of their meat would be useful in making the decision, so keep (A).

Quote:
(B) Whether eating capsaicin reduces the risk of salmonella poisoning for humans
We are trying to decide whether capsaicin-laced feed would be useful in raising salmonella-free chickens for retail sale. In making that decision, we don't care whether capsaicin can be consumed by humans to reduce the risk of salmonella. Eliminate (B).

Quote:
(C) Whether chicken is more prone to salmonella contamination than other kinds of meat
We are not trying to compare chicken meat to other kinds of meat. We are simply trying to determine whether capsaicin-laced feed would help raise salmonella-free chickens. Determining whether chicken is more prone to salmonella contamination than other kinds of meat would NOT help, so eliminate (C).

Quote:
(D) Whether appropriate cooking of chicken contaminated with salmonella can always prevent food poisoning
Even if appropriate cooking could prevent food poisoning, that wouldn't help us determine whether capsaicin can help us SELL salmonella-free chickens. True, choice (D) might make this question irrelevant, but you have to stick to what's being asked. We need information that would help us decide whether the capsaicin-laced feed would be useful in RAISING salmonella-free chicken for retail sale, and (D) doesn't help.

Quote:
(E) Whether capsaicin can be obtained only from chili peppers
We don't care where the capsaicin comes from. All that matters is whether capsaicin-laced feed is an effective solution for raising salmonella-free chickens for retail sale. Choice (E) is irrelevant and can be eliminated.

(A) is the best answer.
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Hi GMATNinja KarishmaB AndrewN Sajjad1994

A says
Quote:
(A) Whether feeding capsaicin to chickens affects the taste of their meat
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In evaluate questions such as this one one must get different answer if the answers are yes or no. In answer No to this question, it is readily observed that it will not affect the retail sale.

But here in this question we have two options even in Yes.
You are right in stating that if taste of meat deteriorates it will affect the retail.

However, what if taste becomes better, that is also a change in taste and that is a Positive change. And may be equal number or more people buy it. Then what.

How can we assume that Yes means worse taste. Kindly explain
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Meat from chickens contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause ser 10 May 2023, 12:55
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desertEagle
GMATNinja
The passage itself doesn't have a conclusion, but we are trying to select an answer choice that would help us determine whether the capsaicin-laced feed would be useful in raising salmonella-free chicken for retail sale. So we need to select an answer choice that represents information that would help us make that determination. Before we do that, make sure you read the passage carefully and pay close attention to the author's word choice:

  • "Meat from chickens contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause serious food poisoning." - The meat from contaminated chickens CAN cause serious food poisoning, but it doesn't ALWAYS cause serious food poisoning.
  • "Capsaicin, the chemical that gives chili peppers their hot flavor, has antibacterial properties. Chickens do not have taste receptors for capsaicin and will readily eat feed laced with capsaicin." - This tells us that capsaicin MIGHT help fight salmonella bacteria (since it has antibacterial properties). Chickens will readily consume capsaicin. So it would not be hard to get chickens to consume a substance that MIGHT help fight salmonella.
  • "When chickens were fed such feed and then exposed to salmonella bacteria, relatively few of them became contaminated with salmonella." - Great, so when chickens are fed capsaicin and THEN exposed to salmonella (AFTER ingesting the capsaicin), few of them contracted salmonella. Note that this does not necessary mean that capsaicin will fight salmonella that the chicken already has.

Quote:
Whether feeding capsaicin to chickens affects the taste of their meat

We are trying to decide whether feeding capsaicin to chickens would help us raise salmonella-free chicken for retail sale. What if meat from chickens that consume capsaicin tastes awful (or just very different than normal chicken meat)? Sure, the meat would be salmonella-free, but if it tastes weird, consumers might not purchase the chicken. In that case, feeding capsaicin to chickens would not be a useful solution for raising chickens for retail sale. But if the chicken meat tastes the same with or without the capsaicin, then this could be an effective solution. Determining whether feeding capsaicin to chickens affects the taste of their meat would be useful in making the decision, so keep (A).

Hi GMATNinja KarishmaB AndrewN Sajjad1994

A says
Quote:
Whether feeding capsaicin to chickens affects the taste of their meat

In evaluate questions such as this one one must get different answer if the answers are yes or no. In answer No to this question, it is readily observed that it will not affect the retail sale.

But here in this question we have two options even in Yes.

You are right in stating that if taste of meat deteriorates it will affect the retail.

However, what if taste becomes better, that is also a change in taste and that is a Positive change. And may be equal number or more people buy it. Then what.

How can we assume that Yes means worse taste. Kindly explain
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The question asks us which option would be "most helpful" in determining whether to use the new feed. That's different than asking for something that proves whether farmers should use the feed. So, we aren't necessarily looking for something that would 100% determine the course of action -- it's enough to find an answer choice that is more helpful than the other ones.

With that in mind, I'll steal from our previous post on this:

Imagine that you are a chicken farmer who raises chicken for retail sale, as specified in the question. Someone tells you that if you lace chicken feed with capsaicin, the chickens will be less likely to become contaminated with salmonella. Sounds great, right?

But wait... capsaicin is the thing that gives chili peppers their hot flavor. Wouldn't you worry about whether this chemical will impact the taste of the chicken that you're trying to sell?

Sure, there's no guarantee that people would dislike the chicken, even if it tasted different. But before you start feeding all of your chickens capsaicin, it would be helpful to know whether the flavor of the product will change, so you can anticipate how it would impact your sales.

While knowing the answer to (A) might not completely change your mind, it would certainly weigh into your decision about whether to feed your chickens capsaicin. So, (A) is still a helpful question to answer.

(A) is the correct answer choice. Mmm... spicy chicken. :-P

I hope that helps!
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Meat from chickens contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause ser 19 May 2025, 09:12
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What I followed was to make X causes Y format and clearly state what the argument wants me to do - [X] Feed with C Causes [Y] Dec in S infected chicks and Inc its sale

(A) Whether feeding capsaicin to chickens affects the taste of their meat. Correct - when negated seemed to weken on the sale part and when strenthen supported the Sales part

(B) Whether eating capsaicin reduces the risk of salmonella poisoning for humans. Concl is talking about checken sale not anything about Human ( out of scope)

(C) Whether chicken is more prone to salmonella contamination than other kinds of meat. Even if they are its not relevant to conclusion

(D) Whether appropriate cooking of chicken contaminated with salmonella can always prevent food poisoning. Concl talks about salmonella free checkien - out of scope

(E) Whether capsaicin can be obtained only from chili peppers­. Irrelevant




Alok322
Meat from chickens contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause serious food poisoning. Capsaicin, the chemical that gives chili peppers their hot flavor, has antibacterial properties. Chickens do not have taste receptors for capsaicin and will readily eat feed laced with capsaicin. When chickens were fed such feed and then exposed to salmonella bacteria, relatively few of them became contaminated with salmonella.

In deciding whether the feed would be useful in raising salmonella-free chicken for retail sale, it would be most helpful to determine which of the following?

(A) Whether feeding capsaicin to chickens affects the taste of their meat

(B) Whether eating capsaicin reduces the risk of salmonella poisoning for humans

(C) Whether chicken is more prone to salmonella contamination than other kinds of meat

(D) Whether appropriate cooking of chicken contaminated with salmonella can always prevent food poisoning

(E) Whether capsaicin can be obtained only from chili peppers­


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Meat from chickens contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause ser 06 Jun 2025, 03:13
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Side/fun question:
B states [Whether eating capsaicin reduces the risk of salmonella poisoning for humans]
If we eat a chicken that eats capsaicin, is it valid to say that we eat capsaicin ourselves?
Because if that was the case, B might have some valid points (but I agree it's not a correct choice even then, because we know for a fact from a prompt that chickens that eat capsaicin are less likely to have salmonella. In other words, we know that capsaicin is effective in chicken).
- If eating capsaicin reduces the risk of salmonella poisoning for humans --> the argument might be strengthened, but we still need to know about other factors (taste for instance)
- If eating capsaicin DOES NOT reduce the risk of salmonella poisoning for humans --> well, then that's a good thing, because luckily the chickens eat the capsaicin for us, and we know for a fact that chickens that eat capsaicin are less likely to have salmonella.
So either way, both yes/no answers to B strengthen the argument at best.
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Meat from chickens contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause ser 08 Jun 2025, 00:08
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Short answer: no. We can't assume that a substance chickens eat is preserved in their meat. We can't assume much in the way of scientific knowledge, and in real-life terms, many (I'd assume most) organic compounds that an animal eats are broken down and/or excreted, rather than stored intact in muscle and fat tissue.
PeachSnapple1
Side/fun question:
B states [Whether eating capsaicin reduces the risk of salmonella poisoning for humans]
If we eat a chicken that eats capsaicin, is it valid to say that we eat capsaicin ourselves?
Because if that was the case, B might have some valid points (but I agree it's not a correct choice even then, because we know for a fact from a prompt that chickens that eat capsaicin are less likely to have salmonella. In other words, we know that capsaicin is effective in chicken).
- If eating capsaicin reduces the risk of salmonella poisoning for humans --> the argument might be strengthened, but we still need to know about other factors (taste for instance)
- If eating capsaicin DOES NOT reduce the risk of salmonella poisoning for humans --> well, then that's a good thing, because luckily the chickens eat the capsaicin for us, and we know for a fact that chickens that eat capsaicin are less likely to have salmonella.
So either way, both yes/no answers to B strengthen the argument at best.
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Meat from chickens contaminated with salmonella bacteria can cause ser 09 Jun 2025, 09:35
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That's an interesting take not gonna lie. As sometimes when I want my dog to take the med, I need to trick him by crushing the med and mixing it in his favorites snack. But I guess in that case the med is preserved in its entirety, only in different form. Now that I think about it, I bet my parents used the same trick on me when I was a child...
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