Food Safety- Where's The Colonel When We need Him?

[+ Lucky]

So if you have switched to chicken because you are trying to cut down on red meat, think again. Consumer Reports did a survey and found that 67% of the chickens they studied were contaminated. Read more:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-starkman/two-thirds-of-chicken-tes_b_373515.html

[Guest greatness]

Good thing

 

I eat chicken from Perdue.

 

So if you have switched to chicken because you are trying to cut down on red meat, think again. Consumer Reports did a survey and found that 67% of the chickens they studied were contaminated. Read more:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-starkman/two-thirds-of-chicken-tes_b_373515.html

[foxy]

I recently watched "Food, inc." on dvd. You'll never want to eat ANYTHING ever again.

 

Consider yourself warned.

[seaboy4hire]

Another thing about chickens I found out a bit ago is that some of the chicken breast in the stores now contain rib meat. I don't know if the rib meat is from pork or beef (label didn't say) but why would they put rib meat into chicken breast?

 

Hugs,

Greg

[Guest PWIT]

Another thing about chickens I found out a bit ago is that some of the chicken breast in the stores now contain rib meat. I don't know if the rib meat is from pork or beef (label didn't say) but why would they put rib meat into chicken breast?

 

As I understand it, the rib meat in question is from the chicken. It is white meat near the breast, but not actually part of the breast. No pork/beef is included.

[Orson Kane]

Food Inc. really brought home to me how unhealthy industrial agriculture is (i.e., animals densely packed into confined spaces, fed large amounts of food not natural to their diet, and injected with growth hormones to speed their growth and antibiotics to fight off diseases associated with their living conditions). I don't know how valid the claims are, but supposedly animals raised in less confined spaces are less likely to be swimming in manure and otherwise likely to carry food-borne disease.

 

 

For any number of reasons (including animal welfare, environmental concerns, and of course general health), it won't hurt most of us to become more mindful eaters in general, and eat less meat in particular. Mark Bittman of the New York Times has a good book called "Food Matters" where he suggests we become “lessmeatarians.” Check out http://www.markbittman.com/books/food-matters and also

http://www.markbittman.com/lose-weight-save-the-planet-become-a-lessmeatarian)

 

 

 

If anyone is still reading this, another reason to become more mindful of your diet is that making some relatively small changes on diet is good for one's health. I gave up a few servings of so-so meat (I confess - trips to my local burger joint) a week and lost (and kept off) 10 very stubborn pounds over a period of two months and saw my cholesterol ratio (high to low) improve noticeably from one doctor's visit to the next.

 

PS In case anybody notices, I stole some of this text from an earlier post of mine -- I really did find Bittman's book to be provocative to change (with not much effort) the way I eat. At least check out the second website above!

[josephga]

My father was an licensed electrician Over the years he visited a number of processing plants. He also never ate chicken. When my mother cooked it for us kids she had to make him something else.

[Michael Vincenzo]

My father was an licensed electrician Over the years he visited a number of processing plants. He also never ate chicken. When my mother cooked it for us kids she had to make him something else.

 

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.” - Paul McCartney

[+ Charlie]

The only way to know exactly what you are eating is to catch it or pick it or grow it yourself--which means that most of us would starve to death.

[Guest]

You can get sick if you don't wash your fruit or vegetables also. Poultry should be cooked thoroughly. I wonder if organic poultry is safer? Presumeably the birds are kept under more sanitary conditions.

[Guest LeoWalker]

Ok...so maybe a bit off topic.

 

This reminds me of about 8 years ago (I was 18) when I was working for a week or so cleaning a chicken coop. Long story why I was doing it...but I was on top of a mountain in the middle of Tennessee with a high-power water sprayer cleaning chicken shit off the pallets they used to line the sides. The middle down the center of the hall was cement. These places were huge. When we finished spraying all the wooden pallets we went inside to spray off the shit from the walls and the cages that would lower so the chickens could hop inside and lay their eggs to be conveyed down to the collection.

 

One day, the guy had come through with a plow of sorts and pushed all the shit from the sides where the pallets went onto the cement (the shit was to be delivered to local farms for fertilizer). So, basically, there was this long building with a cement strip going down it, dirt on the sides, and on the cement was a pile of shit that spanned the whole building. Guess I wasn't thinking, but thought it seemed firm and needed to get to the other side (either that or I just wanted to try) so I attempted to cross the 5-food wide pile of shit. A few steps in and I started to sink a little and was falling over so I shouted out for help. My friend ran over and handed me the end of a shovel just in time before I fell into this humongous pile. So, yeah, that was really scary. :o

 

Anyway, the specific coops we were cleaning were for the chickens that laid the eggs to hatch other chickens that weren't for direct consumption, but for continuing the egg supply. So their conditions were better...but still, they were on top of each other, literally.

[MsGuy]

http://thunderchild.net/humor/image/Chicken%20Shit.bmp

[Epigonos]

Something that I find extremely disconcerting about the food products we buy in the market is the growing tendency to state on the label “distributed by” rather than “product of”. Costco is one of my favorite food suppliers and even it is following this practice. When I buy apple juice, for example, the label simple states made from concentrate and “Distributed by Costco” and gives a Washington State address. I don't have a clue as to the origin of the apple juice concentrate. Frankly that bothers me as it leads me to believe that they don’t what me to know the origin and I therefore assume it is China. If that is indeed the case my concern increases as the Chinese have NOT been overly scrupulous in avoiding contamination of their exported food products.

 

What I really find interesting is that there doesn’t seem to be much concern being expressed regarding this matter anywhere. Not is the national press, and not on local talk shows. I simply don’t understand the lack of interest regarding this matter.

[+ Lucky]

Even after last year's dog food scandal, my Milk Bone Crunchies do not say where they were made, only where they are distributed from. Usually if it doesn't say Made in USA, my dogs don't get them.

[Lookin]

"Distributed by" means that it's a "private label" product, made by someone else and distributed by Costco, perhaps under Costco's Kirkland brand name. Costco is based in Issaquah, WA, hence the Washington State address.

 

As far as I know, Costco doesn't manufacture any of its grocery products, so all would be made by somebody else. Costco isn't alone in selling private label products. According to Wikipedia, 25% of all U. S. grocery products are private label.

 

Who made your apple juice? Maybe Mott's. In fact, it might be identical to the Mott's label product sitting on the shelf right next to it, except for the label and the price. Or it might have been made by a regional producer, with higher quality standards than Mott's. Or it might be dreck, straight from China. Or it might be Mott's one week, and dreck the next.

 

Costco has a pretty good reputation for quality, and use their Kirkland brand name to assure customers that they're getting a good product at a good price. They're not likely to risk their good name by using a toxic private label supplier. But never say never.

 

Call them if you want to know who makes their apple juice. They'll probably tell you. Ask them how often they inspect their private label supplier(s).

 

If you're really concerned about your apple juice, buy local, buy organic, and prepare to spend more.

 

Or tell your congressman that you want the FDA to substantially beef up its monitoring and regulation of the entire U. S. food supply. And prepare to pay higher taxes. (Oops, did I just say socialism? )

 

Bon appetit!

[KMEM]

Lookin-

 

You have the right idea. I was talking today with an office mate and the subject was products as compared to their labels. We have interesting and magnificent talks in my office. At any rate, she said that her brother had worked briefly for HUMKO, a major producer of cooking oil products. She said that he was amazed to watch the assembly line put oil into various labels. The oil was the same; the only difference was the labels.

 

We can only hope for such when buying private labels. Information is power. Power to the people. Is that a slogan I heard somewhere?

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[Epigonos]

Costco is probably my favorite retailer and because they don’t print the origin of many of their food products is NOT going to prevent me from shopping there. I tried asking at the store about the origin on one of its food products and was referred to an 800 number at corporate headquarters. After much shuffling from office to office I was informed that would investigate the matter and get back to me. They left a message on my telephone stating that the information I had requested was unknown. I certainly have NO problem with “private labels”. I would just like to know the origin of the products whether the label is private or not.

 

Now I understand that Traders Joe’s, a market where I seldom shop, lists the origin of ALL its products. Does anybody know if that is true.

[BewareofNick]

So if you have switched to chicken because you are trying to cut down on red meat, think again. Consumer Reports did a survey and found that 67% of the chickens they studied were contaminated. Read more:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-starkman/two-thirds-of-chicken-tes_b_373515.html

 

Lucky, this is not directed at you but rather at the article itself.

 

Duh.

 

Salmonella and chicken go together like Siegfried and Roy.

 

There are ways to prevent getting salmonella poisoning but people are often unaware of how to prevent it from happening or they are too lazy.

 

1. Never store raw meats above anything else in the refrigerator. Packages can drip and then the bacteria can contaminate such things as vegetables are items in opened packages. Raw meats should be stored on the bottom of the refrigerator.

 

2. Never cut anything else on a cutting board or a counter after chicken or other raw meat has been there. You can do it BEFORE, but never after. Once you have used a cutting board or other surface for raw meat, CLEAN AND SANITIZE IT!!! Don't put it off because you might forget. If it fits, put it in the dishwasher after cleaning and sanitizing.

 

3. Cook poultry to an internal temperature of 165 for 5 minutes. Use a pop up timer (they sell little stick timers for beef, pork and poultry that each pop up at different temps) or a thermometer. Always check in the MIDDLE of the meat. If its 165, the rest will be good to go.

 

4. If you have leftovers, let them go down to room temperature before putting them in the freezer or refrigerator. Freezers and refrigerators are not designed to cool product, they are only designed to hold temperature. If it goes from hot directly to the fridge, it might cool down to say 60 degrees...and bacteria love that temp. The temperature danger zone is 41 to 140.

 

5. When in doubt, throw it out.

[BewareofNick]

Another thing about chickens I found out a bit ago is that some of the chicken breast in the stores now contain rib meat. I don't know if the rib meat is from pork or beef (label didn't say) but why would they put rib meat into chicken breast?

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

You're a country boy, aren't you Greg?

 

If its not boneless chicken breasts, its always contained rib meat. CHICKEN rib meat. Chickens have ribs, they're just very very very small.

[+ deej]

her brother had worked briefly for HUMKO, a major producer of cooking oil products. She said that he was amazed to watch the assembly line put oil into various labels. The oil was the same; the only difference was the labels.

 

Humko also makes oils used to produce other food products. That creamy filling in an Oreo cookie uses oils made at Humko as a primary ingredient.

 

A friend was a chemist at a Humko plant. Part of her job was running analyses on batches of oils about to be loaded into railroad tankers and shipped off to various food manufacturers. If someone screwed up a batch, part of her job was finding a way to alter the mix so that it was either right for the intended food product or so it would work for another food product made at that plant. i.e. if it was wrong for Oreos, maybe she could make it work for Fritos or frozen bread dough or whatever.

 

(She wouldn't eat Oreos and neither will I. )

[Lookin]

Costco is probably my favorite retailer and because they don’t print the origin of many of their food products is NOT going to prevent me from shopping there. I tried asking at the store about the origin on one of its food products and was referred to an 800 number at corporate headquarters. After much shuffling from office to office I was informed that would investigate the matter and get back to me. They left a message on my telephone stating that the information I had requested was unknown. I certainly have NO problem with “private labels”. I would just like to know the origin of the products whether the label is private or not.

 

Question asked. Question answered. Costco knows the origin of its apple juice. They know who delivers it to their warehouse, and they know where they send the check when it's time to pay the bill. They can get the same information from their suppliers. You'd see how fast they'd report the origin if people started getting sick from it, or stopped buying it because they didn't know where it came from. But it sounds like they don't want to tell, until people start holding their feet to the fire. Hopefully your call will be one of many that lets them know people do care. Maybe the next caller will tell them they're about to lose a customer. Enough of those, and you'll start seeing country-of-origin labels.

 

I remember seeing a story a year or two ago about shrimp production in China. Allegedly, they were suspending chicken coops over their shrimp beds, so that the shrimp could fatten up from chicken droppings, replete with undigested antibiotics. The story hit the mainstream media, at least in the Bay Area. Within days, most everyone who sold shrimp, including Costco, had country-of-origin signs in their seafood display cases.

 

If we're not prepared to vote with our wallets - or get the regulatory agencies involved - then not much will change.

[BewareofNick]

Question asked. Question answered. Costco knows the origin of its apple juice. They know who delivers it to their warehouse, and they know where they send the check when it's time to pay the bill. They can get the same information from their suppliers. You'd see how fast they'd report the origin if people started getting sick from it, or stopped buying it because they didn't know where it came from. But it sounds like they don't want to tell, until people start holding their feet to the fire. Hopefully your call will be one of many that lets them know people do care. Maybe the next caller will tell them they're about to lose a customer. Enough of those, and you'll start seeing country-of-origin labels.

 

I remember seeing a story a year or two ago about shrimp production in China. Allegedly, they were suspending chicken coops over their shrimp beds, so that the shrimp could fatten up from chicken droppings, replete with undigested antibiotics. The story hit the mainstream media, at least in the Bay Area. Within days, most everyone who sold shrimp, including Costco, had country-of-origin signs in their seafood display cases.

 

If we're not prepared to vote with our wallets - or get the regulatory agencies involved - then not much will change.

 

The average consumer doesn't care where products come from as long as they are wholesome. Only when there is a food safety issue do most people have a true interest. COOL, or country of origin labeling, is required on produce and fresh meat products.

 

It serves no purpose other than excessive government "feel good" meddling in business. As you not above, companies know where their products come from.

[Lookin]

(She wouldn't eat Oreos and neither will I. )

 

Thanks, deej, another bad habit crossed off my list.

 

What is it with oil these days? Last Christmas, I got a four pound box of chocolate truffles from Trader Joe's. Product of France, no less. What's the main ingredient? Chocolate? Cream? Butter? Mais non! It's palm oil. They taste like a cross between Hershey kisses and wax. Ate a few and strung the rest with dental floss. They make nice little brown votive candles.

 

http://www.barnloftcandles.com/images/brown.jpg

[justaguy]

If you have leftovers, let them go down to room temperature before putting them in the freezer or refrigerator. Freezers and refrigerators are not designed to cool product, they are only designed to hold temperature. If it goes from hot directly to the fridge, it might cool down to say 60 degrees...and bacteria love that temp.

 

Thanks for that reminder. This is the one many people don't seem to know about.