COOK YOUR MEAT

[grassfarmer]

To go back to your original post where you posed the
question
"What is wrong with cooking it properly and eating
it?"
Answer - the risk is just too high - this is a very
serious illness which you don't seem to grasp. Maybe
if it was your child or grand child on kidney dialyses
the reality might hit home. As food suppliers we must
err on the side of caution in instances like this. How
can we be sure that every household has an accurate
thermometer and knows how to use it? how can we
be sure that every piece of meat is the same
temperature as the piece the thermometer was stuck
in? You cannot knowingly sell a product that is
contaminated with a potentially deadly ecoli strain
and tell they consumer "it'll be OK if you cook it well
enough". The risk is just too high.

[ASRG]

Happytrails: Sorry I was trying to be a smart ass.
As grassfarmer says though....this is a pretty bad germ and we can't really take the chance on some kid getting killed if it wasn't cooked properly.
I also understand what you are saying about having it cooked properly under supervision and distributed as a pre cooked product. Who would pay for that?

It would also make sense to cook it and use it in pet food? Unfortunately I don't think they can do that anymore due to the last government screwup, BSE?

[tman]

If you have to cook your meat to a crisp to make it safe, then it really shouldn't be food. Another reason why the beef industry is in the shitter.

[kato]

Some advice from a cook.

It's not just cooking the meat properly that's needed. You also have to be careful that anything you are going to eat raw, like salad, or even the onions for the burger, doesn't EVER touch anything that's come into contact with the raw meat. It's called cross-contamination.

Nowadays most people don't have the same kind of day to day kitchen experience as our mothers and grandmothers had. They eat a lot of pre-packaged and instant stuff, and just don't work with things like raw meat every day. It's scarey how many of the younger generation have not been taught how to properly prepare and handle food.

But it's not just e-coli that is prevented by proper handling and cooking. It's also salmonella, which can also be pretty nasty.

That being said, these handling practices are meant as a second line of defense against food borne illness. The first line of defense is to have standards that do whatever possible to prevent having to rely on them to be the only safety measure in place.

If someone sells you meat, you want to be assured that they have done the best they can to make sure it's safe. You sure don't want to buy meat from someone who figures close is good enough.

[Happytrails]

tman. You only have to cook meat normally to kill all bacteria. It isn't rocket science and is commonly done.

Good points Kato. For those interested the worst e.coli epidemic so far was in Germany in 2011. Killed 73 people and sickened over 3000. The source? An organic vegetable farm. With life comes some risks.

[grassfarmer]

I think it was 53 killed rather than 73 - still a terrible
toll.

[riders2010]

1.You need to to dig a BIG hole in the ground, get a film crew to film the process.
2.Get the film crew to follow the meat from the xl plant and everywhere else it is recalled, and show it destined to the big hole.
3. Put the meat products in the hole.
4. Cover the meat with dirt.
5. Play this film over and over.
6. Take a wrecking ball over to the xl plant and film it being demolished. Haul the rubble to the BIG hole and cover it up also.

7. Play this film over and over perhaps in the time slot of the nhl games used to be.

8. this will cost nb some insurance deductable, but will turn this thing around and not put the cow, calf, and feeder producers in any more jeopardy and will save the industry billions as well as our credibility for all food not just meat!

9. Instead of money for nb, money goes to smaller plants throughout the west.

10. But then again you would have to buy off the gov of the day wouldn't you?
so may as well forget it. But maybe somehow if you could connect that this process would help the oil industry maybe the gov would listen.

11. Oh yeah maybe award a medal of stupidity to anyone that thinks the world and usda want to hear that we in Canada think it's ok to fry manure and eat it. Or better yet keep the film rolling, grab a piece of manure and don't forget human waste off your hands after a fresh wee wee and slop it on your best steak, have it cooked on the grill blackenned and then all of you that think it's good, eat it in front of a live audience and the film crew, and play that on national tv. MY GOD!