Burning questions
(--- AND I love answering them and adding a little more....LOL)
The E. coli outbreak has sparked renewed interest from consumers about their food, and prompted debate over who is responsible for food safety
Gwendolyn Richards, Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, October 25, 2012
That steak on your plate needs to come with a side of curiosity.
So say those in the food industry in the wake of the E. coli outbreak.
Chefs and butchers are calling for people to be more proactive when it comes to what's on their plate.
On Wednesday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency lifted its licence suspension for the XL Foods plant in Brooks, giving it the go-ahead to reopen almost a month after it was shut down as a result of E. coli contamination.
The outbreak sickened 16 people in four provinces, and millions of kilograms of meat had to be returned to the plant from across Canada and the U.S.
The ripple effect has been increased interest from consumers in their meat and what it went through from field to plate.
At Second To None Meats, news of the E. coli outbreak meant more phone calls and more questions being posed across the meat counter - something production facility manager Shane Eustace has welcomed.
"People want to know more about the process now," he said Wednesday.
Customers are buying no more and no less beef than before, Eustace said, they're just looking to be more informed. The number of new customers has actually gone up, he said.
A beef rancher is a partner in the store and their meat goes to a smaller slaughterhouse, which Eustace says translates to a closer eye being kept on the process.
Unlike XL, where thousands of cows are slaughtered in a day, the abattoir used by Second To None processes only 15.
"There is a little bit of trust that they're not being sloppy on their end."
But Eustace suspects this renewed interest from consumers, this interest in learning where their meat comes from and how it is handled, will fade as the headlines do.
"People are surprisingly unknowledgeable about their food. I hope this continues to get people to ask questions about their food."
SAIT culinary instructor Michael Allemeier talked with his butchery students about the outbreak yesterday; today they will learn how to break down a cow.
For him, the concern is the impact this will have on the beef industry - the ranchers and their families who raise the beef.
Calling it a manufacturing issue, he said he wants to see the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or a public health body call out the processors who needlessly tenderized the steaks that sickened at least five of those 16 people.
"You don't expect E. coli to come from a solid muscle," he said, arguing those who mechanically needled the meat were being deceptive.
"They're profiting on people's ignorance," he said.
Triple A or prime beef cuts don't need mechanical tenderizing, which breaks down the connective tissue in the muscle. That practice is usually reserved for second cuts, from legs and shoulders, and is used for things like cutlets and schnitzels.
"To take a strip loin and do that is completely dirty pool," Allemeier said.
"Getting everyone to cook things more is a Band-Aid solution," he added.
"As a consumer and a professional, I'm annoyed by that. It sets me back as a professional. I should be able to serve prime cuts to my consumers at their desired doneness without having to worry about safety," he said.
At the end of the day, we like to have faith in the system."
But Andrew Stevens, corporate chef for the Vintage Group, which includes Vintage Chophouse, said faith is not enough.
The so-called Beef Geek - who has spent the last 18 months trying to answer the question of what is the best beef? - said consumers, including himself, take for granted that food is good or safe.
"We just assume when we go to the grocery store and you're paying a good price for prime or triple A beef that it's handled properly and it's safe and it's good quality," he said. "It's not necessarily the case."
Just as for Second To None, customers at Vintage began asking questions about the meat at the chophouse in the wake of the outbreak.
Stevens says diners were satisfied after they explain where the meat is sourced, how it's handled, that they don't cross-contaminate and that none of it is needled.
In the restaurant, he's heard everything from people saying only grass-finished beef is safe to someone saying all beef in Canada is tainted.
Neither is true, Stevens points out.
"There's so much misinformation out there right now, that's what created the climate of people freaking out, saying the only safe beef is grass-finished and you have to go to a small (producer)," he said.
What consumers need to do, he says, is get proactive about their food, to ask questions and find out where it comes from and how it has been handled.
"You need to ask your butcher what's going on," he says.
Ask if the meat has been needled, where it comes from and whether it has been cut in house.
And it doesn't matter if you're at your specialty butcher shop, the local chain grocery store or the stall at your local farmer's market, he says.
"We should be able to get that information."
grichards@calgaryherald.com
© Calgary Herald 2012
(--- AND I love answering them and adding a little more....LOL)
The E. coli outbreak has sparked renewed interest from consumers about their food, and prompted debate over who is responsible for food safety
Gwendolyn Richards, Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, October 25, 2012
That steak on your plate needs to come with a side of curiosity.
So say those in the food industry in the wake of the E. coli outbreak.
Chefs and butchers are calling for people to be more proactive when it comes to what's on their plate.
On Wednesday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency lifted its licence suspension for the XL Foods plant in Brooks, giving it the go-ahead to reopen almost a month after it was shut down as a result of E. coli contamination.
The outbreak sickened 16 people in four provinces, and millions of kilograms of meat had to be returned to the plant from across Canada and the U.S.
The ripple effect has been increased interest from consumers in their meat and what it went through from field to plate.
At Second To None Meats, news of the E. coli outbreak meant more phone calls and more questions being posed across the meat counter - something production facility manager Shane Eustace has welcomed.
"People want to know more about the process now," he said Wednesday.
Customers are buying no more and no less beef than before, Eustace said, they're just looking to be more informed. The number of new customers has actually gone up, he said.
A beef rancher is a partner in the store and their meat goes to a smaller slaughterhouse, which Eustace says translates to a closer eye being kept on the process.
Unlike XL, where thousands of cows are slaughtered in a day, the abattoir used by Second To None processes only 15.
"There is a little bit of trust that they're not being sloppy on their end."
But Eustace suspects this renewed interest from consumers, this interest in learning where their meat comes from and how it is handled, will fade as the headlines do.
"People are surprisingly unknowledgeable about their food. I hope this continues to get people to ask questions about their food."
SAIT culinary instructor Michael Allemeier talked with his butchery students about the outbreak yesterday; today they will learn how to break down a cow.
For him, the concern is the impact this will have on the beef industry - the ranchers and their families who raise the beef.
Calling it a manufacturing issue, he said he wants to see the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or a public health body call out the processors who needlessly tenderized the steaks that sickened at least five of those 16 people.
"You don't expect E. coli to come from a solid muscle," he said, arguing those who mechanically needled the meat were being deceptive.
"They're profiting on people's ignorance," he said.
Triple A or prime beef cuts don't need mechanical tenderizing, which breaks down the connective tissue in the muscle. That practice is usually reserved for second cuts, from legs and shoulders, and is used for things like cutlets and schnitzels.
"To take a strip loin and do that is completely dirty pool," Allemeier said.
"Getting everyone to cook things more is a Band-Aid solution," he added.
"As a consumer and a professional, I'm annoyed by that. It sets me back as a professional. I should be able to serve prime cuts to my consumers at their desired doneness without having to worry about safety," he said.
At the end of the day, we like to have faith in the system."
But Andrew Stevens, corporate chef for the Vintage Group, which includes Vintage Chophouse, said faith is not enough.
The so-called Beef Geek - who has spent the last 18 months trying to answer the question of what is the best beef? - said consumers, including himself, take for granted that food is good or safe.
"We just assume when we go to the grocery store and you're paying a good price for prime or triple A beef that it's handled properly and it's safe and it's good quality," he said. "It's not necessarily the case."
Just as for Second To None, customers at Vintage began asking questions about the meat at the chophouse in the wake of the outbreak.
Stevens says diners were satisfied after they explain where the meat is sourced, how it's handled, that they don't cross-contaminate and that none of it is needled.
In the restaurant, he's heard everything from people saying only grass-finished beef is safe to someone saying all beef in Canada is tainted.
Neither is true, Stevens points out.
"There's so much misinformation out there right now, that's what created the climate of people freaking out, saying the only safe beef is grass-finished and you have to go to a small (producer)," he said.
What consumers need to do, he says, is get proactive about their food, to ask questions and find out where it comes from and how it has been handled.
"You need to ask your butcher what's going on," he says.
Ask if the meat has been needled, where it comes from and whether it has been cut in house.
And it doesn't matter if you're at your specialty butcher shop, the local chain grocery store or the stall at your local farmer's market, he says.
"We should be able to get that information."
grichards@calgaryherald.com
© Calgary Herald 2012
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