
A top food poisoning expert won’t ever eat these foods - mudil
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/02/why-a-top-food-safety-expert-doesnt-eat-oysters-and-always-orders-meat-well-done/
======
tzs
In the case of steak, the problem is with "mechanically tenderized" meat.
Mechanical tenderization involves puncturing the meat with many tiny needles.
That process can push bacteria from the surface of the meat deep into the
interior.

If a steak has _not_ gone through this process then the dangerous bacteria is
on the surface and so all you need to do is get the surface of the steak hot
enough to kill the bacteria (160F/70C). You can leave the interior as rare as
you like. Since even fans of the rarest steaks generally want a nice brown
exterior, this will almost never be no problem.

When mechanical tenderization has pushed the bacteria into the interior then
you have to get the interior as far down as the bacteria have been pushed to
160F/70C if you want the steak to be as safe as one that had not been abused
by mechanical tenderization.

Unfortunately there is currently no requirement for mechanically tenderized
steak to be labeled as such, and you cannot tell just by looking at it. The
USDA has passed a regulation requiring labeling, but it does not go into
effect until May 2016.

~~~
zurn
The common food pathogens can survive surprisingly high temperatures, beyond
70C. Eg here they found that the most common food poisoning microbes on
chicken fillets survived ~2 minutes in boiling water even though surface
temperature reached 85C in 1 minute.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3282150/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3282150/)

More resilient bugs and spores are another thing. Hospital autoclaves use 30
minutes at 120C/250F.

Steak surface obviously heats to 100C pretty quick on a hot pan, but it's
going to be pretty hard to consistently ensure that all spots on the sides etc
have been hot enough for long enough.

------
DiabloD3
This is just a gigantic scare story.

Jack in the Box was a food handling issue borne from corporate policy to cook
food as fast as possible, leading to burgers cooked on the outside, and raw on
the inside.

And as for the Odwalla case, it was improper pasteurization, again, due to
cost cutting corporate policies.

What he should be saying? Stop eating improperly prepared and/or garbage food.
Instead? Hes saying fear everything, fear is good, fear will save your life,
fear is America and America is fear.

Washington Post should really be ashamed by this story, and it doesn't belong
on HN. We're better than this.

~~~
peteforde
How do you qualify that this is a "scare story"? People quite literally died
from eating Jack in the Box.

You don't think that Odwalla refusing to do end-testing because it would
create subpoena-able data goes a shade beyond corporate cost cutting?

He doesn't say anything like what you're suggesting, unless you consider

"From a safety standpoint, I don’t necessarily think that we’re the safest
food system in the world, but neither do I think that we’re the worst food
safety system in the world. We do have a fairly amazing ability to surveil
foodborne illnesses."

or

"In 22 years of doing this, I’ve obviously seen things that are chilling. But
I’ve also seen some great progress."

or

"Most of the work we did was E. coli cases linked to hamburgers, and those are
now almost nonexistent, because the beef industry and the government finally
figured out that it was a really bad idea to poison people, and that it was
expensive, and they created systems that allowed to lower the level of E. coli
in hamburger meat. Now there are fewer people getting sick, and Bill Marler
isn’t making as much money, which is a great thing."

to be sky-is-falling fear-mongering.

I can't tell if you just didn't read the article, or you're angry about a
completely different article.

~~~
DiabloD3
I read the article.

I remember both Jack in the Box and Odwalla in the news. The problem is, I
won't do business with either company because they are generally garbage
products.

Why isn't he raising the alarm about that? Instead, it is about extremely rare
outbreaks that only occurred because of mishandling the product to pad
someone's pocket.

Yes, people died. What about all the people who continue to die because they
eat these products, and it isn't because of E Coli?

Odwalla is full of sugar, far more than what their fancy label and branding
suggests, and Jack in the Box is just nasty greasy fast food.

So yes, this article really is just fear mongering.

------
scarface74
So the lesson is -- don't eat raw and under cooked food.

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angmarsbane
This feels like an advertisement for Bill Marler.

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venomsnake
TL:DР He won't eat anything with taste.

The US system is absurdly safe for people with immune systems. If you are or
cook for immune-compromised person - go on - incinerate the food.

Read the data yourself and make informed decision.

~~~
peteforde
1\. You did not read the article, or you'd realize that your snarky response
is actually intended for a BuzzFeed listicle — a completely different and far
less interesting article.

2\. Could you clarify which use of TL:RD that you're invoking?
[http://www.acronymfinder.com/TLRD.html](http://www.acronymfinder.com/TLRD.html)

~~~
venomsnake
_The list includes raw oysters and other raw shellfish, raw or under-cooked
eggs, meat that isn 't well-done, unpasteurized milk and juice, and raw
sprouts._

Read it. And it is bullshit and paranoia. If you are a healthy person all of
those are extremely safe even if treated with the worst possible practices.
Except shellfish though - but I don't count it as food anyway.

~~~
elthran
>Except shellfish though - but I don't count it as food anyway.

I think this is the first time I've ever seen an oyster being the subject of
No True Scotsman

