Bacteria in foods....

[shroomgirl]

Welp, I'm dong Mini-Med III now and the doc last Thursday spoke on UlceratedColitus and Crohns......bad nasty shtuff....anyway one of his suppositions is that by having "too clean food" ultrapasturized etc....you know the industrial plastic glove crew that deals with edible commodities....Eating this shtuff may not reinforce the good bacteria in your guts. I've not been to Europe but from what I've read/heard etc they believe alittle (relative term) "dirt is good for you"
Thoughts?????

[cape chef]

It,s pretty scary to think that some foods are being manipulated so much that they not even destroy the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria.

some of the "good" bacterias that come to mind are the lactic acid producing bacterias that cause fermantation in milk products of all kinds. Pickles,sourkrout and yes even salami benifit from this strain of bacteria. many soya bean products from the orient develope with lactic acid bacteries.
Most bacteries don't work in tandom with eachother but one takes over as the acidty rises and feeds off the waste of the one before it (yummy huh) In dairy streptococcus (rememder serve safe?) start the fermantation and then are taken over by lactobacillus wich produce and can stand higher levels of lactic acid.
also a good bactereia is acetobactor (sp?)this produces acetic acid producing bactereas,This is what turns alcohol to vinager.
some bacteria even get along with molds and yeast to produce and develope surface ripened cheeses, Linom bacteria comes to mind when it develops the yummy aroma of Limburger cheese.

Many food producers have learned how to develope good bacterias in food,Like yogurt for example the milk is kept at 90 degrees witch allow strep,thermo and lacto bacterias to dominate the bad ones.

I hope some of this makes sence
cc

[nancya]

George Carlin did a piece about how in his day, children were tough. They played in raw sewage and were none the worse for wear - none of this antibacterial crap for them!

While good hygiene still seems like a good idea and I don't especially want to die of food borne illness...I am agreeing that things just might have gone a bit overboard.

Not that long ago, the FDA allowed like 70 [?] bug parts per bowl of cereal. Anyone know what the regulations are now?

[cape chef]

dear Nancya

They dropped it to 68 parts per bowl
cc

[Pastachef]

Oh, yuck! That just took my handful of snack cereal to the trash can. Don't even mention the peanut butter. It's my favorite thing. Sometimes ignorance is bliss

[Elsie]

...but if you really want to know what the allowable limits are for things, here is a document from the FDA. Warning: Read only if you really want to know! It's kind of interesting reading, but rather disturbing that there actually are allowable limits for certain things!!!

www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/foodfilth1.html

Elsie

[Isa]

Originally posted by Pastachef
Sometimes ignorance is bliss

You got that right Pasta!


It makes me sick when I see clerck not washing their hands after handling money or cleaning up. That's one way to loose customers.

[Pastachef]

I know what you mean, Isa. As much as I adore my girls at the sorority, they stand in the kitchen and blow their noses and then pick at the food I'm so careful about, without washing their hands. They run through the kitchen and stick their hands in the cereal containers, or the salad bar. I've preached germs until I'm blue in the face. Signs don't work, lectures don't work, announcements at their meetings by the house president doesn't work either. They forget to put things back in the fridge, like mayo and deli turkey. So dangerous! But they ignore my warnings. It's the age

[Isa]

Ever thought of hiding a small mousetrap in the salad bowl?








I'm kidding...

[kokopuffs]

Certain bacteria reside in the GI tract and are responsible for absorption of certain vitamins. Those bacteria are called NORMAL FLORA and are obviously essential to good health.

Penicillin destroys normal flora. Following ingestion of penicillin it is recommended that the patient eat a cup of yogurt that has "active cultures" to help restore that "flora".

[Olive Branch]

Between our lack of antibodies to bacteria due to being SO DARNED CLEAN, and the super-bacteria that we breed by taking antibiotics indiscriminatly, it's amazing that we're all still here talking to each other! My grandmother (she of the mascara advice) used to say, "You've got to eat a peck of dirt to grow up." I have stopped using antibacterial hand soap, but I still bleach my counters and cutting boards. There must be a happy medium somewhere - at least in the home kitchen. If 200 people a day were eating my food, I would feel very differently, I'm sure. This anthrax thing has me thinking about our perception of risk. Ride in the car - or open the mail. Ride in the car - or open the mail. It's the unfamiliar that scares us. Ranchers have been dealing with anthrax for 200 years in America, and view it as an acceptable risk. Veterinarians and soldiers get their vaccinations and get on with it. We know so much that we think we can make life RISK-FREE. But face it - no one gets out alive!

Love ~ Debbie

[DaveB]

I read an article recently about the high level of allergies (especially food-related) we are seeing in the current generation of kids. The author suggested that it's due to the infant's immune system not being challenged by exposure to "normal" sorts of environmental bacteria.

The under-developed immune system that overreacts to things like peanuts.

[kokopuffs]

Or, DaveB, the infant's immune system has been taxed (over challenged) due to vaccinations in early age. Over the past 50 years and for the first time in human history humans have been affecting their own immune system. The data garnered from such activity is young. We need more time to study the short and long term effects of immune stimulation.

[Ruth]

i was reading the posts and i thought i would share and disgust,choc----- loved by all the fda allows roach parts.i don't know i am sure per billion.that is why i only USE organic.
thought ya like to know!

[Anneke]

Believe it or not, my sister (the one who watches too much Oprah) refuses to prepare chicken at all! Her husband insists on Turkey for Thanxgiving, so he has to make it himself. She nags him all day to handle the turkey with gloves - which he refuses- and by Thanksgiving dinner they're barely speaking to eachother.

Might as well live in a glass bubble!

As for antibacterial soaps etc, my husband the biochemist thinks they should be illegal for the reasons discussed in previous posts. I do think we've gone too far in many respects, and yet I still see cooks using the same instruments for raw and cooked meats, and other assorted unsafe practices.

Who knows anymore what'll kill ya!!