SICK EGGS

My fave is the thing, I think you told me about it first, that the USDA says salmonella is an intrinsic part of chickens, and thus cannot be eradicated, and therefore everyone needs to crank the heat high and be on their own risk. Tell that to other countries where salmonella in eggs and chicken meat is essentially nonexistent! As you say, only in America....

That's ridiculous.  "Intrinsic"? they say.   Why should it be so?

And "The home office said they were ok."  The staff at the stores cannot be expected to be experts, but they are just spouting what they've been told to (not excusing them), and head office is looking after dollars, unfortunately. To the detriment of their quality of food and more importantly the public.

We  go on strike against the poultry industry.  The cost of the innoculations would seem paultry compared to zero profits and product wasting on the shelves.  Chicken is my favorite meat,  however I'm willing to do without if boycotting the industry would make a difference. 

At home we pay over $3 a dozen for our eggs.  It's worth it.  A lot of it comes from Larry Schultz organic farms.  (yeah there's my plug)  

In Europe they do not wash the eggs, and sell them on store shelves at room temperature. The natural coating on the eggs keeps them safe.

Silly America, we wash our eggs, leaving the porous shell to be exposed to whatever........

The american farm system and how animals are fed is the biggest problem. Contaminated feed = contaminated food. Add in the way the majority of meat is processed and it adds in even more avenues for bacterial contamination.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chefross 

In Europe they do not wash the eggs, and sell them on store shelves at room temperature. The natural coating on the eggs keeps them safe.

Silly America, we wash our eggs, leaving the porous shell to be exposed to whatever........

Well, actually no. The norm in America is that the eggs are washed --- and then sprayed with a sealant, basically wax I think. So the eggs don't end up being more porous than naturally, but I gather there is some question as to whether this process has any actual positive effects.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisLehrer 

Well, actually no. The norm in America is that the eggs are washed --- and then sprayed with a sealant, basically wax I think. So the eggs don't end up being more porous than naturally, but I gather there is some question as to whether this process has any actual positive effects.

Obviously there is something amiss here.

I was walking by a local dollar store yesterday and saw a sign in the window advertising Hillandale eggs, $1 per dozen.  Almost fell over.

You can't put it all on the gov since as stated there is corruption in the industry from the farmers and on up the USDA chain, most likely the same sort of corruption that is present in every single facet of our society. The difficult thing to come to terms with, is that there is no economic reward for playing fair, for doing the right thing. The farmer that follows every guideline, have vigilant testing in their production operation, etc. is the farmer that has to charge more to make the same profit as the guy cutting the corners. Ultimately, people stare at the different brands on the shelf and often opt for the cheapest product because it "looks" the same. Does anyone know if the gov has rewards programs in place for farmers to do more than is required? We subsidize in other ways, seems that if you can get an industry to self police then that would beat out trying to inspect/enforce.

Corruption is infectious. Good men enter politics, law enforcement, code enforcement, etc. and too often leave with dirty hands because they cannot exist in a corrupt environment without at least turning a blind eye.

I agree, Ed.  People complain about too much government.  There is an argument for anarchism, I suppose, but usually it's the same people who complain about too much government interference in industries (that kill large numbers of people) are the same ones that complain about being too easy with petty criminals. 

Here, we're talking about lives and health being endangered because someone wants to make a lot of money.  WE're forced to be careful, and are told "let the buyer beware," and all that.  But nobody says the police shouldn't protect us against muggers and violent criminals on the streets, and that the CITIZEN should beware!

I don't know the science of it, but it seems to me that to say that salmonella is inevitable is surely false.  I remember people always ate raw eggs all the time, whether sucked from the shell as my grandfather used to do, in zabaione, egg creams, eggnogs and simply licking the batter from the bowl, and there were not these big recalls of eggs, till around the late 60s.  In italy, i've never heard of it.  Lots of  people would give their young children raw eggs beaten with sugar in the morning.  They might say endemic, but not inevitable.  The reason, perhaps, that they don;t say endemic is that that implies that there might be a solution to it. 

This is scary news.  I've been following this from Japan where eating raw eggs is quite common.   The Japanese egg makers have managed to win the trust of pretty much everybody in Japan where runny eggs and raw eggs recipes are very popular.  I think something has to be done to gain the trust of the general public.  But telling people that contaminated eggs are a fact of life might not be the best way to go around the problem.  

Read my blog about food in Japan

Foodie Topography

Re raw eggs - I enjoy at times a smoothie shake with a raw egg included.  I also like mayonaisse.

Not dead yet (touch wood).    I must admit I don't know the ins and outs with food regulations here.  But then I always eat my chicken well done.  Having said this,  I poach eggs until they are only just done - does this equate to raw? The white is still soft and the yolk just warm and really runny. Eggs done hard - blecch - not worth eating.

On another tack,  there was a very serious bout of food poisoning here about 10 years ago regarding metwurst/salami products.  Many people died as a result of the meat not being cooked. Whether this was an issue with the producer (it was all from one place) so I'm guessing it  must have been a problem at their end of things.  Now all products in Australia like this must be cooked and the standards have been changed to cover that.

I heard about the outbreak of sick eggs from our head office... even though we are in Canada some suppliers import their eggs from the US so I had to check our eggs.. and our eggs are fine.  I was pretty sure they were product of Ontario but I had to check to be safe.

I remember just a couple of years ago there was a listeria outbreak that seemed to be assoicated with products produced in a particular Maple Leaf Foods plant (salami, pepperoni, bologna, hot dogs.. that kind of stuff was affected) and the recall list was staggering.  As it turned out after the investigation the source of the contamination was in the plant itself and it was shut down for a good cleaning.  Some stores voluntarily pulled all of the products named in the recall even if the products they had on their shelves were not included, just to ease the mind of the public, I think.  I know there were lawsuits filed against Maple Leaf Foods after that and honestly I can't remember if they settled out of court or if it did go before a judge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC Sunshine 

On another tack,  there was a very serious bout of food poisoning here about 10 years ago regarding metwurst/salami products.  Many people died as a result of the meat not being cooked. Whether this was an issue with the producer (it was all from one place) so I'm guessing it  must have been a problem at their end of things.  Now all products in Australia like this must be cooked and the standards have been changed to cover that.

Salame is NOT cooked at any stage in production as far as i know, nor is prosciutto for sure (which is called "raw ham" here, "prosciutto crudo", "prosciutto" meaning ham).  It;s not supposed to be cooked, so it requires very rigorous standards and testing.  The problem is not with the cooking but with the cleanliness of the factory, the slaughtering techniques, the lack of testing etc

Maybe not in the city, but around my area people can have their own chickens. That is probably the best solution. Just like catching my own shrimp, I know they haven't been sitting around, because they are cleaned and in my belly before 24 hrs. I would like to collect my own wild mushrooms, but the ticks are presenting enough health hazard that it probably isn't worth it. Even fishing and crabbing though, you are at the mercy of the state to keep the waters clean.