Word: salmonella
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Laboratory tests to detect the hidden hazards are performed on only a tiny percentage of all animals. The problem is most evident in poultry. Studies have indicated that up to one-third of chickens sold to consumers are tainted with salmonella bacteria that can cause food poisoning if the birds are not properly cooked. Yet only 0.5% of chickens are rejected by inspectors. Some of the contamination apparently occurs right under the eye of inspectors, who observe each chicken on the production line for one to three seconds. High- speed eviscerating machines that rip out intestines sometimes spew feces...
...story titled The Egg. Anderson's melancholy view is more apropos than ever. The poor egg, already condemned by heart specialists for its high cholesterol content, was blamed in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association for yet another scourge: food poisoning. Illness due to the bacterium Salmonella enteritidis -- vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever and headache -- has increased sevenfold in the northeastern U.S. during the past decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And during a recent two-year period in the region, eggs caused 77% of those cases traceable to a food source. The most severe...
Most disturbing is that the Northeast outbreaks, affecting 2,119 people and killing eleven of them, struck despite precautions taken specifically to keep the bacteria at bay. Because chickens frequently harbor salmonella in their intestines and contaminate eggshells with their droppings, cracked eggs cannot be sold to retail markets. To pass state and federal inspections, intact ones must be washed with disinfectant before they are shipped. Nonetheless, all the food-poisoning cases blamed on eggs were traced to the grade-A variety, which had been washed and inspected for cracks. This finding has led researchers to suggest that the bacteria...
...informing people of the risks and how to reduce them. "There's no reason to stop eating eggs -- they are one of the most excellent sources of nutrition," says Dr. Dale Morse of the New York State health department. But, he stresses, eggs should be cooked, because heat destroys salmonella. Recipes that call for fresh raw eggs -- eggnog, Caesar-salad dressing and mayonnaise -- are out. (But packaged varieties of these foods are safe, because commercial producers use pasteurized eggs, which are not commonly available to consumers.) In addition, cracked eggs should be discarded and intact ones, cooked or raw, should...
Supporters claim that gamma-ray exposure offers an alternative to controversial pesticides, fumigants and preservatives, and protects human health by killing parasites like trichina worms in pork and bacteria like salmonella, which causes food poisoning. Irradiation, they note, can extend shelf life. "We see the day when you can go into a supermarket and buy a barbecued chicken that has been cooked, vacuum-packed and irradiated. It can sit on the shelf for eight years, and all you'll have to do is heat it up," predicts Physicist Martin Welt, founder of Radiation Technology...