Cooking the poop out of pot pies
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My wife Amy says she ate a lot of pot pies growing up in Montana and "they were always frozen in the middle."Kids come home from school, are told to fend for themselves, grab something from the freezer, pop it into the microwave, and sometimes, instant gratification.
People have been eating frozen pot pies for a long time and haven't gotten sick.
But somehow, a whole pile of poop -- that's where salmonella comes from -- got into the batch of ConAgra Banquet turkey and chicken pot pies with the code P9 on the side panel.
It was either a failure to cook the meat, or it was in the potatoes or carrots or flour. Poop is everywhere. It should not be eaten; unless it's cooked.
Until last night, when ConAgra finally recalled all pot pies produced at its Missouri plant, the company insisted it was up to consumers to cook that poop.
But are consumers really the ones who are supposed to be responsible here?
Stephanie Childs, a spokesperson for ConAgra, says that as long as consumers follow the instructions on the package, Banquet brand frozen pot pies are safe to eat.
Amy questions that. So do the 152 people across the U.S. confirmed with Salmonella linked to the ConAgra pot pies. With that many sick people, of which 20 required hospitalization, there were probably thousands of people barfing or planted on the porcelain throne because they could not figure out how to follow the simple instructions to make the poop safe.
So I gave it a try.
The details are available at:
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/2007/10/articles/food-safety-communication/cooking-a-frozen-pot-pie-in-a-microwave/
The short version is, the cooking instructions, for me, in one trial, failed to yield a safe internal temperature of 165F; the pie only got to 148F. That's not safe. If salmonella was there, it would make me poop.
ConAgra was somehow allowed to blame consumers for several days -- if not months -- for the poop in their pot pies.
Now ConAgra says it is going to rewrite its cooking instructions on its pot pie packaging -- something that should have done before 152 people started barfing.
But why just pot pies? There is a cacophony of frozen, raw or cooked products available in the supermarket freezer section, and there have been several outbreaks of foodborne illness related to those products containing raw ingredients.
In 2006 the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued guidelines requiring companies to clearly label uncooked products and include a statement such as "must be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F as measured by use of a thermometer" in a prominent spot on the package.
But it's still confusing. Raw, frozen, chicken strips, for instance, are sold side-by-side with fully cooked, frozen chicken strips. Kids looking for an after-school snack may not read the label instructions before popping something in the microwave. And telling consumers to cook out the poop may not be the best marketing strategy.
Frozen products like nuggets, strips and pot pies should only contain fully cooked ingredients.
Douglas Powell is scientific director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University.
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As much as I feel like I'm about to proselytize, if people would just muster the confidence to switch to a vegan diet, this problem simply wouldn't exist. Do you really want to be feeding your children food that has the potential to kill them? Salmonella poisoning is a horrible way to die.
I have to say this. As a Chef/Gardener/Butcher/Teacher/Real Food enthusiast for the last 20-25 years, I truly believe that the large companies like Cargill and ConAgra are symptomatic of what's wrong in the American food supply system. Mass produced food, processed as cheaply as possible, with no thought to end use or impact on the world we live in, with decsion makers far removed from the consequences of their actions make for situations like the ones we've seen the last two weeks with ground beef and pot pies. The producers of food absolutely have a responsibility to do all in their power to provide safe, wholesome food that is as easy to use as they say it is. Ingredients have to be raised and processed with integrity and attention to detail. The safety of the end products need to be tested rigorously and held until tests prove the product is wholesome (especially something with a shelf life like frozen pot pies).
Having said all that, I also believe that people actually eating the food bare a responsibility to themselves and their families to use the same care and attention to detail in cooking for themselves as they expect from the producers of the product. Your wife Amy states that she ate a lot of pot pies growing up that were frozen in the middle. Since when is it OK to be stupid at home and blame it on someone else. Mom and dad are exhibiting the same disconnect at home that we're suing ConAgra for.
I know this sounds like I'm supporting Ms Childs (ConAgra spokesperson) in her assertion concerning following instructions on the packages, but no, I'm not. I just feel that we all have the respnsiblity to think as we act, and to take ownership of our actions, whether we're mom at home or the head of a corporation.
Sorry, Veganism isn't the answer. (for me)
In defense of my stupidity - and every other consumer's - my pot pie eating days occurred between the ages of 8 and 12 and not under the direct supervision of a stay at home parent. While I certainly would have been able to read the labels and directions on the box, and likely did, as we know from our own experience, even a food scientist can follow the directions on the box and still not get a safe internal temperature on the product. At that age I could master the "cook at 350 for 45 minutes" or whatever may have been on the label, but I certainly would not have known how to use a meat thermometer, nor what the proper internal temperature would be. This was in the days before microwave potpies when they still came in aluminum trays. Being the hungry kids we were, my brother and I would start eating them before we'd realize the inside was still cold. Then we'd put them back in the oven or else suffer through a lukewarm middle. I don't think it's too much to ask companies who sell products that are "ready in 4 minutes" to make sure the ingredients are safe. If they know that there is a risk, then the product should come with a warning on its label: "NOT SAFE to eat unless the internal temperature reaches 165F."
Further - I don't think my parents were negligent to leave me home alone with a pot pie. If they had known that it could make me sick, they would have put it somewhere out of my reach.