New Zealand court slams poultry processor
An Auckland woman whose company slaughtered thousands of poultry in what a judge described as stomach-turning conditions has been fined more than $23,000 in a case brought by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA).
Ling Zhang and her company Ling Ling Poultry pleaded guilty in Papakura District Court last week to four charges under the Animal Products Act.
Judge Eddie Paul fined Zhang $20,000 for selling animal product that has not been processed in line with the Act and $3000 for not having a registered risk management programme, plus court costs.
He told Zhang that to call the operation ‘bad’ was an understatement: “Anyone viewing that barn in the manner in which those chickens were slaughtered, their stomach would turn.”
Children shouldn't play with raw poultry
One of Amy’s graduate students sent me the following picture this morning.
‘Nuff said.
Stick a thermometer in cheap, stinky meat
The quest for discounted groceries has hit the news again with South Carolina news reporter Larry Collins asking,
“Stores slash prices about 50% - 60% on meat when it is nearing the date on the packaging. But, is that food safe to eat?”
According to registered dietitian Charlotte Caperton-Kilburn, such meat is typically safe to consume as long as you cook or freeze it as soon as you bring it home… and it smells okay.
“If the meat smells even remotely strange it should be returned to the store or thrown away,” Caperton-Kilburn told the news station.
In Ireland, Darina Allen wrote in an opinion piece for the Irish Examiner that, just the other night, she found a vac-packed duck in the back of her fridge that smelled “good and high.” Rather than throw it out, she “gave it a good wash inside and out and rubbed a bit of salt into the skin and roasted it.”
Her guests said it was delicious.
Allen reminisced about life before modern conveniences like electric refrigeration and explained, “We learned from our mothers how to judge with our senses whether food was safe.” She asserted that, “in just a few years, many people have lost the ability to judge for themselves when food is safe to eat.”
While most groceries sold in the US have a date consumers can read and use, the USDA only requires manufacturers of infant formula and baby food to determine and display a “Use by” date on their products—and this is mainly for the sake of ensuring nutrient quality. The others are voluntary and only describe when the food will probably taste best. Assessing safety is still up to the consumer.
Modern technologies like stamped dates and color-changing barcodes can help consumers with that assessment, as can the senses of sight and smell. The most reliable safeguard, though, is cooking to a temperature that studies have found will effectively kill pathogens. For poultry, this is 165F.
Chefs may tell you to use your senses to figure temperature, too, but only by using a tip-sensitive digital thermometer can you know for sure. It’s the consumer’s choice, as always, but I’d rather be sure than be positive for salmonella.
It's tragic to be hip if the science sucks -- turkey advice
The U.K. Food Standards Agency is so tragically hip they’ve gone viral.
Except they call it ‘viral,’ encasing the word in what speakers would call “air quotes” or what Jon Stewart of the Daily Show recently called “dick fingers.” I call it bad writing.
The Agency has launched a new 'viral' marketing campaign, which raises awareness to the dangers of eating week-old turkey and gives tips to protect people in the UK from festive food poisoning. …
The new 60-second video aims to raise awareness of bad food hygiene and give some key advice on the safe handling of Christmas leftovers. The shocking but amusing film features a family that hasn’t been following the Agency’s advice on food hygiene. Diarrhoea might be the Christmas gift that keeps on giving, but do you really want to give it to your family?
The Agency advises leftovers should be:
* cooled as quickly as possible (within one to two hours) and kept in the fridge
* reheated only once, until piping hot
* eaten within two days
Who said the film was shocking? Or funny? And what does piping hot mean?
The Australians, who are just entering the hot summer weather, are more reasonable and recommend cooking to 75C (167F).
The origin of poultry cooking recommendations has been pondered many times on barfblog.com.
Currently, Health Canada suggests consumers cook turkey until the temperature of the thickest part of the breast or thigh is at least 85C (185F), though no one knows why.
A few decades ago, the USDA was also recommending that thigh meat reached 180-185F and breast meat reached 170F.
When asked why a couple years back, a manager of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Meat and Poultry Hotline said, "I've looked all over and I really have no idea. I think it happened sometime back in the 1980s, but I don't know what it was based on."
One of my research assistants, Casey Jacob, dug up a New York Times article from 1990 in which an assistant supervisor of the Hotline admitted that a turkey cooked until the breast meat is 160F and the dark meat is 170F was "microbiologically safe," but that the agency recommended the higher temps just to be on the safe side.
The agency now recommends that consumers cook poultry to an internal temp of 165F.
Casey tells that tale here:
“When USDA microbiologists finally got around to conducting validation studies in 2000, they figured out that a 7 log reduction in Salmonella could be achieved instantly at 158F and beyond.
“In 2006, NACMCF decided (through scientific studies, of course, not random number generation as may have been used previously) that foodborne pathogens and viruses, such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, and the avian influenza virus, were destroyed when poultry was cooked to an internal temperature of 165F.
“And thus the scientifically validated American recommendation of 165F was born.”
Here are the refs. Enjoy your Christmas dinner.
National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods. 2006. Response to the questions posed by the Food Safety and Inspection Service regarding consumer guidelines for the safe cooking of poultry products. Adopted March 24, 2006. Arlington, VA.
United States Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service. 2005. Time-temperature tables for cooking ready-to-eat poultry products. Available at:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISNotices/RTE_Poultry_Tables.pdf. Accessed November 23, 2008.
Amy and I will be having lamb.
And this is the real deal, Kingston, Ontario’s very own, Tragically Hip.
Fowl findings surprise Swiss veterinary officials
As many as nine-out-of-ten chickens in Switzerland are infected with campylobacter, prompting the Federal Veterinary Office to call a crisis meeting of food and health experts, as well as poultry producers, for December 18.
According to a report in the Sunday newspaper, SonntagsZeitung, the veterinary office was surprised by the results of the unpublished study, expecting only half as many chickens to have been infected with the bacteria.
Most cases of campylobacteriosis are associated with eating raw or undercooked poultry meat or from cross-contamination of other foods by these items.
Yes Virginia, you can thaw turkey on the counter
I’ve gotten more done around the house in the past two weeks than I have in the past two years. Must be the nesting hormones. Amy figures she’s had enough. Baby’s due in a few days, but Amy would rather have it out now. My youngest daughter, Courtlynn, arrives on Thanksgiving for five days, and we hope the baby arrives then as well.
But, there’s still work to be done, and every year, it’s the same issue. We say it’s OK for people to do what they are already doing – thawing turkey on the counter – and people freak out. After all, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and their extension types insist it is never OK to thaw turkey at room temperature.
We have lots of evidence and have written about it in peer-reviewed journals. But why doesn’t USDA or FDA, with all their resources, tell people why it’s not OK to thaw poultry at room temperature instead of repeating -- as my friend Marty once quipped -- like a fascist calling out country line dancing instructions, that it is never OK to thaw at room temperature?
Show us the data.
Pete Snyder at the Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management in St. Paul, Minnesota, has a summary available demonstrating the safety of thawing poultry at room temperature at http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Thaw-counter.html.
My group wrote a review note on the topic a few years ago, and it is included in its entirety at http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/2007/10/articles/food-safety-communication/how-to-thaw-poultry-ignore-government/
However you thaw your turkey, use a digital, tip-sensitive thermometer to ensure it has reached an internal temperature of 165F. The laws of physics are apparently different north of the 49th parallel and poultry is required to reach 180F. No one knows why the Canadian government has different advice. And they’re not telling anyone.
How celebs impact food sales: poultry production in the UK
Lumley writes that: Sixty-two per cent of hens in the UK still endure life sentences of frustration and deprivation in the battery cage. How can we let such cruelty continue?
For the past two years, Compassion in World Farming has been engaging with the corporate world, persuading big players to abandon battery eggs and pledge to use eggs from more humane systems – at least from barn-kept hens, though free-range is best.Celebs getting involved with poultry standards isn't a new issue in the UK: back in January, Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall took part in documentaries discussing poultry-raising standards and urging the public to switch to consumption of a more humane product. Soon after the documentaries aired, Joanna Blythman (Jan 13, 2008) wrote that she didn't see the latest celebrity chef campaign yielding any better results [than past efforts]:
The current round of public breast-beating on factory-farmed poultry provokes a sense of déja vu. If Britain really was concerned enough to support more progressive farming methods with its purse, then we would have seen an improvement in animal welfare by now.
But Blythman was apparently wrong. In February it was reported that sales of factory-farmed chickens slumped post-documentary campaign to raise awareness implore consumers to pay more to improve the animals' welfare. According to the Independent (Feb 28, 2008):
Sales of free-range poultry shot up by 35 per cent last month compared with January 2007, while sales of standard indoor birds fell by 7 per cent, according to a survey of 25,000 shoppers by the market research company TNS.
Celeb endorsements of food issues isn't strictly a British tactic either. Pam Anderson was famously linked to PETA animal welfare protests at KFC outlets a few years ago and maybe the threat of these protests resulted in Burger King's animal welfare systems? In a Burger King press release PETA Vice President, Bruce Friedrich was quoted as saying “The BURGER KING brand’s influence has moved the entire animal industry. The availability of cage free products is growing, a credit to BKC’s leadership on the issue.” California, hot bed of US celebrity action will be voting on animal welfare legislation, "The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act" which would mandate roomier housing for pregnant sows, veal calves and laying hens.The message to the food industry is that celebs (no matter how minor, or how British) can make a stir (whether around animal welfare, local diets, food safety, etc.) and really affect purchasing habits. So be prepared and find a way to work alongside them on the issues; you can't ignore them.
Thawing, and cooking, turkey
A previous post generated several responses, but this is too big to post as a response.So it's a blog post on its own.
I have been asking Health Canada politely for a decade how they determine consumer recommendations for preparing poultry. What is the best way to thaw poultry? How do they determine the safe end-point internal temperature? What references do they use? (This discussion, like the original Health Canada press release, is specific to consumer practices in the home, not in food service).
I've never received an answer.
So when Health Canada issues press releases saying consumers should do this and not do this, I wonder, what is that based on?
In the U.S. in 2006, the recommended end-point cooking temperature for all poultry was lowered to 165F from the previous 180F. This was based on recommendations by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods. Where the 180F recommendation came from , no one really knows. Diane Van, manager of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Meat and Poultry Hotline, was quoted as saying in a Nov. 2006 L.A. Times story about the old 180F advice, "I've looked all over and I really have no idea. I think it happened sometime back in the 1980s, but I don't know what it was based on."
At least that's honest.
In Canada, the Health Canada recommendation for whole poultry is 185F. How was that temperature decided? Are there peer-reviewed journal articles that were used to develop that recommendation? Do bacteria behave differently north of the 49th parallel?
Health Canada says in its Canadian Thanksgiving press release that consumers should,
Use a food thermometer, and cook turkey until the temperature of the thickest part of the breast or thigh is at least 85ºC (185ºF).
A Health Canada press release dated June 21, 2007 says,
Traditional visual cues like colour are not a guarantee that food is safe. Don't guess! (Use) a digital instant-read food thermometer to check when meat and poultry are safe to eat.
Yet a search of the Health Canada website today brought up a suggested dinner recipe that says,
Hot and spicy! Cook boneless chicken strips in a skillet until juices run clear and meat is browned.
Given such inconsistencies, and the utter lack of accountability, why would consumers be expected to blindly follow what some governmental agency proclaims?
Twenty dollars is too much to view the thawing recommendatinos paper. It's below. I can e-mail it as an attachment if you contact me directly. I'll respond to the questions about staph in another post.
And in the Sunflower Bowl this afternoon, Kansas State (ranked 24, but not for long) lost to University of Kansas 30-24.
Lacroix BJ, Li KW, Powell DA. 2003. Consumer food handling recommendations: is thawing of turkey a food safety issue? Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 64(2): 59-61.
Comparison of findings for thawing turkey and consumer food handling recommendations: is thawing of turkey a food safety issue?
Lacroix, B. J., Li, K.W.M. and Powell, D.A.
Abstract
While it is important that dietitians and other health or food professionals provide consistent messages to the public about food safety, it is equally important that the information be evidence-based. Conflicting recommendations are evident when both consumer publications from food safety advisory groups and the scientific literature are reviewed. In addition, there are caveats attached to the various methods. The presence of pathogens, spoilage microorganisms and contamination of the work area are the major concerns in thawing turkey. While several methods including thawing on the counter at ambient temperatures can be employed for thawing turkey, however, it is adequate cooking, validated with a meat thermometer, that is the more critical step. Based on these findings, it is difficult for food and health professionals to provide clients or consumers with clear, consistent, evidence-based messages. Further research is required to corroborate best practices in a kitchen setting. This paper is of interest to professionals who counsel clients at high-risk for foodborne illness or consumers about safe preparation of foods such as turkey
Comparison of findings for thawing turkey to consumer food handling recommendations: Is thawing of turkey a safety issue?
Introduction
Inadequate thawing of turkeys, coupled with undercooking was found to be an important factor in many salmonellosis outbreaks (1). Health Canada reports 10,000 - 30,000 actual cases annually of foodborne illness with an estimated number of two million (2, 3). Confounding these estimates is underreporting - acknowledged to be as many 100 unreported cases for each one reported (4). Because Canadians purportedly eat turkey more than once a month (5), there is the potential for mishandling. Canadians also vary in what is deemed safe: in a 1998 study (6), most (87%) thought that thawing turkey in the refrigerator was safe while 5% thought it unsafe and another 57% considered thawing at room temperature to be an unsafe practice while 29% considered it safe.
Pathogens, spoilage microorganisms and contamination of the food preparation area are the major food safety concerns. There are six methods of thawing, each with it’s own caveat. (Due to space restrictions, not all methods are discussed).
The purpose of this report is to document inconsistencies in home thawing recommendations for turkey and refute the importance placed on these recommendations.
Food Safety Issues
Pathogenic microorganisms associated with turkey include salmonella, campylobacter, staphylococcus and Listeria (7); however, thorough cooking eliminates most pathogens (1). While not expected to grow in raw turkey (1, 8, 9), staphylococcus when present is generally the consequence of handling by an infected person and illness results because heating will not destroy toxins produced (9). Clostridium perfringens may be of concern because spores, if present in the dressing can survive roasting temperatures and their outgrowth in mishandled stuffing and meat cause foodborne illness (10).
In 1968, the United States Department of Agriculture (11) concluded that ambient air temperature thawing was satisfactory as long as precautions were taken (which were not stated). Beneficial effects of insulating overwraps were also noted. Lee (1) recommended that smaller turkeys, 4.7 kg (10 lb), be thawed at room temperature 23-27ºC (73-80ºF) on the counter no more than 12 hours and a maximum of 18 hours for 11.9 kg (26 lb) turkeys. Even better results were achieved when turkeys were wrapped in 8 sheets of newspaper for 18-20 hours on the counter. The Argentinean experience concluded that thawing chickens at ambient temperatures of 22ºC (72ºF) for 14 hours or less (to an internal temperature of 4.4ºC/40ºF, 3.5 cm/11/3 in. within the breast) was a safe procedure (12).
A longer time is required to thaw turkeys in the refrigerator where the temperatures may vary (12). Consequently, growth of pseudomonas spoilage bacteria (12) causing changes in odour, texture, colour and sliminess may result (9). The possibility of such changes is greater if other directions suggesting 26-33 hours/kg (12-15 hours/lb) for meat/poultry were followed (13).
A further concern is bringing pathogenic microorganisms into the kitchen that could lead to contamination of surfaces (1) and further cross contamination.
Recommendations
Lee (1) stated that thorough cooking of an unstuffed turkey to 82ºC/180ºF should result in little risk if thawing was complete as any pathogenic vegetative cells present would be destroyed, as well as make it esthetically pleasing. It is presumed that the thawed turkeys will most likely be roasted in an oven.
The current recommendations on thawing poultry developed by different agencies in Canada are similar (5, 13, 14), in that they adamantly state not to thaw at room temperature, (and comment to cook immediately if thawed in the microwave). It is not clear whether these recommendations are based on scientific data or simply someone’s best guess as no references are provided.
Recommended methods such as the use of standing water (5, 14, 15) have not been tested, and the experimental method of running water (1, 12) is not generally recommended in Canada although it is mentioned for “a more rapid thaw” (13), rather than a tested method. However, no one has addressed the large volumes of running water used or the contaminated wastewater that results.
Conclusion
This paper briefly summarizes the literature currently available for in-home thawing of poultry (1, 11, 12). The studies cautioned about drawing conclusions from direct comparisons because of small sample sizes - often only a single bird per treatment.
As the justification for current thawing recommendations appears inadequate, the question becomes is the emphasis on thawing turkey at refrigerator temperatures warranted. Providing the caveats have been heeded, the need is to cook turkey thoroughly and validate with a meat thermometer. If not completely thawed prior to cooking, adequate end-point temperatures for safety will not be reached within the recommended time given for roasting thawed or fresh turkey. Further, recommended endpoint temperatures vary (1, 8, 14), as do the locations for taking the temperature, all of which may cause confusion for consumers. There is no information available on how long to cook partially thawed turkey. However, partial cooking of turkey is to be avoided under all circumstances as this could provide ideal conditions for pathogen growth. Further research is necessary to validate best practices in a home kitchen setting. Based on these findings, it is difficult for food and health professionals to provide clients or consumers with clear, consistent, evidence-based messages.
Relevance to practice
Turkey, a delicious and nutritious low-fat food choice recommended by many dietitians (10, 16), need not be the source of foodborne illness if handled properly and cooked adequately. Dietitians in the role of highly credible educators on issues related to food and water safety (17) need to emphasize the use of a meat thermometer to validate temperatures for various foods. Because of the extent of conflicting information dietitians should make it a priority to work with various stakeholders to develop and validate best practices for handling foods such as turkey safely. In future, greater emphasis should be placed on the time-temperature relationships in thawing rather than the place thawed. In order to provide consumers with clear, consistent information based on science, additional evidence is needed for alternative thawing methods, dealing with partially thawed turkey, thermometer placement within the turkey, consistent endpoint temperatures and the estimated times to reach them.
Sidebar 1
Methods of thawing poultry at home
1) at ambient temperatures on the counter without an overwrap
2) on the counter with an overwrap (or paper bag)
3) in the refrigerator
4) under running water
5) in standing water and changing the water at various intervals
6) in the microwave
References
1. Lee M. Methods and Risks of Defrosting Turkeys. Environ. Health Rev. 1993;(Winter):96-100.
2. Health Canada. Health Canada Policy - Food Safety Assessment Program. Available from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/food-aliment/fsa-esa/e_policy.html; accessed 13 April 2002.
3. Health Canada. Policy Development for Raw Foods of Animal Origin.. Available from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/food-aliment/mh-dm/mhe-dme/rfao-aoca/e_rfao.html; accessed 13 April 2002.
4. Farber JM, Todd ECD. Safe Handling of Foods. New York: Marcel Dekker; 2000. 552p.
5. The Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency. How to thaw and prepare…/Did you know... Available from http://www.turkeytuesdays.ca: accessed 13 April 2002.
6. Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 1998 Safe Food Handling Study, a Report for Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Environics Research Group Limited. Available from http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/publications/1998environics/study_texte.shtml; accessed 13 April 2002.
7. Consumer Education and Information. Food Safety of Turkey ... from Farm to Table. Food Safety Inspection Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Available from http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/focustky.htm; accessed 13 April 2002.
8. Snyder OP. HACCP and slow-roasting turkeys. Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management (HITM). Available from http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Turkey.html; accessed 13 April 2002.
9. Ray B. Fundamental Food Microbiology. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press; 1996. 516p.
10. Eckner KF, Zottola EA, Gravani RB. The microbiology of slow-roasted, stuffed turkeys. Dairy Food Sanit.1988;8(7):344-7.
11. Klose AA, Lineweaver H, Palmer HH. Thawing Turkeys at Ambient Air Temperatures. Food tech 1968;22:108-12.
12. Jimenez SM, Pirovani ME, Salsi MS, Tiburzi MC, Snyder OP. The Effect of Different Thawing Methods on the Growth of Bacteria in Chicken. Dairyfood environ sanit 2000;20(9):678-83.
13. Canadian Partnership For Consumer Food Safety Education. Fight BAC! Go to Consumer Centre, Tools. 1998. Available from http://www.canfightbac.org/english/class/chilloute.shtml; accessed 13 April 2002. Copies of the Chill Out brochure can also be ordered from the Beef Information Centre from http://www.beefinfo.org, accessed 13 April 2002.
14. Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Food Safety Facts for Turkey. Available from http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/foodfacts/turkeye.shtml: accessed 13 April 2002.
15. It’s your health. Let's Talk Turkey. Health! Canada Magazine December, 2000. Also available from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/food-aliment/mh-dm/iyh-avs/e_let_s_talk_turkey.html; accessed 13 April 2002.
16. Manitoba Turkey Producers. Nutrition. Available from http://www.turkey.mb.ca/nutrition.html; accessed 29 May 2002.
17. Ingham S, Thies ML. Food and Water Safety - Position of ADA. J Am Diet Assoc 1997;97:184-9. Available from http://www.eatright.com/adap0297.html; accessed 13 April 2002.
