# Anyone For Mad Pig Brain Pneumaticers Disease? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 8, 2007, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272 "2007-12-08T07:00:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/1 "2007-12-08T07:00:19Z")
I realize it doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue (how I miss the days when diseases had _names_ not acronyms), but it’s [probably what they’ll call it.](http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hqaebpM28dOdHO2Fop0x-o06mxqQD8TCRVQG0) > [@](#): > > On the slaughterhouse floor at Quality Pork Processors Inc. is an area known as the “head table,” but not because it is the place of honor. It is where workers cut up pigs’ heads and then shoot compressed air into the skulls until the brains come spilling out. > > But now the grisly practice has come under suspicion from health authorities. > > Over eight months from last December through July, 11 workers at the plant in Austin, Minn. — all of them employed at the head table — developed numbness, tingling or other neurological symptoms, and some scientists suspect inhaled airborne brain matter may have somehow triggered the illnesses. > > The use of compressed air to remove pig brains was suspended at Quality Pork earlier this week while authorities try to get to the bottom of the mystery. I’m just wondering who thought it was a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/2 "2007-12-08T12:53:28Z")
Well, would you rather clean out pig brains with your _hands_? I’m only partially joking - if they gotta be cleaned out, you might as well do it by having as little direct contact with it as possible. The workers should have been given a face mask to prevent inhilation of pig-brain parts, just on the basic principle that inhaling little bits of biological tissue day after day after day is probably not a good idea. The infected workers and their families have my sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/3 "2007-12-08T13:02:58Z")
But most places leave the brains in cause nobody wants them. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/4 "2007-12-08T13:24:45Z")
What do they do with the brains? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/5 "2007-12-08T13:32:47Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] What do they do with the brains? [/QUOTE] People eat them. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/6 "2007-12-08T13:40:45Z")
Oh wait. Did you mean the non-blown out brains ? According to the article they’re just left in the skull and “disposed of.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/7 "2007-12-08T14:08:42Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] What do they do with the brains? [/QUOTE] Purina Zombie Chow™–_It Does A zombie Good!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/8 "2007-12-09T00:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Purina Zombie Chow™–_It Does A zombie Good!_ 😃 [/QUOTE] [Observe the cholesterol content.](http://cleanplateclubnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/Pork%20Brains.jpg) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/9 "2007-12-09T00:50:14Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] [Observe the cholesterol content.](http://cleanplateclubnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/Pork%20Brains.jpg) :eek: [/QUOTE] Wow! That stuff could kill ya! ---
**Author:** ![Purgatory\_Creek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Purgatory\_Creek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purgatory_Creek)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/10 "2007-12-09T00:56:26Z")
If you live in Austin, Minnesota, you pretty much inhale some sort of pig-flesh particles every day, what with Hormel (that’s HOR-mull, folks) and Quality Pork as major employers. The whole town smells like bacon on good days and, well–vaporized pig brains on bad days. ---
**Author:** ![justanoldvet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@justanoldvet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justanoldvet)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/11 "2007-12-09T01:48:42Z")
[QUOTE=Purgatory Creek] If you live in Austin, Minnesota, you pretty much inhale some sort of pig-flesh particles every day, what with Hormel (that’s HOR-mull, folks) and Quality Pork as major employers. The whole town smells like bacon on good days and, well–vaporized pig brains on bad days. [/QUOTE] This was NOT the threat to read whilst eating. URP ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/12 "2007-12-09T02:10:33Z")
[QUOTE=justanoldvet] This was NOT the threat to read whilst eating. URP [/QUOTE] And you didn’t figure that out from the title? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/13 "2007-12-09T12:39:05Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Purina Zombie Chow™–_It Does A zombie Good!_ 😃 [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Tuckerfan] [Observe the cholesterol content.](http://cleanplateclubnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/Pork%20Brains.jpg) :eek: [/QUOTE] What are they gonna do? Die? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/14 "2007-12-09T12:44:13Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] What are they gonna do? Die? [/QUOTE] No, but they can really pack on the pounds and do you have any idea how hard it is for the undead to lose weight in an attractive manner? ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/15 "2007-12-09T12:45:06Z")
[QUOTE=Purgatory Creek] If you live in Austin, Minnesota, you pretty much inhale some sort of pig-flesh particles every day, … [/QUOTE] Huh. I never notice any particular odor when I’m there, but I only go there every now and then to shop at Target / Staples / one of those other stores we don’t have here. I do remember how Farmstead used to smell before it burned down, though. (And, I suppose, how it smelled as it was burning down.) It one sense it’s almost like the smell of gasoline - if you catch just a small whiff of it at the right moment, it’s kind of pleasing. But catch it wrong and it makes you gag. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/16 "2007-12-09T12:53:43Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] No, but they can really pack on the pounds and do you have any idea how hard it is for the undead to lose weight in an attractive manner? [/QUOTE] So? It’ll rot & drop off, just like the noses. AAaaaand now, I just got a great idea for a telemarketed system of losing weight! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/17 "2007-12-09T12:59:40Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] So? It’ll rot & drop off, just like the noses. [/QUOTE] Yes, but if you’re going for that [“skinny and freshly dead” look](http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/ap/nyr10601121937.widec.jpg) that’s all the rage these days. . . ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/18 "2007-12-09T13:07:53Z")
Let’s talk about that telemarketing scheme. “Become Undead–Lose Weight Fast!!™” We’ll make millions. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-mad-pig-brain-pneumaticers-disease/429272/19 "2007-12-09T13:11:47Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Let’s talk about that telemarketing scheme. “Become Undead–Lose Weight Fast!!™” We’ll make millions. [/QUOTE] I’d rather sell crack to kindergarteners. It’s more ethical. 😉