From todays AP-wire:
“A researcher at Texas Tech University applied a mixture of four different lactic acid bacterium to ground beef and found the combination reduced the presence of salmonella and a harmful E. coli strain by as much as 99.99 percent.”
That seems like a great thing. Doesn’t effect the taste and lasts up to the shelf life of the meat. Anyone know about this study? Is it a real advance? When can I start looking for safety labels at the store?
It does seem to be good news, but I wonder if it really has no effect on taste. Isn’t this the kind of bacterium that makes milk into yoghurt?
A few years ago, the hot news for keeping meat safe was irradiation, but that hasn’t exactly taken over the market.
That’s because people are stupid and panicky and will figure it means the food is radioactive. And nobody wants to have mutant babies. Unless it’s X-ray vision. That’s neat.
I think it is a bad idea. The last .01% won’t’ die from the additive and they will be left to be the dominant, resistant germs.
I don’t think I’d want to get an infection from the super super super elite of the elite germs.
I’d rather depend on proper handling, storage and cooking of my foods, and ensure that the last 1/10 of a percent of those germs are kept honest by competitng for survival against the other more vulnerable germs.
Most infections are risks to those with compromised immune systems, and some youngsters and elderly. Short term, annihilating 99.99% of the germs sounds good, but long term we are better of without it.
Further, we need to make sure that it does not upset the balance of esential bacteria in our own digestive tracks, because without e-coli, we’d be sick and/or unable to properly digest foods.
There are lots of theories about how it probably works, but the lactic acid bacteria probably out compete the pathogens and produce bacterial toxins that finish the pathogens off. Lactic acid bacteria are good for you and are nearly ubiquitous in food and your intestines. There is really no concern of developing uber-resistant bacteria, since bacteriocins are already widely distributed in the environment. So, it might work, on some bacteria, but once you use it in a real world application, it may not be so great. It won’t be dangerous…since nobody has ever died from lactic acid bacteria. Irradiation for meat is limited by consumer acceptance of irradiation, but is also cursed by the fact that the dosage necessary to reduce pathogens significantly also makes the meat nearly unpalatable.
There’s no such thing as an objective elite. That last .01% won’t die from the additive and they will be left to be the additive resistant germs. Unless your immune system uses lactic acid bacteria to fight infections, I think you’re safe.