I know the future of produce in this country. Earlier this year the food industry got the approval to spray stuff like sandwitch meat with bacteria that shouldn’t harm most people. I expect them to try and do the same with the vegetables. They could go with iradiation also, which has been used on a few products for decades. People didn’t buy stuff like irradiated chicken, even though it’s not radioactive. I have to wonder what the reaction will be to baterial spray on their meat, and produce. The bacteria used are not harmful, but I bet a dangerous mutation evolves that can harm people. I have to wonder if eating large quantities over time won’t cause immune responses in the future. The bacteria are benign to humans, and since they occupy the surface, other dangerous bateria are supposed to find it hard to compete with what is sprayed on.
I welcome our Irradiated Chicken Overlords.
sorry, couldn’t resist
If this leads to man-sized chickens that are snappy dressers, I’m all for it.
I prefer lady-sized chickens in high heels and thigh-hi’s.
oops TMI sorry
Where did you hear this? What bacteria?
I don’t have a problem with it. People have been innoculating sausages and cheeses with ‘good’ molds for centuries. The ‘good’ stuff crowds out any opportunity for the bad cultures to flourish. The vast majority of bacteria is harmless.
Mmmmm, chicken breasts.
And I thought this was going to be about people sneezing at salad bars.
Look, I hate to break this to you, but your lettuce, your plate, your hands, your cutlery and your whole house is just crawling with bacteria. Bacteria are good. I don’t know about the specific story you mentioned but I do know that the day “bacteria” became a dirty word was a black day for common sense. (See also: antibiotics being handed out like candy, people buying “antibacterial hand sanitisers”, antibacterial chopping boards, antibacterial tea towels and god knows what else that is building up a timebomb of super-resistant bugs that really WILL be something to worry about…)
FDA approves virus-cocktail spray. It’s a mix of six bacteriophages that might prevent listeria to be sprayed on lunchmeats.
They might make digestion difficult too, since the viruses may interfere with bacteria in the digestive track. They may also make you allergic to foods because bacteriophages contain protein (which could potentially cause allergic reactions, kind of like the way some people are allergic to milk proteins.)
Um… The listeria is not sprayed on the lunchmeats. :smack: I meant the six bacteriophages are to be sprayed on lunchmeats to prevent listeria. Damn that pesky grammar.
Yeah, so viruses to be sprayed on our food. :dubious:
Maybe the mods could change the title to reflect virus instead of bacteria.
I figured the spray could led to food intorences. I would prefer stuff like chickens irradiated.
I do think it possible that stuff like lettuce going to food chains will get sprayed with the virus solution in the next year. Later on more people will be allergic to the spray’s wastes, then die from what it prevents. I keep thinking that at least on meat it will make for a slimy feel in the mouth, like sandwich meat that is questionable to use now.
Wasn’t Listeria a Def Leppard album?
This (as a general concept), as others have already implied, scares only the scientifically illiterate.
Everything you eat has microrganisms on it. Most are harmless. Some are beneficial. A very few are harmful if they are allowed to multiply.
Since the dawn of time, people have treated food with chemicals, radiation, physical processes and microorganisms to preserve it. Preserve is another word for “kill or impede the growth of harmful microorganisms”. In the middle ages, all four methods were used. Salt is a chemical. Raisins are made by exposing grapes to solar radiation. Smoking and cooking are physical processes. Sausage, wine/beer and cheesemaking involve the deliberate addition of microorganisms to food.
These ancient foodprocessing technologies saved lives. Fewer people died from bad food. Science and technology did a good thing.
As time passed, new and better technologies were discovered. Canning. Pasteurization. Better methods of cheese and alcohol production. Chemical preservatives. These, too, are generally accepted as good, although Luddites opposed them when new.
In recent years, as technology marches on, we have learned even better ways of ensuring food safety. Irradiation, and now the use of bacteriophages.
With proper testing, this is good. People still die from food poisoning. But idiots oppose these advances, because words like “viruses” and “radiation” are scary. Cause everyone knows that viruses and radiation are bad!
People need to learn some history and some science before they start trying to argue with an FDA approved process.
I’ve thought for years that in a hospital where some nasty strans of something developes, they shoul spray everything with benign stuff to deprive the resistant stuff of places to reproduce. Killing most stuff leaves space for the nasty resistant ones to grow without competition. I worry about allergies starting if spraying is common, and the mutation of the sprayed stuff into a nasty that does harm people.
I also think that with microwaves being used all over, people would be less against irradiated foods. Customers buying microwaves would sometimes express concerns about a faulty microwave, giving them radiation poisoning.
I would like them to use a method that gets rid of all the nitrates that have to be put into stuff now.
Close, but not quite. It was Wisteria.