# Why Aren't We All Dead Yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 24, 2000, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-we-all-dead-yet/42518 "2000-11-24T09:04:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2000, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-we-all-dead-yet/42518/21 "2000-11-25T04:04:58Z")
An **open** jar of mayo stored at room temp? Yuck! It’s probably not so much the preservatives as pasteurized eggs. The big fear with mayo was _Salmonella_ from the raw eggs. Now they used pasturized eggs so it isn’t much of a comcern anymore, but warm mayo…gross. On the topic of mayo; it seems now that this is so widly misunderstood that I ordered a sandwich with mayo and I wanted it microwaved, and they wouldn’t do it. I tried a crash course on microbiology, but eventually I just gave up and nuked it at home. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2000, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-we-all-dead-yet/42518/22 "2000-11-25T04:08:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Astroboy14 \* > BTW, I agree with Chris Rock on this: regardless of health concerns (cholesteral, etc.), "If you are one of the lucky, chosen few on this planet to get your hands on a steak, _ **BITE THE SHIT OUT OF IT!!** _ Yes, we are indeed priveleged. [The Burundi Beef Council](http://www.theonion.com/onion3623/burundi_beef.html) ---
**Author:** ![lesa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/34f0e0/32.png) [@lesa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lesa)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2000, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-we-all-dead-yet/42518/23 "2000-11-25T07:36:05Z")
Everyone has had such interesting things to say about this… I will say that I’m a little paranoid about Salmonella and such, because I do have trouble with my immune system (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/fibromyalgia). I’ve reached a point where I can’t even eat honey anymore. (The bacteria in honey is usually only a problem for infants.) I’m a carnivore and love meat. Luckily I have always liked my meat well done. So my only worry is handling the raw meat. I usually use tongs or two forks so I don’t actually touch the meat. One helpful hint I recently learned was to mix meatloaf in a big baggie. This doesn’t work as well as just reaching in with both hands and kneading everything together, but it works pretty well. The thing that really irritates me is that I can’t give raw eggs to my cats. They’re older and have had a lot of health problems, so I can’t really risk it. Especially since cats try to hide the fact that they’re ill. One of my cats jumps onto the counter and meows every time he sees an egg. If they ever start selling pasturized eggs around here, he’s going to have a feast! So far as throwing away unspoiled food, I can give you a little insight into that. I’m the designated fridge cleaner-outer in my house. I’m the one who sniffs the milk and lunchmeat to see if it’s spoiled. A lot gets thrown away because I’m tired of it. I look at it and say, “we’ll never finish that.” It’s true that it’s wasteful. I hate doing it. But usually I’m right. I take the time to package and freeze a lot of leftovers, and it’s surprising how many of them are still in the freezer a year later. It is interesting that researchers think clean homes lead to more asthma. There is a vivid parallel for this with Polio. During the time when Polio was an epidemic in this country, many poor third world countries had very few cases of it. It was eventually discovered that infants who lived in unsanitary conditions were being exposed to Polio and developed a natural immunity to it. So the sanitary conditions in this country contributed to the wide spread of Polio. But the other side of this is that the improved sanitary conditions prevented huge numbers of deaths from Cholera and typhoid fever. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2000, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-we-all-dead-yet/42518/24 "2000-11-25T09:17:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DoctorJ \* > The e. coli that cause the big health problems you hear so much about are mutated strands, notably O:157, H:7 (referring to a particular protein in the capsule and flagellum, respectively). Those mutations cause the bacterium to wreak havoc on the gut. > > Along with modern slaughterhouse and packaging techniques, this can be ascribed to the law of large numbers. We eat a lot of meat. A lot of meat means a lot of cows, which means a lot of e. coli, which means many such mutations. It’s been found that the mode of feeding the cattle before slaughter is a contributing factor to the increased prevalence of E. coli O:157,H:7. Cattle are usually given a high grain diet in their last weeks to fatten them up. The grain makes their GI tract more acidic which in turn promotes the growth of that strain of E. coli. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-we-all-dead-yet/42518.md?page=1)