Tag Archives: microorganisms

A History of Hamburger E. Coli Outbreaks | Lucky Peach

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E. coli O157:H7 did not burst onto the scene in the early 1990s, as many in the big food business like to think. It slowly crept into our food supply, spreading in the enormous feedlots that began to dot the U.S. landscape during the last century. The bacteria is now endemic and can be found in cows, sheep, and wild animals such as boar, elk, and deer. As few as fifty E. coli O157:H7 bacteria are enough to cause human illness—and as many as 100,000 can fit on the head of a pin.

Once this strain of E. coli makes it into our small intestine, it can damage the intestinal wall, causing severe cramping and bloody diarrhea. In some instances, the toxin that the bacteria releases gets into the bloodstream, damaging red blood cells and causing severe complications like kidney failure, stroke, brain damage, and death.

via A History of Hamburger E. Coli Outbreaks | Lucky Peach.

The Science of Dry-Aging | Lucky Peach

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A little something from Harold Mcgee, one of the foremost food scientists out there…

This feature comes from “Lucky Peach #2: The Sweet Spot.” Pick up a subscription here.

Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are the building blocks of living things, but they don’t have much flavor in their natural state. They are bland to begin with. That’s why we cook them, why we season them, why we transform them—to make them more appealing to us.

But sometimes we can get our food to make itself more delicious, by treating it in a way that creates favorable conditions for the enzymes that are already in the food to work together in a certain fashion.

Enzymes are molecules that exist in foods—and in microbes intimately involved with food—that can transform those basic, bland building blocks. They’re nano-cooks—the true molecular cooks. Dry-aging, ripening, and fermentation are all processes that take advantage of enzymes to make foods delicious before cooking.

Most meat, by contrast, is prepared for the market very quickly. The animal is slaughtered, the various parts of the muscle system are separated and packaged, and then they’re distributed. That’s about it.

Dry-aging beef means that once the animal is slaughtered and butchered, portions of the carcass are allowed to rest in very carefully controlled conditions (cool temperatures with relatively high humidity) for a period of time—often several weeks, and sometimes up to a couple of months.

via The Science of Dry-Aging | Lucky Peach.

From the Farmers’ Market to the Freezer – The New York Times

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When the Manhattan chef Marc Meyer opened Rosie’s in the East Village in April, reports focused on the Mexican restaurant’s upscale tortilla-making station in the middle of the dining room.

But the more interesting feature may be the one hidden in the basement — a walk-in freezer left behind by the building’s previous tenants.

“The minute I saw it, I thought, ‘I’ve got to be taking advantage of this,’ ” said Mr. Meyer, who over the next few months plans to fill it with seasonal fruits, tomatoes and tomatillos, all bought from local farmers at their lowest price and at their sun-ripened prime.

While dedicated home cooks buzz over pickling, canning and curing projects, Mr. Meyer has joined a growing number of chefs who are quietly employing another time-tested method of preservation: the freezer.

Other techniques rely on sugar, brine or bacteria to conserve foods, said the chef Paul T. Verica of Heritage Food & Drink in Waxhaw, N.C., but freezing doesn’t change the way things taste.

via From the Farmers’ Market to the Freezer – The New York Times.

N.C. Barbecue Restaurant Responsible for 216 Cases of Salmonella – Eater

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Those planning on grabbing some smoked meats in the barbecue-crazed town of Lexington, N.C., this week may want to steer clear of Tarheel Q. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, the barbecue joint is linked with a Salmonella outbreak that has affected 216 people to date, including a 20-year-old woman who is 27 weeks pregnant. That number includes people from 15 North Carolina counties and five different states.

The connection was made after the North Carolina Department of Health tested samples from the restaurant’s barbecue and a patient who had ingested its food, concluding both tested positive for Salmonella. Most of those who began experiencing symptoms dined at the restaurant between June 16 and June 21.

Not only did the restaurant have to close as a result, but it’s now facing seven separate lawsuits from customers who allege they became ill after eating there. Ron Simon, of Texas-based law firm Ron Simon & Associates, has filed six lawsuits on behalf of its clients and states, “The injuries range from pretty serious to serious enough to be hospitalized for several days.” Simon also confirmed plans to file more lawsuits in the near future.

Although the restaurant originally had plans to reopen on Sunday, it remained closed through Monday. While several diners were hospitalized, there have been no deaths in connection to the outbreak. The trouble comes a few weeks after a popular Charlotte restaurant was linked to several sick diners.

via N.C. Barbecue Restaurant Responsible for 216 Cases of Salmonella – Eater.

DOH Announces Chilly Regulations About Freezing Raw Fish Before Serving – Eater NY

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It’s not all bad news, thankfully — tuna and shellfish are okay.

The New York Department of Health and Mental hygiene just announced new regulations that will require restaurants to freeze many types of fish for a minimum of 15 hours before serving them raw, to kill off bacteria. The Board of Health approved these regulations in March, and they will go into effect next month. Presumably, these new rules were change how a lot of restaurants — especially sushi bars and any places serving crudo or ceviche — store and prepare their fish. It will no doubt also inspire some major menu changes throughout the city, especially at the pricey fish restaurants.

As the Times points out, many high-end restaurants freeze their best fish as a safety precaution. Sushi Zen vice president Yuta Suzuki tells the paper: “We purposely deep-freeze at negative 83 degrees, and we use one of those medical cryogenic freezers.” The amount of time the fish should be frozen to meet the code depends on the temperature and the storage method. The NYT notes that shellfish, fresh-water fish, and “certain types of tuna” are exempt from the rule. And James Versocki, a rep for the National Restaurant Association, tells CBS: “Most grade sushi that restaurants serve are not impacted by this…You know your yellow and bluefin and tuna, they’re allowed to be served raw because they don’t generally have these parasites in them.”

DOH Announces Chilly Regulations About Freezing Raw Fish Before Serving – Eater NY.

Facing Consumer Pressure, Companies Start to Seek Safe Alternatives to BPA – The New York Times

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For consumers, figuring out which canned foods and plastics contain the controversial chemical known as BPA can be nearly impossible. But determining whether newer alternatives are any safer may be even more difficult.

Some food giants like General Mills and the Campbell Soup Company have shifted away from using bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical commonly used in the coatings of canned goods to ward off botulism and spoilage. But in many instances, some health advocates say, companies do not disclose which products are now BPA-free.

More worrisome, these advocates and scientists say, is a lack of information about alternatives, and a growing body of evidence suggesting that some newer options may not be any safer.

“We do want to push companies away from it, because it is a known toxin,” said RenĂ©e Sharp, the director of research for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. “At the same time, we are also definitely worried about the chemicals coming on the market and we don’t have a lot of good information about a number of them.”

Studies linking BPA to developmental and reproductive health problems go back decades, and researchers, health advocates and even the federal government have voiced concerns about the chemical for years. But an enormous body of conflicting evidence has slowed efforts to regulate BPA more tightly.

via Facing Consumer Pressure, Companies Start to Seek Safe Alternatives to BPA – The New York Times.