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Thursday, February 22, 2018

The controversial law that allows salmonella into the human food chain

US campaigners are calling once again for the closure of a legal loophole that allows meat with salmonella to be sold in the human supply chain.

The salmonella risk for US consumers is heightened by a controversial loophole which means US producers could potentially allow meat containing salmonella into the human food chain. The bacteria isn’t classified as an “adulterant” in US law – in contrast to some food poisoning germs such as E coli 0157 – meaning producers have no obligation to withhold contaminated batches. In the UK stricter regulations are designed to prevent most contamination.

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Consumers groups and some experts want the law changed. Although several attempts – including legislation that would reclassify salmonella as an adulterant – have been made in recent years, the efforts have been defeated.

Bill Marler, an attorney who has represented many victims of food poisoning outbreaks in recent years, said classifying salmonella an adulterant would dramatically reduce human cases: “One only needs to look at the success we have had in the beef supply after E coli was deemed an adulterant [in 2011]. 90% of my work in the late 1990s and early 2000s was E coli cases linked to red meat. Now it is near zero. That is a success of the government setting a standard and industry meeting.”

But the US meat industry and some experts say enacting a zero policy for salmonella in the same way isn’t feasible..

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3 comments:

  1. Of course its not feasible. You'll never get salmonella out of commercially processed chickens. Everyone that works in chicken processing plants, or has worked in one, knows about the chiller and the "fecal soup" that the chickens get sloshed around in for approximately 40 minutes before they are cut up and packed for delivery to the market. The good news is that salmonella rarely kills, but it will make people extremely sick for a couple of days.

    Cook your meat folks. Its good for you.

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  2. Salmonella on the grill with a lemon gill sauce is yummy in the tummy.

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  3. dill sauce damn auto correct

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