Rampart. Stat. Start an IV and get me some thermometers. Emergency

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Doug Powell

I still feel naked cooking without a thermometer.

A tip-sensitive digital thermometer.

I usually pack one for travel, but forgot on this latest retreat to Manhattan (the one in Kansas).

Sometimes I’m terrible when I travel: I love and miss my wife, my daughter, am resentful about wasted time and it’s really boring.

Sometimes I suck it up and say what Amy says, it is what it is, and am cheery about it.

This time in the Little Apple, a friend has loaned me his house while he’s away, so I don’t bug the student and his family living in mine.

I’m adjusting well, lotsa sleep, exercise and good food. This is dinner for me, tonight. A whole roast chicken at $0.99/pound, flavored with lime, garlic, mint, rosemary, salt and pepper. Oven roasted corn in the husk (really concentrates the flavors). A non-fat mushroom gravy. Baked potato. Green beans. Amy the Frenchy would say the brie and roasted garlic is dessert (roast about 40 gloves of garlic in the chicken), but I’ll go with the fruit for dessert.

The chicken stock that will be ready tomorrow will be an ideal foundation for a potato-leek soup, I nibble on raw vegetables all day, these leftovers will last days, my farts are outstanding.

At least I’m here alone.

But paranoia made me overcook the chicken (that’s what the gravy is for).

No thermometer.

Bob, your fridge is too cold; my strawberries froze. I adjusted the temperature, and you can make it ridiculously cold again when you return to apparently compensate for the 8,352 times you must open the fridge door daily to keep food from freezing.

And, in addition to the herbs I’ve potted for you, because I like cooking with fresh herbs, you will be left with the best tip-sensitive digital thermometer out there.

As soon as they arrive from Chapman.

Manhattan. Stat. Thermometer.

Campylobacter in the kitchen: observational trial of safe food handling behavior during food preparation

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Doug Powell

Austrian researchers report on an observational trial of safe food handling behavior during food preparation using the example of Campylobacter spp.

Journal of Food Protection®, Number 3, March 2013, pp. 376-551 , pp. 482-489(8)

Hoelzl, C.; Mayerhofer, U.; Steininger, M.; Brüller, W.; Hofstädter, D.; Aldrian, U.

Abstract:

Campylobacter infections are one of the most prominent worldwide food-related diseases. The primary cause of these infections is reported to be improper food handling, in particular cross-contamination during domestic preparation of raw chicken products. In the present study, food handling behaviors in Austria were surveyed and monitored, with special emphasis on Campylobacter cross-contamination. Forty participants (25 mothers or fathers with at least one child ≤10 years of age and 15 elderly persons ≥60 years of age) were observed during the preparation of a chicken salad (chicken slices plus lettuce, tomato, and cucumber) using a direct structured observational scoring system. The raw chicken carcasses and the vegetable part of the salad were analyzed for Campylobacter. A questionnaire concerning knowledge, attitudes, and interests related to food safety issues was filled out by the participants. Only 57% of formerly identified important hygiene measures were used by the participants. Deficits were found in effective hand washing after contact with raw chicken meat, but proper changing and cleaning of the cutting board was noted. Campylobacter was present in 80% of raw chicken carcasses, albeit the contamination rate was generally lower than the limit of quantification (10 CFU/g). In the vegetable part of the prepared product, no Campylobacter was found. This finding could be due to the rather low Campylobacter contamination rate in the raw materials and the participants’ use of some important food handling behaviors to prevent cross-contamination. However, if the initial contamination had been higher, the monitored deficits in safe food handling could lead to quantifiable risks, as indicated in other published studies. The results of the observational trial and the questionnaire indicated knowledge gaps in the food safety sector, suggesting that further education of the population is needed to prevent the onset of foodborne diseases.

Don’t wash raw chicken, use a thermometer for safety; Australian food safety types catching on

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Doug Powell

Surveys still suck, but they can give an indication of food safety practices to investigate more rigorously.

The Australian Food Safety Information Council has released national survey data that shows 60% of home cooks in Australia are putting themselves at additional risk of food poisoning by washing whole poultry before it is cooked which spreads bacteria around the kitchen. A further 16% of those surveyed incorrectly tasted chicken to see if it is cooked properly rather than use a safe and accurate meat thermometer.

Food Safety Information Council Chairman, Dr Michael Eyles, says 6 in 10 home cooks in a national Newspoll survey washed whole chicken before they cooked it, with 5 in 10 washing chicken pieces with skin on and 4 in 10 washing skinless chicken pieces.

“According to a Food Standards Australia New Zealand survey 84% of raw chicken carcasses tested positive to the food poisoning bacteria Campylobacter and 22% to Salmonella. This is similar to the findings of other surveys overseas. Notified cases of illness from Campylobacter and Salmonella in Australia have almost doubled over the last 20 years. OzFoodnet estimates there are approximately 220,000 cases of Campylobacter infection each year with more than 75% transmitted by food and 50,000 cases of Campylobacter infection each year can be attributed either directly or indirectly to chicken meat.

”Home cooks are probably following what their parents or grandparents did in the past by washing poultry, not to mention probably patting it dry with a tea towel. Washing poultry splashes these bacteria around the kitchen cross contaminating sinks, taps, your hands, utensils, chopping boards and foods that aren’t going to be cooked like salads or desserts.

“Cooking poultry right through kills these bacteria, making it safe. However, 16% of those surveyed, rather than using a meat thermometer or checking if juices run clear and are no longer pink, say they eat some chicken to see if tastes cooked, with males significantly more likely to do this than females,’ Dr Eyles concludes.

Color is still a lousy indicator of safety, but at least they mention thermometers.

Any agency that wants to say it’s science-based should provide credible evidence; otherwise it’s just another food huckster hiding behind the impartir of science. Consumers can handle more information, not less, and some credible references would boost, uh, credibility.

Actors don’t know cross-contamination: Christopher Walken, Richard Belzer, and two models cook a chicken dinner together

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Doug Powell

I expect our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner will go something like this tomorrow for our 25 guests. More about that later.

Except I’m a much more microbiologically conscientious cook than these two.

Meanwhile, enjoy Christopher Walken and Law and Order: SVU’s Richard Belzer as they go shopping with two models (whose presence is never explained), go to a petting zoo, and cook dinner. While they eat the chicken they’ve cooked on Walken’s deck, they’re treated to a mandolin serenade by Richard Belzer’s son-in-law.
And, to top off the natural strangeness of the evening, Walken tells the story of one of his first gigs as an actor, in a commercial for pancake syrup. “I had to spend the whole day eating pancakes,” says Walken, “and it’s not good to eat too many pancakes.” Then he asks Belzer to take an iPhone picture of his nose.

Cooking with Christopher Walken from Christopher Walken

Sometimes, chicken comes raw: KFC Ontario version

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Doug Powell

Color is still a lousy indicator to determine whether food has been safely cooked. But sometimes it’s obvious, usually by biting into semi-still-frozen burgers; Amy got to experience that once in Manhattan; I did in New Zealand years ago; and now some dude in Ontario (the one in Canada) whose friend posted this pic to Reddit over the weekend.

“Fried Chicken #FAIL. My friend ordered a chicken burger from KFC & it came back raw. Yes he ate that bite that’s missing.”

In the comments, the user explains that that sandwich in question was purchased in Ontario, Canada, where the information on the packing is written in both French and English. PFK stands for “Poulet frit a la Kentucky.”

Nigeria intercepts chickens stuffed with $150,000 worth of cocaine

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Doug Powell

I make an OK stuffed chicken but it may be more crowd-pleasing with $150,000 worth of cocaine inside.

Nigerian authorities say a mechanic who struggled in Brazil for more than six years had hoped the drugs would buy him a life of luxury in his native land.

“This was like a retirement plan for him,” said Mitchell Ofoyeju, spokesman for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

The accused was arrested over the weekend at the airport in Lagos after he came in from Sao Paolo with 2.6 kilograms of cocaine, Ofoyeju said. Photos from the agency showed egg-shaped packages wrapped in gold aluminum foil and tucked into the browned chickens.

Authorities have found drugs sandwiched inside the fabric of suitcases, sewn into wigs worn by female passengers, tucked into underwear or hidden in phone chargers and even in a stethoscope, Ofoyeju said.

Cross-contamination: washing chicken or any meat is a bad idea

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Doug Powell

Michael Formichella is a chef who blogs for Meatingplace.com, sponsored by the American Meat Institute (the views and opinions are strictly those of the author).

This past Friday, Formichella wrote, “Some basic common sense plays a huge role in safe outdoor dining and picnics.”

Except common sense isn’t common unless you’ve thought about it.

“With chicken being one of the popular proteins of choice here in the U.S., some simple precautions can go a long way. Safe temperature, washing and drying any meat before use must be done.”

Washing and drying of raw meat was abandoned as recommended practice years ago.

In a Dec. 24, 2004 article in the National Post, Fergus Clydesdale at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and who was on the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, said, "The risk of cross-contamination through washing poultry is far greater than shoving it in the oven without washing it, which makes the risk almost zero.”

Even the Brits agree, stating, ”Washing raw poultry is a common kitchen mistake, and it simply isn’t necessary. … By washing your raw bird, you’re actually more likely to spread the germs around the kitchen than get rid of them.”

Memo to Australian retailers: provide sanitizing wipes in stores or pay to clean my shorts

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Doug Powell

This is going to be transformed into dinner in about 12 hours, traditional comfort food as the people of Brisbane bundle up with lows as low as 59F and highs of only 69F with rain (people are dressed like it was Feb. in Saskatoon).

But when I picked the bird out of the cooler case yesterday, blood ran down my hand. I looked for something to help clean up the mess and could only find my shorts.

The same thing happened a few weeks ago with some marked-down packaged chicken pieces. I happened to pick a checkout aisle that was being manned by the manager. I asked Mr. Megalomart Manager if he had something form me to wipe my hands on.

Nope.

I asked about the bloody drippings now on the checkout conveyor. He looked around but couldn’t find the sanitizing solution he insisted was at every checkout.

I said, in the U.S. and Canada, it has become routine to find disposable sanitizing wipes not only near the meat counter, but any raw product such as produce, along with a variety of contraptions and wipes for sanitizing shopping carts.

Manager thought the wipes were a decent idea; they had a weekly food safety meeting and he’d bring it up with corporate.

Corporate trashed the idea because of cost and waste.

Something to keep in mind next time a vp of something proclaims, “food safety is our top priority.”

Failures abound as hotel fined for sickening wedding guests with Campylobacter via undercooked chicken pate

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Doug Powell

The fancy-pants Letchworth Hall Hotel in Hertfordshire, U.K., near London, was ordered to pay more than £12,000 after pleading guilty to two charges of poor food hygiene practice on Friday.

Hertford Magistrates’ Court heard that 49 of the 118 guests at the hotel in Letchworth Lane who had eaten a chicken liver pate starter had reported illness after the meal in September 2011.

Subsequently 22 cases of a Campylobacter infection were confirmed, including the bride and groom who both became ill while on honeymoon in Las Vegas. Symptoms of the infection included stomach cramps and diarrhea.

North Herts District Council (NHDC) received the initial complaint five days after the wedding on September 8 and two environmental health officers visited the hotel to investigate.

The officers established that the chef had cooked the chicken livers to 60 degrees C, in breach of hotel policy and Food Standards Agency guidance which recommends a temperature of 75 degrees C to prevent food poisoning.

Letchworth Hall Hotel admitted undercooking the pate, rendering it unsafe for human consumption, and failing to ensure the kitchen followed the company food safety policy and procedures, including a failure of management to uphold those procedures.

UK pool star falls ill, blames chicken

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Doug Powell

Is snooker sport?

The stars are still mortals and suffer from foodborne illness.

Judd Trump withstood a bout of suspected food poisoning to edge ahead of Dominic Dale as last year’s runner-up returned to the Crucible.

The Daily Mail reports the 22-year-old English potter was unusually subdued in the early stages of his Betfred.com World Championship opener, and when he trailed 3-1 at the mid-session interval it seemed he was in trouble.

Trump finished the session in style with a rapid 68 break, doubling in the black in thrilling style.

There was a raucous reception for Bristol-raised Trump as he emerged for the match. Trump has won the UK Championship and soared to No 2 in the world rankings. He also drives a Ferrari, an indication of how his life has been transformed.

Trump began his third World Championship campaign as the sponsors’ favorite to land the title, but the news that he had woken this morning feeling unwell raised questions over how he would perform against 40-year-old Dale, who was making his seventh Crucible appearance.

Trump’s management believe he became sick after eating chicken, and he continued to feel ill after the session was over.

Trump wrote on Twitter: ‘Not a good day led in bed, tryna get better for tomorrow. 1st time iv had food poisoning and hopefully the last.’

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