Hunter S. Thompson wannabe and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain sorta got it right when he told a recent interviewer that “I, personally, think there is a real danger of taking food too seriously. Food should be part of the bigger picture. I think the Italian’s have the right balance.”

I cook a lot of Italian.

The U.S. Center for Science in the Public Interest, or CSPI, released a report today that was essentially a top-10 list of risky meats.

Top-10 lists are great entertainment, but lousy public policy.

I was shown an advance copy of the report, and told Rachael Rettner of My Health News Daily (who had no trouble tracking me down, even though my geographic location always changes) the report was a gimmick. Probably designed by some PR hack.

“Douglas Powell, a professor of food safety at Kansas State University, called the rankings a “gimmick” that distracts people from the big picture that all foods come with risks.

“To my mind, all food is risky and should be treated with care,” Powell said. It’s important, he said, “to treat all foods, not just meat, but produce — everything — as a potential sources of dangerous microorganisms.

“Over the last decade, the biggest source of foodborne illness has been produce, which consumers often eat raw, he added.

“Consumers should use a thermometer to tell when their food has reached the proper internal temperature, Powell said. They should thoroughly wash all produce and discard vegetable peels.”

(I compost mine.)

To the boring details, CSPI says between 1998 and 2010, chicken products, including roasted, grilled and ground chicken, were definitively linked to 452 outbreaks of foodborne illness and 6,896 cases of illness in the U.S.

Ground beef came in second.

Meanwhile over at Hell’s Kitchen, a show I never watch, a pregnant woman was apparently fed raw chicken.

I understand the economics behind these cooking shows, amazing trips, and real housewives of wherever.

They are cheap to produce and broadcast.

We wrote a peer-reviewed paper about dumb celebrity chefs 10 years ago; nothing has changed; the gutter can be more interesting but only  with an open mind. This is nothing but hackdom.