Following in the pink slimey mess, the Australian TV program, Today Tonight, proclaimed last night that all sorts of things are being injected into meat and consumers are being ripped off.
As the show reports, Australians are massive meat eaters, consuming on average more than 120 kilos of meat and poultry each and every year.
Worryingly a meat investigation that first started in a frying pan, then went to a nationally accredited food testing facility, has now gone all the way to the Food Safety Standards Authority.
Euro Spices Pty Ltd has recalled ground coriander and other spice mixes, sourced from India and available at fruit and vegetable shops and independent supermarkets in New South Wales (that’s a state in Australia) due to Salmonella contamination.
According to Food Standards Australia New Zealand, the recalled products include:
• Coriander Ground 50g resealable bag
• Coriander Ground 70g plastic jar
• Almond Dukkah 50g resealable bag
• Almond Dukkah 100g glass jar
• Dukka Pistachio 100g glass jar
• Kofta Bahari 60g resealable bag
• Kabse Mix 60g resealable bag
• Dolma Bahari 60g resealable bag
• Shawarma 60g resealable bag
• Ras El Hanoot 50g resealable bag
• Harissa 60g resealable bag
• Lebanese 7 Spices 50g resealable bag
• Biryani 60g resealable bag
Date marking
Best Before December 2015 (jars display Best Before date as 12\2015).
They will stay for years, number up to 2500, possibly have their own aircraft and artillery, train with the Aboriginal-dominated Norforce unit and drop in to help in Asia-Pacific disaster zones alongside Australia’s Diggers.
But whatever you do, don’t call the Marine Rotational Force in Darwin, Australia, part of a U.S. base.
”No, no again,” said Lieutenant-Colonel AnDroy Senegar when pressed on how much his operation looked like the forerunner of an official base.
”We will build no infrastructure. We will subsist on Australian food. We will be part of the community. It will be a partnership. We will not be intrusive.”
When the Marines arrived in early April for the first of their six-month rotations, then federal Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, justified their presence by saying: ”The world is moving in our direction. It is moving to the Asia-Pacific.
”It is not just the rise of China, it is the rise of China, the rise of India, the rise of the ASEAN economies combined, the emergence of Indonesia, not just as a regional influence but as a global influence,” he said at a welcoming ceremony in Darwin.
One construction worker on the Origin Energy project has been flown to hospital in Melbourne.
In total, 36 of more than 200 workers have fallen ill in the two weeks since the outbreak, their union said.
Crew say their calls to evacuate are being ignored in order to keep the $345 million platform expansion project on-track.
An Origin Energy and Downer Engineering spokesman said they had been working with Tasmania’s Department of Health and best-practice guidelines had been followed.
Australian Workers Union Victorian state secretary Cesar Melham said the outbreak was believed to have stemmed from improperly prepared meat.
However, workers continued to fall ill following a clean-up and other control measures that took place four days ago.
From the what-else-is-in-food file, the Brisbane Times reports that permeate – a watery, greenish waste product from the production of cheese – forms up to 16 per cent of the fresh milk in Australia according to documents obtained by the Herald.
The story isn’t new; check out this video from an Australian TV show in May 2008 (see below).
The story has all the elements of pink slime: a food additive that appears safe, but has s yuck factor; corporate misrepresentation (dude, it’s not milk) consumer outrage at not being told; and an industry deferring to government standards (the lowest kind), clueless about communication with its own snappy catchphrase — a rich source of dairy carbohydrate — and deep in denial about public disclosure.
As the milk wars between supermarkets have reduced margins for milk producers, industry sources say permeate is increasingly being used by producers to reduce the cost per litre.
Just how much permeate – which is cheaper than fresh milk and can be used to moderate fat levels – is used has been a closely held secret of the dairy industry.
In 2008 a number of NSW farmers accused the milk industry of adding up to 12 per cent permeate to milk to cut its production cost.
Internal documents from Australia’s biggest supplier, National Foods – which makes Pura, Big M, Dairy Farmers and supplies both Woolworths and Coles brand milk – reveal its milk now contains up to 16.43 per cent permeate. One document, labeled ”permeate cost savings”, reveals up to $22,960 can be saved by adding 16 per cent permeate to the production of 350,000 litres of whole milk. This shaves almost 16 per cent of the cost off the price of production, and does not have to be disclosed on the label.
In Australia, the food standards code allows producers to dilute milk with "milk components", such as permeate, as long as the total fat level remains at least 3.2 per cent (for full-cream milk) and the protein at least 3 per cent (for any milk). Natural cow’s milk has a fat level of 4 per cent.
There are no known health risks associated with adding permeate to milk.
Not only does its addition to milk reduce costs, but it eliminates the need to dispose of the permeate.
A Dairymark report recommends the industry should change its view of permeate to "a rich source of dairy carbohydrate, rather than a more orthodox view on permeate as a waste stream that is proving problematic in disposal terms."
The chief executive of A2 Milk, Peter Nathan, who said none of his milk contained permeate, described the substance as a "lemony-green liquid substance; it’s certainly not attractive”. He said consumers were "being led to believe that milk they are drinking is pure milk. It’s not".
According to the industry body Dairy Australia, permeate is green in colour because of the Vitamin B in milk.
A Woolworths spokeswoman said: "This is regulated by Food Standards Australia New Zealand. We contract our own brand milk to numerous suppliers around the country and we are confident that they are delivering a product that matches the nutritional panel."
A Coles spokesman said: "Coles brand milk is made to the same high standards as branded milk lines, and in no way has the quality of our milk been altered as a result of our milk price cuts in January 2011."
The Australian Food Network reports a notable rise in the number of cases of Cryptosporidium in the Northern Territory has prompted the state government to urge Territorians to practice good hygiene and food safety practices.
According to the Northern Territory Government, 114 cases have been reported so far this year.
Director of the Centre for Disease Control, Dr Vicki Krause, said this is more than twice the number of expected gastroenteritis cases this year caused by the Cryptosporidium parasite.
Dr Krause said, “The current hot and humid weather is providing the perfect conditions for the bug to thrive and we are expecting to see more cases.
“It’s important that infected people don’t prepare or handle food or drinks that will be consumed by others,” she said.
Aussie food types are slightly warming to the use of thermometers, following the U.S. and now Canada.
The New South Wales Food Authority (that’s the state agency where Sydney is) says in a new advisory about unsafe cooking temperatures that, “it’s not a bad idea to invest in a meat thermometer probe.”
“Different meats require different cooking temperatures to destroy harmful bacteria.
“For example, a steak need only be seared on the outside and can be rare inside, while minced meat must be carefully cooked to destroy bacteria. That’s because minced meat has far greater surface area than steak and therefore greater risk of bacterial contamination.
“One way is to simply cook minced meat, sausages and poultry until well done, right through to the centre. No pink should be visible and juices should run clear.
“Using this method should ensure your meat and poultry is free from harmful bacteria, although people’s idea of what constitutes "pink" and "clear running juices" might differ from person to person, that’s why it’s not a bad idea to invest in a meat thermometer probe.
“A meat thermometer helps you make sure all potentially harmful bacteria have been destroyed through proper cooking. A thermometer probe shows you the exact temperature inside the meat or poultry so you can be sure it’s cooked all the way through.”
Color remains a lousy indicator of meat safety and tenderness. Use a thermometer and stick it in. It’ll make you a better cook.
Amy and I went on a date at 2:30 in the afternoon, cause that’s how we roll when Sorenne is in school.
And, when the Dutton Park Fish Market has an e-mailed special for dine-in only, whole chilli mudcrabs on Friday night, I called them and asked, can you seat us at 2:30 p.m.?
Shurely.
After another day of pink slime, listeria, sick kids, bad corporate behavior and food safety nerd stuff, I do like to eat. And I like Amy. So we continued our crustacean sampling of Brisbane with the whole chilli mudcrab. And a date.
It was messy. And outstanding.
Tomorrow it’s scallops on the half-shell, grilled on the barbie, after the school’s lunchtime open house and sausage sizzle (I cook, and temp the sausages with my tip-sensitive digital thermometer).
British athletes are being told not to shake hands at the 2012 Olympics in London, a good idea considering that one-in-five hospitals – hospitals with sick people where everyone is supposed to religiously wash hands – in Australia suck at handwashing.
It is the first time such information has been made publicly available.
The figures show that about half of the country’s major public hospitals are above the benchmark, while just over 30 per cent were similar to the current standard.
Around 19 per cent were below the benchmark.
The data are based on audits of hand hygiene moments – when there is a perceived or actual risk of pathogen transmission from one surface to another via someone’s hands – in public hospitals between July and October last year.
Meanwhile, Dr Ian McCurdie, the British Olympic Association (BOA) chief medical officer, told the Daily Mail that a mild bug which can knock athletes off their stride could be picked up in the "quite stressful environment" of the Games.
When asked whether this means shaking hands should be off-limits, he said, “I think, within reason, yes.
“I think that is not such a bad thing to advise. The difficulty is when you have got some reception and you have got a line of about 20 people you have never met before who you have got to shake hands with.
‘Within reason if you do and have to shake hands with people, so long as you understand that regular handwashing and/or also using hand foam can help reduce the risk – that would be a good point.’”
The advice is part of a detailed package of health and resilience issues which the BOA has looked at ahead of the Games.
The Daily Telegraph reportscockroaches, food past its use-by-date and filthy cooking equipment have been found in the kitchens of some of Sydney’s popular eateries.
The NSW Food Authority has "named and shamed" 13 restaurants and food suppliers since December 1 for putting their customers at serious risk of food contamination.
According to the Office of State Revenue, 836 food suppliers have been fined $601,480 for food safety breaches in the six months from July 2011.
At Na Ju Gom Tang in Strathfield, food inspectors found uncovered meat defrosting in a bowl on the floor, cockroaches and general poor hygiene.
Macksville Quality Meats in Macksville was fined $2640 in December for four safety breaches including storing raw meat with ready-to-eat meat, poor hygiene, incomplete monitoring records and poor temperature control.
"I’m a small business. I got into trouble, I’m very sorry and I’ve fixed it all up. That’s what I’ve got to say," manager James Wilkes said.
Coolabah Tree manager Sharon Eaton copped an $800 fine in December for repeated cleanliness-related offences.
"It doesn’t matter what we’ll do, the health inspector passes something one visit and then jumps on something else the next," she said.
Inspectors slapped repeat offender Jeme’s Fish Market in Ashfield with a $880 fine in January for leaving fish hanging in a yard. A manager could not be reached.
The Liverpool Rd outlet was added to the Food Authority’s name and shame list in 2009 after crabs were found stored in the restaurant’s toilets. Then primary industries minister Ian Macdonald said at the time it was one of the "most outrageous cases of food storage" he had ever heard about.
said.
deferring to government standards (the lowest kind), clueless about communication with its own snappy catchphrase — a rich source of dairy carbohydrate — and deep in denial about public disclosure.
Director of the Centre for Disease Control, Dr Vicki Krause, said this is more than twice the number of expected gastroenteritis cases this year caused by the Cryptosporidium parasite..jpg)
steak and therefore greater risk of bacterial contamination.
chilli mudcrabs on Friday night, I called them and asked, can you seat us at 2:30 p.m.?.jpg)
staff at 233 public hospitals clean their hands, against an interim benchmark of 70 per cent.
with.
food safety breaches in the six months from July 2011.