Color is still a lousy indicator of whether food is safe, but if Clinton High School wanted to make a case, they would provide internal temperature logs.
For two days a Clinton mother says her children sent her pictures of the food being served in the school cafeteria at lunch. She says it appears to be undercooked chicken.
“I don’t want my child sick from food poisoning,” says Kathleen Page, mother of two teens at Clinton High School.
” It was so obviously raw,” says her son, Jonathan Carter, a junior at the school. “You could see pink in it. I’d cut it open with my fork and it’d be more red on the inside.”
Page called the school and was transferred to the cafeteria. “I started to ask her questions and she told me it was none of my business and hung up.”
She also called the Health Department and they told her this wasn’t the first complaint they’d gotten about the school lunches.
Clinton School District Superintendent, Andrew Vining, released a statement regarding the issue.
“The Clinton School District strives to serve our students and staff a variety of meals that are healthy, nutritious, and appealing. The photos that have been circulated do not appear that way. This concerns us and we have taken steps to resolve the matter to ensure our students are provided with the bestmeals possible.
“There were also photos that were circulated regarding apparent raw pork; to clarify, no pork was served.
“The chicken fajita meat which was pictured was Tyson, fully cooked and prepackaged. None of our staff or students have reported becoming ill after eating chicken from our cafeteria. In the event someone does get sick, they need to notify my office and go to their doctor to see if symptoms were due to food-borne illness.
“We regret this has happened and we will continue to put the health of our students first in all things.”
I’m guessing she doesn’t like my it’s still a f*cking pink chicken approach.
But color is a lousy indicator of safety, only a thermometer can do that (right, safe chicken, and this photo has been around for 20 years)
Coral Beach of Food Safety News however, thinks the f*cking pink chicken is brought to you by an unidentified genius in the PR department at Food Standards Scotland, and its new summer barbecue food safety campaign has a catchy slogan and a hilarious super villain.
Dubbed simply Pink Chicken, the super villain is scheduled to travel the hills and dales of the tiny nation for three months, visiting beach partiers and backpackers while “creating mayhem and ‘spoiling’ summer” according to the Scottish food safety agency.
Since I’m an American and write in American English, I can say this without fear of profanity filters blocking me: It’s bloody brilliant.
No, it’s a f*cking pink chicken and it’s dumb.
It also goes against evidence- or science-based reasoning.
Guess that’s where we differ.
And I’m not an educator, I provide information. People make their own choices. Education is up to individuals.
I like the train. Some of my most memorable conversations happen on the train.
The three of us bid adieu to Montpellier and returned to Paris for a couple of days before the pilgrimage back to Australia, home of carp herpes and koala chlamydia (see next post, when I write it).
The shaggy-haired dude sitting beside me finally spoke up in perfect London English, and said, I couldn’t help but overhearing, but yes, you should move your knapsack, let me help you.
You speak English?
Turns out Dr. Mark has a PhD in the maths, and is post-docing in Montpellier on the maths.
He was off to the Glastonbury music festival, worried about trenchfoot, I told him to watch out for Campylobacter and E. coli O157, and Amy told him that one of this years’ headliners, Muse, has complaints about Salmonella and bird shit. Something about Sorenne being a product of science also came up.
When we needed a conversational hiatus, I returned to watching John Oliver skewer his native UK for wanting to leave the European Union (warning, video hilarious but extremely not suitable for family viewing).
And even the Brits don’t want to stay together, what with Scotland doing its own thing, including a Food Standards Scotland agency.
Scottish independence was supposed to be something about Celtic pride, or pride in Sean Connery impersonations on mock Jeopardy, but if Food Standards Scotland attempt at independent food safety communications – if it’s not Scottish, it’s craaaaaaap – are an indicator, bring on the whiskey and go back to sleep.
In my best John Oliver voice, the new FSS mascot is a pink chicken.
A f*cking pink chicken.
Read this, if you can.
Foodborne illness remains an important public health problem for Scotland, resulting in disruption to the workforce and burdens on health services which have consequences for the Scottish economy.
Prior to the establishment of Food Standards Scotland (FSS), we worked as part of the Food Standards Agency to develop, implement and evaluate interventions for improving the safety of the food chain and help consumers to understand the steps that they need to take to protect themselves and their families from foodborne illness.
We’re now consulting on a draft of our proposal for a new Foodborne Illness Strategy for Scotland which sets out the approach we think we will need to take over the next five years to protect the safety of foods produced and sold in Scotland and reduce the risks of foodborne illness to the people of Scotland. … It will take a targeted approach by developing interventions for containing and eradicating contaminants at the key foodborne transmission pathways that have the potential to lead to illness in humans. Workstreams will be developed to evaluate the impact of interventions at all stages, based on uptake and evidence for efficacy.
It’s still a f*cking pink chicken.
Did the PR team get loaded and watched Dumbo and woke inspired by pink elephants?
“Check chicken is steaming hot right through before dishing up.
“Looks can deceive. Charred chicken on the outside may still be pink inside. Check it’s cooked right through.
“Turning chicken regularly helps it cook evenly. And you’ll impress your guests with your fancy tongs action.
“You’re good to go when the chicken is steaming hot in the middle, there’s no pink chicken to be seen and the juices run clear.
“To make sure, use a meat thermometer. Chicken should be a minimum of 75 °C in the centre.”
The thermometer is an after thought to tong juggling and piping hot, but is the only way to determine if that bird is safe to eat (75C).
FSS also threw in this line, apparently written by a Scot who migrated to the Ozarks and returned home with the word “reckon” in his or her vocabulary.
At least 6000 people in Scotland suffer Campylobacter poisoning every year. Some reckon the number could be 9 times that. It’s the most common cause of food poisoning.
And it’s still a f*cking pink chicken.
Best wishes at Glastonbury, Dr. Mark, and figuring out what you’ll do if Britain does leave the EU.
For two days a Clinton mother says her children sent her pictures of the food being served in the school cafeteria at lunch. She says it appears to be undercooked chicken.
