Poo-poo Make Prant Grow

[parrot]

Why does it seem that in a country where 99.++% of the people wash their dishes in cold water, eggs are sold non-refrigerated, meats are often sold on the hoof or just off and still warm to the touch, and restaurant inspections either don't take place or rarely.........yet it seems that fewer people succumb to things like food poisoning here than in the US? Maybe it's one of those things that isn't tracked/reported like in the US. A few months ago it was romaine lettuce that was contaminated and resulted in 5 deaths and the trashing of tons of romaine. Now it's salad at McDonald's the culprit, affecting hundreds. A few days ago, Honey Smacks.....a Kellogg's cereal.
I realize our guts tend to adapt to the environment here.......but wouldn't you think that people's guts in the US would adapt as well?
When I was stationed in Taiwan, one of the books on the shelf at the bookstore was a book titled, "Poo-poo Make Prant Grow" which is one of those books you want to be reading on the airplane while your seat partner is eating his airline meal. There was no secret that the Taiwanese used night soil on their gardens.....and Taiwan was another country where the tap water wasn't chlorinated (back then) and I don't know of anyone who had hot tap water (again, back then, circa 1973).
So, I'm left wondering.......are Westerners getting too clean for their own britches? Is all the bleach, triclosan products, anti-germ/bacteria products getting rid of our good bacteria that kills that bad bacteria when we eat a poo-poo planted veggie? Or is it a case of maybe the same thing is happening here but we just don't hear about it?
Rainy day.......good day for pondering.

[stattointhailand]

I think you answered your own question in the first para parrot
Eggs are NOT refrigerated because there is absolutely no reason to do so UNLESS YOU TAMPER WITH MOTHER NATURE and remove the protection that is there. Meat has never needed to be treated with this and that to "add flavour" and "keep it longer" ......... a chicken killed and cooked in our youth tasted 10 times better than those of today with all the addatives to the breeding/fattening and growing process.

In short it has absolutely nothing to do with the bacteria and much more to do with all the chemicals we are forced to ingest so as make things bigger better last longer and make a far bigger profit margin

[sometimewoodworker]

In short it has absolutely nothing to do with the bacteria and much more to do with all the chemicals we are forced to ingest so as make things bigger better last longer and make a far bigger profit margin

Think of all the processing that is done to give you "food", or at least something you can eat, without refrigeration for months or years. Are twinkies classed as food?

Eggs are NOT refrigerated because there is absolutely no reason to

and if you do refrigerate them you greatly increase the risks of bacterial contamination.

Unless of course you decide to permit high levels of salmonella bacteria in your chickens (the US does) then you are forced to both throughly wash and disinfect your eggs and wash your chicken meat in ammonia (again the US has to do that) so suggesting that the US food practices are something that should be copied by anyone shows how badly you have been misinformed.

[Giggle]

It's not just the US. The EU discards fruits and vegetables if they don't conform to the expected shape, size or color.

[JimboPSM]

…. When I was stationed in Taiwan, one of the books on the shelf at the bookstore was a book titled, "Poo-poo Make Prant Grow" which is one of those books you want to be reading on the airplane while your seat partner is eating his airline meal. There was no secret that the Taiwanese used night soil on their gardens.....

I doubt that your book was able to fully convey the absolutely brutal assault on the olfactory senses that are involved in the processes of getting mass amounts of it into a usable state.

In China I experienced one of the less pleasant parts of the process when, on hot days, they used half of the road at the side of our factory to dry out large volumes of it with the wind blowing its stomach churning "fragrance" over the factory.

.

[bluejets]

Aus researchers found many ( mainly big city) parents were shielding their kids from certain "dirtypractices" such as digging in the dirt and shoving their fingers in their gob.
Result of the continual use of dettol wipes and the like were shilding the kids from all necessary bacteria which their bodies normally use to set up natural resistance.
Then one gets the case of the local canegrower being told he cannot sell watermelons he grows as they have not been "treated".
No one was ever able to find out what from......

[sometimewoodworker]

It's not just the US. The EU discards fruits and vegetables if they don't conform to the expected shape, size or color.

No the EU doesn't , however in some countries some supermarket chains will only buy products that fit their specifications. Are the big US chains so different?

[sometimewoodworker]

Aus researchers found many ( mainly big city) parents were shielding their kids from certain "dirtypractices" such as digging in the dirt and shoving their fingers in their gob.
Result of the continual use of dettol wipes and the like were shilding the kids from all necessary bacteria which their bodies normally use to set up natural resistance.
Then one gets the case of the local canegrower being told he cannot sell watermelons he grows as they have not been "treated".
No one was ever able to find out what from......

And along with that is the brainwashing proscription of water required that has caused an unknown (prior to around 1980) condition that kills people due to a salt imbalance (mostly during exercise) and the McGovern report drawn up in 1977 by a minor staffer who was a vegan with no training in dietary science that caused the guideline for increases in carbohydrate and reduction in fat, switch from saturated animal fat to vegetable fat, protein and cholesterol (eggs) that has largely been the cause of the western obesity epidemic.

The killer American diet that's sweeping the planet
https://www.ted.com/talks/dean_ornish_o ... iller_diet

American companies are leading the world in advertising the products that cause the problems

The UK is slavishly following as are most other western countries and Asia is not so far behind

[Giggle]

It's not just the US. The EU discards fruits and vegetables if they don't conform to the expected shape, size or color.

No the EU doesn't , however in some countries some supermarket chains will only buy products that fit their specifications. Are the big US chains so different?

Brexit bonus! Return of wonky fruit & vegetables
Apr 16, 2017
By Camilla Tominey

BENT bananas, imperfect pears and misshapen apples could be back on the menu after a Tory minister pledged to get rid of “unnecessarily burdensome” EU laws affecting British produce.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/79234 ... ent-banana

[AlexO]

In short it has absolutely nothing to do with the bacteria and much more to do with all the chemicals we are forced to ingest so as make things bigger better last longer and make a far bigger profit margin

Think of all the processing that is done to give you "food", or at least something you can eat, without refrigeration for months or years. Are twinkies classed as food?

Eggs are NOT refrigerated because there is absolutely no reason to

and if you do refrigerate them you greatly increase the risks of bacterial contamination.

Unless of course you decide to permit high levels of salmonella bacteria in your chickens (the US does) then you are forced to both throughly wash and disinfect your eggs and wash your chicken meat in ammonia (again the US has to do that) so suggesting that the US food practices are something that should be copied by anyone shows how badly you have been misinformed.

Eggs are washed (in most western countries) to remove any poo and residual crap from the shell not to make them safe to eat. Here my missus washes our locally bought eggs before cracking them just in case a bit of shell breaks off and falls in the pan. US chicken meat is washed with water that has a small amount of chlorine added. About the same as you happily allow your children to jump into and play in the local swimming pool. This is to remove any surface bacteria and has no affect on the actual meat. Misinformed methinks.

[parrot]

The videos of chicken slaughter houses makes it look like the entire operation is done in refrigerated surroundings. And then, there's the Thai way........a ??freshly?? slaughtered chicken sitting in a plastic bag with the price marked at the local market. How long ago was it slaughtered? Who knows. But that's basically the kind of chicken we buy. We've bought chicken in Big C and Tesco and they're too much like US chicken (fatty) for our taste. We prefer the kind that pick and peck at the side of the road.

[sometimewoodworker]

US chicken meat is washed with water that has a small amount of chlorine added. About the same as you happily allow your children to jump into and play in the local swimming pool. This is to remove any surface bacteria and has no affect on the actual meat. Misinformed methinks.

I agree that I should have said chlorine rather than ammonia, it is the ammonia levels that aren't regulated that permit such huge overcrowding and death levels.
The practice of washing with ammonia is prohibited in the EU to prevent dirty abattoirs with sloppy standards

The small amounts of chlorine in the wash water ia strong chlorine solution (20-50 parts per million of chlorine)

Swimming pool water should be about 20 to 50 times weaker than that.

If you allowed children, or adults for that matter, to swim in water like that you would have cases of red eye and swimmers itch at a minimum.

[sometimewoodworker]

Eggs are washed (in most western countries) to remove any poo and residual crap from the shell not to make them safe to eat. ---Misinformed methinks.

No they are not.
EU egg marketing laws state that Class A eggs – those found on supermarkets shelves, must not be washed, or cleaned in any way.

Who is Misinformed?

[sometimewoodworker]

Why buying refrigerated eggs is bad

EU law actually stipulates that eggs “ should in general not be refrigerated before sale to the final consumer.” The regulations explain how “cold eggs left out at room temperature may become covered in condensation facilitating the growth of bacteria on the shell and probably their ingression into the egg.” Hence if a consumer picked up a carton of chilled eggs then transported them home in the car, the change in temperature would cause the eggs to sweat.

[AlexO]

Eggs are washed (in most western countries) to remove any poo and residual crap from the shell not to make them safe to eat. ---Misinformed methinks.

No they are not.
EU egg marketing laws state that Class A eggs – those found on supermarkets shelves, must not be washed, or cleaned in any way.

Who is Misinformed?

So the EU dictate that it is mandatory that people handle eggs that have come out of a chickens backside and been lying in poo for some hours before being packaged. No health warnings about the hazards allowed at all. When was the last time you seen eggs in Tesco covered in poo. Same as washing meat in ammonia.

[stattointhailand]

Funnily enough chickens eggs have been coming out of chickens ar*es for as long as chickens have been around. MOST humans realise where they come from (after several thousand years of learning) and will wash an egg before cracking it into the pan

[jimjay]

All I know is it was a stroke of genius to spell it PRANT in the title.

No proprem.

[parrot]

I actually owned a copy of that book......never can forget the name.....but just a little bit:

"MOST humans realize where they come from (after several thousand years of learning) and will wash an egg before cracking it into the pan"
I can't ever recall seeing anyone wash an egg before using it....as a common practice. Certainly a few of the Thai eggs I've bought in the market.......might have a bit of crap on them and they'll get a hosing before I pluck them in the fridge. But if they're clean from the market, I use them without washing.

Although this thread is still young yet, it goes to show the variety of cleanliness practices in each country.

[AlexO]

Funnily enough chickens eggs have been coming out of chickens ar*es for as long as chickens have been around. MOST humans realise where they come from (after several thousand years of learning) and will wash an egg before cracking it into the pan

Considering its only been a few hundred years since it was believed to be bad for you to bathe more than once a month/year and bacteria was only recognised as a cause of disease a few decades ago your "several thousands of years of learning" is a wee bit OTT. From the Irish Food Safety Organisation.
What are the risks associated with not washing eggs?
Salmonella can survive for a long time in dried faeces on the outside of eggs. This presents two risks. Firstly, if eggs are stored incorrectly and condensation forms on the shell, the water may be sufficient to allow Salmonella to pass into the inside of the egg through the pores in the shell. This risk increases over the storage time, as the natural barriers of the egg start to break down with increasing age of the egg. Condensation on the outside of eggs also increases the chance that Salmonella on the shell may grow. Secondly, during handling and preparation of dirty eggs, direct hand-to-mouth contamination can occur, or other foods may be cross-contaminated from hands, dirty discarded shells, or during the action of cracking the egg.
So everyone from the packagers to the supermarket shelf stackers and checkout girls to the end user are at risk. Give me eggs from the USA anytime.
Incidentally when did the EU become most of the Western World.

[parrot]

"Give me eggs from the USA anytime."

That's my point! Eggs from the US http://time.com/money/5240830/more-than ... amination/

Romaine contamination https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to- ... 7260dcd0c0

Kellogg's!!!! https://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/di ... salmonella

All in the last few months. All in the US. And yet, the perception is (probably rightly so to a degree) that a US egg is better than a Thai egg.

Meanwhile, I'm left wondering why there aren't mass breakouts of the flu here.......when 99.++ restaurants don't wash their dishes in scalding hot water. My favorite noodle soup store for 20 years air dries their chopsticks in the sun. If someone is sneezing or hacking while I'm there, I might immerse my chopsticks in my still hot soup for an extra 10 seconds or so.........hardly a sanitizing wash though. And, yet..........