FDA says viruses safe for treating meat

[gully]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060818/ap_on_he_me/edible_viruses

WASHINGTON - A mixture of six bacteria-killing viruses can be safely sprayed on meat and poultry to combat common microbes that kill hundreds of people a year, federal health officials said Friday.

The mixture of special viruses, called bacteriophages, would target strains of Listeria monocytogenes, the Food and Drug Administration said in declaring it is safe to use. The viruses are designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products just before they are packaged.

The bacterium they target can cause a serious infection called listeriosis, primarily in pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems. In the United States, an estimated 2,500 persons become seriously ill with listeriosis each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 500 die.

The preparation of bacteriophages — the name is Greek for "bacteria-eater" — infects only various strains of the Listeria bacterium and not human or plant cells, the FDA said.

[SmokingJacket]

1. Effective or not, it doesn't do much to make meat more appetizing.

Mmmm, virus burgers!

:puke:

If you have to do this kind of thing to make meat safe, maybe it's better just to forget it.

[jilln]

6. No kidding.

[Ian David]

2. Russia has been using bacteriophages to treat human diseases for decades

It's almost certainly safer than using radiation to treat meat.

[gully]

3. I prefer cooking meat well to any of the options mentioned.

The over use of antibiotics should have taught us "something."

I remain open minded, but I do have my doubts.

[leesa]

5. What does radiation do to the meat when it's dead? The cells are no longer

dividing so I'm not sure what the issue is.

[Ian David]

7. They use radiation to destroy bacteria on meat

It's not a bad idea, except that what they've been doing is using radiation on meat that would otherwise have been sub-standard and inedible due to high bacteria count.

So, you can either buy good meat that might have bacteria... or you can have shitty meat that would have been unsafe until it was irradiated.

And when I say "shitty," I mean that literally.

[leesa]

4. Makes me glad I don't eat meat. Yummy.

I wonder if this allows for longer shelf life for fresh meats.

[lostnfound]

8. Dang, that is scary and disgusting..and a side-effect of factory farming

Having read Molly Ivins on the subject of George Bush and the meat-processing industry, I see this as more piling on of garbage on top of a shaky house of cards.

If they didn't produce meat in such disgusting conditions, this would be unnecessary. (Of course, meat itself is unnecessary but that's another story.)