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The chlorinated chicken debate

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Re: The chlorinated chicken debate

Postby KeenCook2 » Sat Aug 01, 2020 4:00 pm

Pampy wrote:Some more information on the debate https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/07/uk ... ters010820


Thank you, Pampy, most revealing.

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Re: The chlorinated chicken debate

Postby jeral » Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:44 pm

So far, the government has avoided the inclusion of clauses which confirm that standards will not be lowered after Brexit. What is in place already can easily be set aside (repealed) in the pathway to or within the confirmation of any new trade deals.

I am hoping that even with a big majority, there will be enough Tory rebels to join the fight against lowering of our existing standards.

I'm less hopeful that it can be kept out of processed foods like stock used in something as even the EU allows hormone-treated beef in those sorts of things.

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Re: The chlorinated chicken debate

Postby jeral » Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:54 pm

There is serious worry amongst scientists about bugs becoming immune to our known antibiotics as there are no new improved versions on the horizon. Bugs are better at surviving than we are :(
Bacteria's immunity to antibiotics affects us all whether or not we eat meat (even good meat) or other treated foods. It is a worry that can be avoided, if there's the will to avoid it.

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Re: The chlorinated chicken debate

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:27 am

So depressing. One can only hope that good sense prevails. To throw away our high standards just like that would be so unforgivable.

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Re: The chlorinated chicken debate

Postby miss mouse » Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:44 pm

There was an R4 prog about 18 months ago, one of the 15 min 'fillers' at 1.45pm, a researcher had found e coli or salmonella that was totally indifferent to the chlorine wash. A bit like the 'No microbes can live in the stomach' argument before the helicobacter pylori research was able to get itself heard. Big pharma power.

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Re: The chlorinated chicken debate

Postby jeral » Sun Aug 02, 2020 5:13 pm

Aren't e-coli and salmonella within a product though that surface washing wouldn't touch? I assumed chlorine washing was intended to neutralise potential bacteria from dubious living conditions and transfer to constant throughput processing stations and equipment.

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Re: The chlorinated chicken debate

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:45 pm

I remember seeing a ghastly programme once about public health workers. Chicken which was past its sell by date was being collected by people who claimed to dispose of it properly. They were actually taking it to an awful rundown old shed, cutting out any bits which were really bad, rinsing it in a chlorine solution and selling it at a market.

When I hear of chlorine washng I am always reminded of that. My feeling is it only needs it if something unpleasant has happened in the processes beforehand and for a whole industry to feel it's necessary says it all.

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Re: The chlorinated chicken debate

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:28 am

jeral wrote:Aren't e-coli and salmonella within a product though that surface washing wouldn't touch? I assumed chlorine washing was intended to neutralise potential bacteria from dubious living conditions and transfer to constant throughput processing stations and equipment.

E. coli and salmonella are on the surface of meat, you very seldom get ill from eating freshly cooked steak or chops or roast red meat because the bacteria were on the surface which got very hot during cooking, so they are pretty safety even if the centre is rare.
Mincing or chopping can spread any contamination through the meat which is why it’s usually recommended to cook burgers thoroughly
Poultry are a special case, because the bacteria having come mainly from the gut tend to be inside the cavity and so it takes a fair bit of cooking to get enough heat in and kill them off

Chlorine washing should remove most of the surface bacteria but again may not get into the crevices of the cavity and I read one article that said chlorine washing can make bacteria harder to culture rather than killing them properly, which is horribly plausible

Keeping the whole production chain clean from the egg seems a better approach, not least because it protects all the workers involved

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