Tuesday, August 24, 2010

380,000 Pounds Of "Luncheon Meats" Recalled (Reason #487 To Avoid Meat Of Unknown Origin)

When I was in cooking school, I took a food safety class. At the end of the class, I passed a test, and received a ServSafe food safety certification.

The class was quite fun. Our teacher was hilarious. She gave us clever ways to remember the things we'd need to know for the test. You could get staph infections when the staff didn't wash their hands. And you could get listeria from luncheon meats.

I thought of her when I learned that Zemco Industries is recalling 380,000 pounds of luncheon meats due to concerns about contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. For the whole story, click here. According to the USDA, "Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, an uncommon but potentially fatal disease"

What can we do to avoid risks like this one, and like the problem with eggs a few days ago?

Simple, really: Know where your food is from. And avoid especially Meat Of Unknown Origin and Eggs Of Unknown Origin.

For more on Meat Of Known Origin, see here.

1 comment:

Pamina said...

I'm with you. We pretty much buy all our meat from farmers. But, it is extremely hard when one is traveling. I got really tired of the oatmeal for breakfast after a week in a hotel. Everything else had meat or eggs of unknown origin in it.