[Sca-cooks] Food in the News

[Terri Spencer]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Prunes can kill E. coli bacteria in ground beef.
Cinnamon will do the same thing in juice. Salt helps destroy a pathogen
that contaminates chicken.

Prodded by lawsuits and government regulations, the food industry is
looking everywhere from kitchen cupboards to university laboratories
for weapons against dangerous bacteria. About 76 million cases of
food-borne illness are diagnosed nationwide each year, resulting in
5,000 deaths and 325,000 hospitalizations, according to the government.

It remains to be seen whether prune growers will sell meat companies on
their product. According to a Kansas State University study presented
at the Institute of Food Technologists convention Monday, the
equivalent of one tablespoon of prune puree per pound of hamburger can
kill more than 90 percent of the E. coli. The secret is believed to lie
in a couple of acids that prunes contain.

Other research has found that a combination of cinnamon and carbon
dioxide can destroy E. coli in apple juice; a solution of salt and
phosphates can kill campylobacter, a pathogen in chicken; the herb
ginkgo biloba is deadly to listeria.

A high-pressure system developed by Flow International of Kent, Wash.,
is attracting attention. Food is submerged in water and subjected to
enough pressure to fatally damage bacteria without affecting the food
itself. Processors that don't want to use heat treatment have been
attracted to the system. Hormel Foods has installed one of the systems
to treat ham products. Perdue Farms has ordered the equipment to treat
chicken.

On the Net:
Institute of Food Technologists: http://www.ift.org
National Food Processors Association: http://www.nfpa-food.org


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