|
|
Bye Bye Bird
Flu
Thursday, March 23, 2006
|
|
It's bad enough when we get the flu, now our "food" has to worry
about getting it too! What's a girl to do, when she can't enjoy her chicken
salad without worrying if it will make her sick? Here's the
latest...
While
the virus, H5N1, has not yet been found in birds in the U.S., what should we do if
and when it does arrive? The answer, according to the World Health Organization and
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), among others, is simple:
-
Don't panic. If you normally eat chicken, turkey and duck,
don't stop out of bird flu fears.
-
Just handle it carefully and cook it well, as you should
already be doing to avoid salmonella, which infects 16 percent of American
poultry and is responsible for 1.4 million cases of food poisoning and 400
deaths a year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
Cooking H5N1's Goose
"There
isn't any threat from cooked chicken," says Dr. Michael Hansen, senior scientist with
Consumers Union. Cooking poultry and eggs well will kill
H5N1, just as heat destroys any influenza virus, CDC spokesperson
Christine Pearson points out.
Cook poultry
evenly, to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F for whole birds and dark meat parts, 170
degrees F for breasts, using a meat thermometer, USDA advises. Oven heat should be at least 325
degrees F.
Safe
Handling: Get a Grip
There have been
reassuring reports in the media about the extensive preparations being taken by U.S. poultry
farmers to prevent infection of birds and workers. But still, before that chicken goes from the
package into the pot, you can't blame a consumer for wondering: What if? After all, the 80
percent rise in chickens with salmonella since 2000, despite USDA's salmonella reduction
program, does little to inspire wholehearted confidence.
As the virus can
live in poultry meat, could it be dangerous to handle raw chicken? "So
you can wash your hands," Hansen says, and the CDC's Pearson confirms that "frequent
hand washing" is advised in any area where bird or any other flu is prevalent.
For most American consumers, who buy their birds already killed and
processed, avian flu doesn't pose a
threat, Hansen explains, noting that H5N1 has thus far spread to humans
who've had close contact with live birds, bird feces and blood.
"Where
the [greatest] risk comes from is in the killing of the chicken. You need access to the
animals being slaughtered and their blood," he says, adding that U.S. consumers who buy
freshly slaughtered chickens at vivieros should be warned if the virus appears here.
For the rest of us, "I wouldn't be concerned about the little bit of blood in a
processed chicken," Hansen says, reiterating that
washing one's hands and all food preparation implements and surfaces in hot soapy water
will get rid of food pathogens from flu viruses to salmonella and E. Coli.
USDA's
Safe Food Handling Practices
* Wash hands
before and after handling food.
* Prevent
cross-contamination by keeping raw meat, poultry, fish and their juices away from other
foods.
* After
cutting raw meats, wash hands, cutting board, knife and counter tops with hot, soapy water.
While USDA
advises sanitizing cutting boards with one teaspoon of chlorine bleach in one quart of water,
you can also disinfect with a solution of less toxic, non-chlorine bleach or white
vinegar and rinsing thoroughly.
What
About Free Range?
In an interview
with the San Jose Mercury News, George Siemon, CEO of the Organic Valley Family of
Farms cooperative in Wisconsin, said its farmers are closely monitoring their flocks and would
bring birds indoors and test them, should avian flu strike in their locales.
Smaller family
farmers may be more tuned into their birds' health and behavior, and thus quicker to detect
outbreaks, than managers of huge industrial confinement farms. "In factory farms, in these crowded, stressful, unsanitary
conditions without sunlight and ventilation, these highly pathogenic bird flus are
actually created and spread through fecal and oral contact," says
Dr. Michael Greger, director of public health and animal agriculture for the Humane Society
of the United States.
Greger,
who believes that avian flu developed and mutated in factory farms, points out that
during the past few decades, industrial poultry farming took hold in Thailand and China.
"Once created, H5N1 infected backyard flocks and migratory fowl as well," he says.
"Now, this factory-farmed virus is flying around the world," Greger
says. But, he says, it's important to remember that the Asian strain of H5N1 has not
yet entered this country, and there's no reason to bring poultry indoors. Besides, he adds,
"We can't keep a virus out of chicken sheds. Even if farmers practiced perfect
bio-security, rodents, flies, and little birds like starlings can carry it in. And once
inside, it rapidly spreads."
The bottom line: Until bird flu is found in the U.S.,
and the government imposes emergency standards that all producers must follow, consumers can
continue their good buying and eating habits, including the purchase, safe preparation
and eating of organic and certified humane, free-range poultry and eggs.
For more
information on avian flu, see the Fact Sheet on Avian Flu at www.usda.gov/birdflu. For general safe
cooking and handling, call USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline, 888-674-6854. Source: The Green Guide 3-2006
Beth Aldrich
*GET your very own Information Trends Girl t-shirt and hat right here:
www.ForHerInformation.com
All the Best, |
