Questions about food & bacteria

[Cat-a-Tonic]

My husband is a pretty stubborn guy, and he has weird quirks about food. He thinks that as long as you cook something hot enough to kill bacteria, that you can eat what you like. I threw away some of that recalled ground turkey, and he got mad about it and said that it would have been fine if we had just cooked it properly. My stance is that I've already got enough intestinal issues and don't need food poisoning on top of everything else, so I'm not going to risk it! I think he's weird about food and he thinks I'm weird about food.

So about a week ago he took some ground beef out of the freezer. He thawed it in the fridge for close to a week (although he left it sitting out on the counter for a few hours too at one point, I'm not sure why). This beef looked awful to begin with - when he took it out of the freezer, it already looked brownish-gray. I don't eat beef, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be pinkish or reddish, not brown or gray. I told him from the get-go to just throw it away, but he refused. So it sat for a week and only looked worse as time went on. He finally ate it yesterday. He says he feels fine, although I know it can take something like up to 72 hours for salmonella symptoms to kick in, so I won't be convinced that he's truly fine until a few more days have passed.

What do you guys think? Is food like that safe to eat if you cook it at a hot enough temp to kill the bacteria? Was I right to toss the recalled turkey and to request that he toss his rancid-looking beef? Do you guys think hubby will still get sick, and if so, should I say "told ya so!"? And, if he gets ill, what are the odds that he could pass the bacteria on to me?

 

[sawdust]

I can't give you an "I told you so," because I don't really know the answer, but I had food poisoning once. I don't recommend it. Why chance it? If there was such an easy choice that could be made for IBD symptoms for the people here in this forum, I don't think there would be much of a choice to contemplate...

EDIT: especially in the case where food has been recalled. That means they know or suspect a problem with that particular food. That's just a no-brainer for me.

 

[scottmyster]

HI Cat, if food is left in the freezer to long it will get wind burn( the colour you were describing). Same as with all foods if it don't look right throw it out. But i only thaw my frozen food over night, then cook it the next day, not lay it there for a week. you can tell if any food is winded burned by the colour like chicken for example it should look smooth and a bright colour of skin if it looks like cardboard throw it out.Same basically with all foods it should at least look like the day you put in there. best wishes

scott

 

[handle]

A healthy person has a much better chance of surviving bacteria/toxins than somone who is immuno-compromised. Although cooking at high heat (over 140 F) for at least a few minutes kills most bacteria it doesn't kill all of them. If you eat the meat right away, without leaving it to cool, you have a good chance to be ok. That's because the small colony of remaining bacteria pose little threat. If they are given a chance to regrow then it's a different story. However it's not only the bacteria but the toxins they produce that needs to be considered! So killing the bacteria still leaves the toxins.
It's quite a complex subject. Bottom line is it's always better to err on the side of caution and chuck suspect things away. Otherwise it is a gamble. If he wants to gamble on getting food poisoning it's his choice (and it shouldn't transfer to you) but no way I would risk it! And if he gets does get sick I think it will be punishment enough.

 

[Tesscorm]

If it's at all questionable, I throw it out! For the few cents or even dollars, it's not worth risking food poisoning!

I also only thaw my food overnight... maybe will keep it until the next day but that's it. I always forget the rules of thumb as to how long food stays good so I just don't risk it.

 

[Astra]

I think you're in order Cat!
I'm the same, anything funny looking or stinky, it gets chucked. Considering the price it's not worth the risk! We're dodgy enough as it is!
That beef probably would've walked off on it's own eventually!
xxx

 

[Terriernut]

Anything that you cook to the right tempature you will kill the bacteria, but from what I've read it's bad practice to keep ground beef in a fridge for a week.
"Bacteria and listeria are kept in suspended animation whilst frozen, however, once thawed, especially for a long period, in the fridge. Bacteria are like MAGGOTS, but on a microscopic level, which will have been crawling everywhere in the fridge, especially if not properly wrapped and would contaminate other foods in the fridge, ie...cheese, butter, etc. There will be a time when he doesnt cook a small bit properly. There was a BBQ, burgers in fact, small piece dropped off, boyscout picked it up and ate it, he died eventually, diagnosed as salmonella poisoning. What that does is eat through the bowel and intenstines. He died of multiple organ failure"

"He's been lucky so far, but he's the one who needs to learn basic food hygeine, before he hurts his partner, who is already at risk!!!"

This may not harm your partner...but Cat...it will harm YOU!

Typed as dictated by Grahame Tucker, Advanced Food Hygeine, Advanced HACCP, Master of HACCP, Meat Science Degree, Advanced Microbiologist Degree.

Well I hope that helps Cat!!!! Let him have it with both barrels, and for gods sake...bleach that fridge out!!!! Tell him to look up Listeria!!!!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Eeek! Misty, I'm going to get out my lysol wipes as soon as I get home and sanitize everything in my fridge! And I will put my foot down, no more thawing meat for days on end in the fridge! He's got a mini-fridge in his basement "man cave" so if he really wants to get himself sick then he can use that fridge for his future science experiments in bacteriology. Thanks all for the replies!

 

[Terriernut]

Throw out anything NOT sealed in the fridge while you're at it! The creepy crawly maggot things go into everything not sealed.

Grahame, who is in a proper grump tonight I might add, has added that we need to put the seat down when we flush the toilet. (I'll remember that at 4am thank you!)

 

[ThanksP]

The reason people got ill from the ground turkey (or anoy other ground meat)was because they did not cook it to the correct temperature. If it had been cooked to 160 degrees to kill E-Coli. I assume any ground turkey or ground buffalo (I don't eat beef either) has EColi so I cook it to 160 degrees and test by using a thermometer. Or you can grind your own meat and severely cut the risk of tainted meat.

The thought of meat "thawing" in a fridge for a week makes me want to toss my lunch. I thaw overnight, and cook it the next day. No way would I risk anything more. Despite the contamination risk, the quality of that meat must be at about dog food grade by then. Ewwww.

 

[Terriernut]

:yfaint:ThanksP, I wouldnt feed that to my dog!!! I love my baby dog! I wouldnt feed that to rats! Actually rats are highly intelligent, they wouldnt eat it either! Just because he has a strong stomach now doesnt mean that Cats SO will always have that, some day...gawd help him, the bacteria will come to roost. Some strains colonize and mutate, and spore, they shield and when the environment changes, then breed. Bionary fision. OMG!!!!!

 

[Carrie630]

not going into everything else - I agree with you not your husband

but here's what I wanted to tell you:
ground beef turns brown when its exposed to air. The reason why it's so red in package is because it's ground and immediately wrapped tight. If you've ever had ground beef that was red on the outside but had brown in the middle then it was out in the air for a while before packaged. They hid the brown to make it prettier.

ground beef seems to go kind of grey the longer its out. I tend to go by smell and texture if I'm unsure of something. I don't let it thaw for more than 1 day. if I do by mistake it gets tossed. I don't necessarily think it would make a healthy person sick, but I don't want to risk it on myself being not so healthy

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Thanks all! I lysol'ed the fridge completely and threw out anything that may have been contaminated, and I told hubby under no circumstances to do that again! Not to leave meat in the fridge that long, and not to eat meat that's that old. Misty, you're right, I wouldn't have fed it to my dog either!

I don't think any of my food got contaminated. I've got my own shelf at the top of the fridge that is off-limits to hubby or brother (who currently lives with us). Most of my stuff is sealed though, stuff like Ensure and soy yogurt. So I think that's a crisis averted. Hubby's still feeling fine, it appears he may have avoided horrible food poisoning. I don't think he'll do it again - I burst into tears while telling him why he shouldn't have kept the meat that long or eaten it. I have been bothered by this all day and it all came out at once in the form of me freaking out crying, but at least I got my point across.

 

[Dexky]

but here's what I wanted to tell you:
ground beef turns brown when its exposed to air. The reason why it's so red in package is because it's ground and immediately wrapped tight. If you've ever had ground beef that was red on the outside but had brown in the middle then it was out in the air for a while before packaged. They hid the brown to make it prettier.

ground beef seems to go kind of grey the longer its out. I tend to go by smell and texture if I'm unsure of something.

I just love Carrie's scientific answers!! I think a week is pushing it, but I'm not afraid to allow a couple of days in the fridge. If there's a hint of foul odor, I toss it!

 

[Carrie630]

Hah Mark! I've always been a wicked nerd; my brain is a storehouse of odd information.

 

[Terriernut]

Food poisoning after been found in unpasteurised milk, eggs and raw egg products, meat and poultry. It can be occur when food is not cooked properly.

If you keep food in the fridge it will stop bacteria from multiplying. Eating foods containing high levels of Listeria monocytogenes is generally the cause of illness.

Lysteria grows quite well between -1 to 5degrees celcius. Above 5 degrees celcius, it grows VERY well. So refridgeration will not kill Lysteria. Only Freezing stops it.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Oh dear, I don't know celsius. Okay, googling....

Okay, so it looks like -1 C is 30.5 F, and 5 C is 41 F. I'm going to check my fridge when I get home and see what temp it's set at. Anything below 32 F is freezing so I'm sure it's above 32 or all my food would be frozen or frosty. But as long as it's below 41, which it probably is, then it should only be kind of scary instead of very scary.

 

[Carrie630]

I'm not even sure how to check the temp in my fridge! hm

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I'm not sure if all fridges are the same, but there should be a temperature dial. If not, I will probably just take my outdoor thermometer and stick that in the fridge for a bit and see what it says!

 

[Carrie630]

my dial has 1 - 5 on it.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Hmmm... maybe that's celsius?? I don't know. I'll check my fridge tonight and will probably end up using the outdoor thermometer to check the temp.

 

[Carrie630]

Nah. I think its just a dumbed down dial. when I was renting I had one once that said warmest warm cold coldest with a little indicator between warm and cold showing the optimal place to put it.