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Viral Meat Spray

Bacteria-eating viruses (bacteriophages) have been approved as meat additives to reduce the risk of Listeria and Campylobacter found in processed meat and poultry products, but there is a concern they could spread toxin genes between bacteria.

June 14, 2012 |
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Viral Meat Spray, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings

Sources Cited

Scallan E, Hoekstra RM, Angulo FJ, Tauxe RV, Widdowson MA, Roy SL, Jones JL, Griffin PM. Foodborne illness acquired in the United States--major pathogens. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 Jan; 17(1):7-15.

Guenther S, Huwyler D, Richard S, Loessner MJ. Virulent bacteriophage for efficient biocontrol of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2009 Jan; 75(1):93-100.

Bren L. Bacteria-eating virus approved as food additive. FDA Consum. 2007 Jan-Feb; 41(1):20-2.

Atterbury RJ. Bacteriophage biocontrol in animals and meat products. Microb Biotechnol. 2009 Nov; 2(6):601-12.

Carvalho CM, Gannon BW, Halfhide DE, Santos SB, Hayes CM, Roe JM, Azeredo J. The in vivo efficacy of two administration routes of a phage cocktail to reduce numbers of Campylobacter coli and Campylobacter jejuni in chickens. BMC Microbiol. 2010 Sep 1; 10:232.

Acknowledgements

Images thanks to Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USDA, and John Jonik.

Transcript

The third leading cause of foodborne disease related death in the United States— after Salmonella, and the meatborne brain parasite toxoplasma, is listeria, a type of foodborne bacteria that has the rare ability to survive and thrive in cold, acidic, salty environments, otherwise known as deli meats, hot dogs, and refrigerated ready-to-eat chicken and turkey products. The fatality rate of infection is 20-30%, making it the most dangerous foodborne bacteria in the U.S. meat supply.
Unable to rid itself of the pathogen the U.S. meat industry petitioned the FDA to allow them to use a novel pathogen control strategy. “Virulent Bacteriophage for Efficient Biocontrol of Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-To-Eat Foods,” or as the FDA touted in one of their publications: “Bacteria-eating virus approved as food additive. Not all viruses harm people. The FDA has approved a mixture of viruses as a food additive to protect people. The additive can be used in processing plants for spreading onto ready-to-eat meat and poultry products to protect consumers from the potentially life-threatening bacterium listeria.”
 Not all bacteria harm people either, and so concern has been expressed that they could also infect and kill the good bacteria in our gut, but they appear to be extremely species specific and so the main concern has been the possibility of the viruses spreading toxin genes between bacteria, especially given the difficulty of large numbers of viruses from being released into the environment.
It could also allow the industry to become even more complacent about food safety if they know they can just spray some viruses on at the end, similar to the quick fix argument about irradiation. From the industry point of view, who cares if there’s fecal contamination of the meat as long as it’s sterilized at the end with enough radiation.
 Last year researchers discovered that you can put the viruses in the feed of the chickens and obtain the same effect. They conclude that “The phage cocktail administered in feed can be easily and successfully used under commercial condition in a poultry unit. Another important aspect of the present study is that as the phages that composed the cocktail were isolated from poultry carcasses, their use to reduce Campylobacter colonisation in the live birds would not introduce any new biological entity into the food chain,” meaning consumers shouldn’t complain about the use of viruses as a biological control agent since the viruses are on their meat to begin with.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Serena

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

For more about leading food poisoning causes of death #1 and #2 see Total Recall and Brain Parasites in Meat. For videos on other risks associated with processed meat consumption, see Preventing COPD with Diet, Prevention Is Better Than Cured Meat, and Hot Dogs & Leukemia. In my book Bird Flu I have a chapter about more of these creative meat industry "technofixes" (rectal poultry superglue anyone?). For videos on other chicken feed additives of questionable safety, see Arsenic in Chicken and Drug Residues in Meat, and for what Campylobacter can do, Poultry and Paralysis. Please also feel free to check out any of the other 1,000+ thousand topics, and if you didn't like the thought of the meat industry spreading viruses on your food, tomorrow's video is entitled Maggot Meat Spray.

Please be sure to check out my associated blog posts: Why is it Legal to Sell Unsafe Meat? and Adding FDA-Approved Viruses to Meat.

  • Michael Greger M.D.

    For more about leading food poisoning causes of
    death #1 and #2 see Total
    Recall     and Brain
    Parasites in Meat    . For videos on other risks associated with processed
    meat consumption, see Preventing
    COPD with Diet    , Prevention
    Is Better Than Cured Meat    , and Hot Dogs
    & Leukemia    . In my book Bird Flu I have a chapter about more of
    these creative meat industry “technofixes” (rectal poultry superglue
    anyone?). For videos on other chicken feed additives of questionable safety,
    see Arsenic
    in Chicken     and Drug
    Residues in Meat    , and for what Campylobacter can do, Poultry
    and Paralysis    . Please also feel free to check out any of the other
    1,000+ thousand
    topics    , and if you didn’t like the thought of the meat industry
    spreading viruses on your food, tomorrow’s video is entitled Maggot
    Meat Spray    .

    • HemoDynamic, M.D.

      Unfortunately Fact is more abhorrent than Fiction, especially when it comes to the meat industry.

      • Veguyan

        What is the answer for someone who posted the following:

        Taken from an article about Adrenal Fatigue. 

My most sick
        patients, the ones that never really fully recovered, were vegetarians. This
        was even more the case if they did the raw food diet for more than a couple
        years. Vegan diets and raw food diets are dangerous in my my experience. I’ve
        just seen too many people who were so weakened and so broken down from
        basically starving themselves for years. I think it’s a kind of closet
        anorexia, a way of eating without eating, a way of undernourishing yourself in a
        really chronic way and I think that there are a lot of mental issues going on
        in people who are so attracted to this, especially when they look like death
        warmed over and they don’t even see it. 

So yes, not that some of those foods
        and recipes aren’t great. But trying to just live on those things makes it hard
        for people with a long history of that behavior to fully recover, especially
        when they’ve been at it for like 10-20 years. They’ve been weakening themselves
        so deeply. Still, I think they’re going to get the greatest recovery they can
        get through NB and they can see huge improvements in quality of life beyond
        what they were likely to accomplish.

         

        My experience, 9 years of veganism and raw foods nearly killed
        me. Plants are living creatures too. So if you really want to take it that far.
        Also this isn’t really about whats wrong or right. It’s about genetic
        adaptation and basically vegan and strict vegetarian diets are damaging to
        human beings. Very few get away long term without mental/emotional or physical
        issues. I was one of those who tried being vegan and it really damaged my
        health, Also I have spoken to many long term vegetarians who told me they had
        to go back to animal protein because their health declined. I also know many
        raw foodists who are attached to their dietary ideas who say that raw veganism
        makes them feel better. Sarah FlyingFlower StoneFeather Cruse said it
        above, eating a vegan diet causes the body to absorb too much copper, too much
        copper makes one feel slightly out there and blissful but it doesn’t mean
        that’s more spiritual than someone who eats meat. So really where do you draw
        the line?

         

        Copper toxicity can cause a person to feel an aversion to meat.
        this was my biggest reason for wanting to be vegetarian. one reason why I think
        I may have been copper toxic all my life.

        • HemoDynamic, M.D.

          They should read The China Study, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, The Starch Solution, visit NutritionFacts.org, http://www.PCRM.org, and review numerous other publications to date showing the healthiest lifestyle is a Vegan lifestyle.

          It’s not to say there can’t or won’t be health issues but an educated provider should be able to test for common (and uncommon if needed) abnormalities and teach the best ways to avoid them.

  • donatopoetry

    When car manufacturers added ABS brakes to make cars safer to drive, the public responded by driving more dangerously, relying on better brakes, rather than their skill, to keep them out of trouble. It is ever this for humans. All that will happen is that food processors will save money by reducing their hygiene and insurance costs, relying on the viruses to do the work instead of their procedures. Better to be Vegan, avoid most of this hassle. Thanks for your efforts in keeping us informed. Donato Cianci Peterborough Canada

  • http://poxacuatl.wordpress.com/ Strix

    Ick! I really wonder how these people sleep at all.

    When you said, “…who cares if there’s fecal contamination of the meat…” “…as long as it’s sterilized at the end..”
    It reminded me of the “Yes Men”!
    Anyone remember those guys? They were newsmakers in the early Aughts. The prank this brings to mind was
      — Brilliant!

  • Stefan Juhl M.D.

    One word: Grotesque !
    One solution: Go vegan !
    One consequence: Get healthy ! (if you go vegan……..)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=670735069 Tan Truong

    So my nephew just came in my room and saw me watch several of these videos. Then he said, “I’m tired of watching these gross videos.”

    I said, “Then why eat the gross things?”

    He said, “I don’t know; I was born like that.”

    I said, “You’re right.”

    So even kids are starting to know they’ve been conditioned to consume nasty foods.

  • jake

    I am a patient who had his life saved from a drug resistant staph infection using Phage’s. I flew to tibillsi georgia and was treated at the institute there. Bacterial phages are an absolute miracle to the alternative health industry. The FDA has blocked them from ever being used here on humans because they work 100 fold better then antibiotics and they are all natural. Also they do not cause drug resistance. they have been using them in russia for over 100 years. they dont use antibiotics!YOUR ARTICLE IS WRONG THIS WOULD BE A MIRACLE IF EVER APPROVED IN THE U.S.

  • jake

    THIS TECHNOLOGY COULD SAVE 1 MILLION DEATHS A YEAR! AND IT IS 100% ALL NATURAL

  • jake

    I am a patient who had his life saved from a drug resistant staph infection using Phage’s. I flew to tibillsi georgia and was treated at the institute there. Bacterial phages are an absolute miracle to the alternative health industry. The FDA has blocked them from ever being used here on humans because they work 100 fold better then antibiotics and they are all natural. Also they do not cause drug resistance. they have been using them in russia for over 100 years. they dont use antibiotics!YOUR ARTICLE IS WRONG THIS WOULD BE A MIRACLE IF EVER APPROVED IN THE U.S.

  • RP

    Veguyan, I would say that the answer is that you can be just as unhealthy on a vegan diet as on a meat eating diet if you don’t eat properly. And veganism and raw food diets can also be another way of expressing an eating disorder. That doesn’t mean that the diet is unhealthy overall, or that these diets cause an eating disorder. The way our society is structured makes it difficult to be vegan, true. It is hard to run down to the food court and get something to eat if you didn’t have time to pack your lunch, for example. But I think the science is pretty clear that if you take the time to cook your grains and soak your beans and make your green smoothies, your health will improve overall. Your life expectancy will increase. etc etc.

    As for raw food diets, I don’t actually think that they are healthy. 

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