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A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

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Re: A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

#51
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had an older coworker who used to do this, and had no qualms eating moldy food. He had some advanced biology degrees and worked in a lab. When asked why he ate moldy food, he would reply "Most of the time the mold (some mold type) and is mostly harmless to people. The trouble is knowing what is and isn't ok to eat. Besides, I'm not letting safe food go to waste." On the other hand, I knew a foreign student who disa…

Chicken is notorious for developing bad bacteria when it gets old. I know two people who got badly sick from eating chicken, and so they'll never ever eat it again. I like it though, but I'll never eat it past the expiry date. AFAIK if meat products start smelling, especially ammonium, then it's time to ditch it.

> AFAIK if meat products start smelling,

The smell is telling you that the meat is rotting and needs to be destroyed. But meat that is fresh and has no bad odour can be contaminated. You cannot use smell to tell if meat is contaminated or not.

We don't eat raw chicken, even if it's very fresh, because of the risk of food poisoning from things like campylobacter.

You need to be careful with cooked then chilled rice because of the risk of bacillus cereus. It won't smell bad. It can be an unpleasant food poisoning.

Re: A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

#52
post #37
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. If you aren't careful around chicken it's almost Darwin at work. I assume this is why chicken is usually overcooked in restaurants.

I recently learned that eating raw chicken is possible (Torisashi in Japan).

Torisashi causes a lot of food poisoning.

https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2019/11/study-reviews-campylo...

> Rise in eating raw chicken meat and liver

> Between 1997 and 2018, the number of incidents and patients varied from 257 to 645, and from 1,551 to 3,439, respectively. One large outbreak involved 875 patients and was traced to sushi topped with raw or undercooked chicken at outdoor events in Metropolitan Tokyo and Fukuoka Prefecture in 2016.

> Epidemiological investigations of Campylobacter infections have shown that chicken meat products are the most important source of infection. Consumption of raw chicken meat and liver is not common but has been increasing.

Re: A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My old-aunt (not sure if that is something in English but she was an aunt of my father) and her husband ate only expired food until they died (both over 95, aunt over 100); I was, as a kid, always disgusted as everything you got there was rotten (fruit etc) and/or had mold (bread) ; they just cut it off or even just ate it. Because they had a house close to my uni, I lived with them for a while as a student and it wa…

Fascinating story! Thanks for sharing it. Where would the ice form in your room?

Inside (and outside) of the windows (the entire glass had ice on both sides => no double glazing) and parts of the floor if water flew in before (which it did).

Re: A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My old-aunt (not sure if that is something in English but she was an aunt of my father) and her husband ate only expired food until they died (both over 95, aunt over 100); I was, as a kid, always disgusted as everything you got there was rotten (fruit etc) and/or had mold (bread) ; they just cut it off or even just ate it. Because they had a house close to my uni, I lived with them for a while as a student and it wa…

I can’t speak for all English speakers, but we would call that a great-aunt. Basically any time you go up a generation, you add “great-“ so my grandmother’s grandmother is my great-great-grandmother.

Ah yes ofcourse, thank you, I should've known that.

Re: A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lot of people I know pay more for moldy french cheese. It obviously does not work for all cheeses, but for most you can just cut it off.

The rule of thumb I've picked up somewhere is that for hard cheese you can just cut mouldy bits off. For soft cheese you should throw it out. This is of course talking about the kind of mould that grows on it while its in your fridge. Not the outer layer some cheeses acquire during production.

The soft cheeses from france are often quite moldy. I'm not a big fan of them but my family eats them ; the moldier and smellier, the better.

Re: A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

#57
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chicken is notorious for developing bad bacteria when it gets old. I know two people who got badly sick from eating chicken, and so they'll never ever eat it again. I like it though, but I'll never eat it past the expiry date. AFAIK if meat products start smelling, especially ammonium, then it's time to ditch it.

Our dog once ate some bad meat and got sick. Since then we’ve used her nose to tell us of questionable meat is bad or not. If she will eat it, it’s okay. So far she hasn’t lead us astray.

My dog has a great nose and loves to dig up the nuts squirrels bury in our yard for a snack. But he also eats cat poop so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t speak for all English speakers, but we would call that a great-aunt. Basically any time you go up a generation, you add “great-“ so my grandmother’s grandmother is my great-great-grandmother.

Ah yes ofcourse, thank you, I should've known that.

Or 'grand-' as in 'grand-aunt', 'grand-mother' etc. Which sounds better, more 'grand' :)

Re: A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

#59

My Dad used to recommend removing mold from food. Said they used to do it when he was growing up. My sister the Nurse suggested "Dad, in the old days, people used to die for no reason." So I don't eat moldy stuff any more.

My old-aunt (not sure if that is something in English but she was an aunt of my father) and her husband ate only expired food until they died (both over 95, aunt over 100); I was, as a kid, always disgusted as everything you got there was rotten (fruit etc) and/or had mold (bread) ; they just cut it off or even just ate it. Because they had a house close to my uni, I lived with them for a while as a student and it wa…

Hey me too! Used to have ice on the inside of my windows every morning in the winter, in my corner bedroom in our Iowa farmhouse. Before remodelling to a ranch-style, it was 2-story with no heat whatsoever in the upstairs where the kids' bedrooms were. We slept 3 to a bed with huge comforters. Even after the remodel, still ice on the windows. No heat got to my corner of the house.

And cold water - got a water heater (I don't remember when) but not enough capacity for 8 people. As a child I resisted bathing as long as I could get away with it. As a youngest, I was last in line for the hot water.

But not so much with the food. Iowa farm - always good fresh food available. So that was fine.

Re: A disturbing Twinkie that has, so far, defied science

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mold on meat == bad? Not entirely. I'm fine and I've on occasion and unintentionally eaten moldy beef jerky. Probably the water content determined mold strain prevalence.

That's mold on a preserve. It's a completely different ecosystem. My personal theory is the stuff that kills us, usually will also kill an animal, so the really deadly fungi and bacteria usually don't form until after the animal has died and the immune system has stopped functioning. That's why raw meat from a fresh kill is generally safe but if the meat is left alone for too long it becomes poisonous.

I think you're basically right. Many of the major foodborne pathogens are mammal or vertebrate-specific.

Given a choice, I'd eat a pound of grapes rotten to a mush before I ate a bite of green raw chicken.

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