A USDA explainer: beef grading is voluntary and paid for by the plant, and Prime, Choice and Select differ in marbling but not in protein, vitamin or mineral content. It also covers cooking corned beef and why packaged ground beef is red outside and grayish-brown inside.
Section archive
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Food Safety
Contaminants, chemicals, genetically engineered food and what is really in the food supply.
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Food Safety FAQ
Basics About Beef - 1
A Q&A on E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef: the bacteria survive refrigeration and freezing and multiply slowly at temperatures as low as 44 degrees F, and scientists believe a small number can cause serious illness. Thorough cooking to 160 degrees F kills them.
Food Safety FAQ
Basics About Bacon
A USDA question-and-answer sheet defines bacon as cured pork belly, sets out how Canadian and turkey bacon must be labeled, and gives storage limits: one week in the refrigerator at 40 degrees F, one month frozen at 0 degrees F.
Biological
Eggs: Reducing the Risk of Illness from Salmonella
A CDC epidemiologist explains that Salmonella can live on and inside normal-looking eggs, and advises refrigerating eggs at or below 40F, washing hands and surfaces after contact with raw eggs, discarding cracked or dirty ones, and cooking eggs thoroughly.
Chemical
Dietary cholesterol, egg intake not associated with heart risk (PR)
At Experimental Biology 2011, speakers reviewed evidence that saturated fat may raise blood cholesterol more than dietary cholesterol does, and said major epidemiological studies do not link higher dietary cholesterol intake to coronary heart disease. The release comes from the egg industry.
Chemical
Coffee in capsules contains more furan than the rest (PR)
University of Barcelona researchers measured furan, listed as a possible human carcinogen, across brewing methods and found the highest levels in one well-known brand's capsules at 117 to 244 ng/ml, against 43 to 146 for espresso and 20 to 78 for drip. All stayed within safe limits.
Biological
Egg safety
Cook scrambled eggs until firm and fried, poached or boiled eggs until white and yolk are set; egg casseroles should reach 160 degrees F. Homemade ice cream and eggnog are safe made with a cooked egg-milk mixture or pasteurized eggs, which can also replace raw eggs in uncooked recipes.
Biological
Egg Storage Chart
A refrigerator and freezer storage chart for eggs and egg products: raw shell eggs keep 3 to 5 weeks refrigerated and should not be frozen in the shell, raw whites keep 2 to 4 days or 12 months frozen, and hard-cooked eggs keep a week and do not freeze.
Biological
Storage times for food
A USDA chart of safe refrigerator and freezer times: 3 to 5 days for egg, chicken, ham and tuna salads, 1 to 2 days for ground meat and raw poultry, 3 to 4 days for leftovers. Freezer limits cover quality only, since frozen food stays safe indefinitely.
Biological
Spring Traditions: Serving Brisket Safely
USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline advises refrigerating fresh brisket 3 to 5 days, allowing several days to thaw a 10-pound cut, cooking it covered 2 to 3 hours to a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees, and resting it 20 minutes before slicing across the grain.
GMO
GMOs Linked to Organ Disruption in 19 Studies
Reviewing 19 animal feeding studies, Gilles-Eric Séralini and colleagues report that 9 percent of measured parameters differed significantly in rats and mice fed GM corn or soy, with male kidneys and female livers most affected. The paper ran in Environmental Sciences Europe.
GMO
The US is mobilizing against GMOs!
A non-GMO campaign update: rallies across the US, a call to join the Non-GMO Tipping Point Network and its local working groups, speaker training workshops and webinars, and a donation appeal that Nutiva will match up to $10,000 for April.
Chemical
Canned food, packaged foods are major sources for BPA and phthalates
Twenty people from five families cut urinary BPA by 66% and DEHP metabolites by 53 to 56% during three days of eating fresh food instead of their usual canned and packaged meals, Silent Spring Institute researchers found. Maximum reductions reached 76% and 93 to 96%.
Chemical
Radioactive material from Japan found in drinking water in Idaho and Washington
EPA's RadNet found about 0.2 picocuries per litre of iodine-131 in drinking water at Boise and Richland, consistent with releases from Fukushima. An infant would need nearly 7,000 litres to match one day of natural background dose; EPA expects similar results in coming weeks.
GMO
Scientists Vigorously Objected to This Food - Are You Eating It?
Mercola interviews Philip Bereano, a University of Washington professor emeritus and anti-GMO activist, who argues that in academic usage safe means only an acceptable level of risk, and that no valid risk assessments or real health research have been done on engineered foods.
Chemical
Victoria Inness-Brown’s Aspartame Experiment
Mercola interviews Victoria Inness-Brown about the two-and-a-half-year home experiment in which she gave animals aspartame-laced liquid comparable to diet soda. She says the Bressler report's mention of DKP tumors prompted her to look for and photograph tumors herself.
Chemical
FDA: Radiation and Food Safety
In an FAQ on the Japan nuclear accident, FDA says current information shows no risk to the US food supply, that it is collecting data on food products exported from Japan, and that it may add targeted sampling at the border. It screens all import entries electronically.
Biological
Sprouts: What You Should Know
Sprouts carry a foodborne illness risk because seeds germinate in the warm, humid conditions bacteria favor, and at least 30 outbreaks, mostly Salmonella and E. coli, have been traced to them since 1996. Home sprouting is no safer; FDA tells at-risk groups to avoid raw sprouts.
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