E. Coli Gourmet, Anyone?

CEBU, Philippines -    All this time you may have been feasting on E. Coli gourmet in barbecue, steak, burger and even spaghetti. Food safety is a serious public issue but nobody seems to care until you end up in the toilet, in the hospital or in the grave. E. Coli is no beast but contaminates with beastly hideousness.

As sophisticated as its name, Escherichia Coli, sophisticated cooking may not spare anyone from E. Coli contamination on processed, fresh or frozen meat products especially pork meat. Because E. Coli is such a nifty, tiny bacteria, people generally think of it as harmless. It normally breeds in the intestines of animals and can be transferred to humans from the meat of animals and through contamination through food preparation.

Chain of contamination

A recent study by food technologists in Cebu City has shown that meats sold in local markets are contaminated with E. Coli. Since results of the study were released just this week, there is no telling how long people in Cebu have been eating contaminated meat all this time. From hotels, to restaurants, to fastfood chains, to kitchens and dining tables in your homes, to the barbecue vendors on the sidewalk, no one knows the scale that E. Coli bacteria maybe breeding in your stomachs and included in your gourmet dish all this while. And how about those parties, weddings and seminars where food was supplied by catering services. There is no telling where caterers secured meat they used. All these are potential sources of contamination.

It took disheartened meat traders to commission food technologists in checking bacteria presence on local meats. Had these traders not been so disheartened, would the nauseating realities have been known? It smells nauseating.

Clean conscience, clean hands, clean food

Food safety is the discipline on handling, preparation and storage of food in ways that prevent food borne diseases. It guarantees and assures that food will not cause harm to consumers when prepared or eaten. Meat traders cited only Administrative Order 22 or regulations on the handling of imported meat products as a component of food safety. Yet there is RA 3720 where it is the policy of the state to ensure safe food to protect the health of the consumer. Likewise, RA 7394 seeks to protect consumers from unsafe products.

In the Philippines, food borne diseases or diarrheal diseases are reported to be the ninth cause of morbidity affecting 1,000 per 100,000 population. It was found that 79 percent of food borne illnesses in 1996 occurred while in the workplace, parties and wedding or outside the home.

Thing is, no matter how antiseptic clean your kitchen is, if the meat you purchased was raised or slaughtered in dirty conditions, E. Coli is still there for the taking. Handling and selling are just the final stages in the food chain. It all begins with how these animals were raised, slaughtered, handled or stored. Farmers, animal raisers and the government have a hand in all these.

If those involved in the food industry had a clean conscience, they know how to breed and handle animals safe for human consumption. Authorities can also come clean in regulating meats sold for human use. Otherwise the next time steak is served, it is certain you can’t miss E. Coli. (FREEMAN)