Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

AutoModerator t1_itnhy5o wrote

Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are now allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will continue to be removed and our normal comment rules still apply to other comments.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

vainomainen t1_itnmo2q wrote

Not clear from the synopsis, but is this primarily pre sliced and packaged, or is this say sliced at your local grocery store/deli? Or do both options have approximately equal rates?

62

cbbuntz t1_itnpy5j wrote

Listeria is not something you want. Anything that causes brain damage terrifies me

46

TooSmalley t1_itnq67i wrote

The article mentions Ready-to-Eat (RTE)

The usda defines RTE as

> Ready-to-Eat (RTE) meat and poultry products are products that are safe to eat without additional preparation, although they may receive additional preparation (for example, reheating) for a better taste or appearance. This category may include frozen meat and poultry products. Some examples of RTE products are hot dogs, luncheon meats, cold cuts, fermented or dry sausage, and other deli-style meat and poultry.

I assume that means both.

46

nikon_guy87 t1_itnrsya wrote

Seriously though, can listerene prevent listeria? I see these TikTok’s about NyQuil chicken, I’m assuming to kill the Quilla bacteria .. why not listerene deli meats to cure the listeria..

−17

oodelay t1_itntejk wrote

Gabagool Iz no good for you

14

thudslife t1_itnuhef wrote

If the color changed dont eat it. It last like 4 or 5 days in your fridge

0

SpectralMagic t1_itnvx3k wrote

genius! It might also work to put super delicious cuts of the meat in the package alongside the terrible meat since the viruses only eat the good stuff :brain: Youd have unspoiled terrible regular deli cuts all to yourself

2

rabb1thole t1_itnzlxa wrote

One of my first jobs was in a grocery store deli. Worked there for a little over a year. In the decades since, i have never purchased deli meat or cheese.

20

rabb1thole t1_ito02me wrote

From the article: "The study found that after deli meat at more than 90 percent and RTE salads at just less than 5 percent, soft and semi-soft cheese and RTE seafood accounted for 0.5 to 1.0 percent of listeriosis cases. Lastly, frozen vegetables accounted for 0.2 to 0.3 percent of cases." tl;dr--the RTE reference pertains to salads.

21

rabb1thole t1_ito7hvg wrote

Sorry. Yes. None of this applies to a real deli, this was a mass supermarket deli. Deli meats and cheeses don't move very quickly. When the cut edge started showing its age, store managers had us slice off the end so it looked fresh. We were told to ignore expiration dates. By we, high school students. Too young to understand how wrong that was. I quit when my manager took a stack of brand name frozen pizzas that had expired dates on the boxes, removed the pizzas, and told us rewrap and sell them with deli stickers. Salads in the cases were also recycled. The old was always scooped ontop of the new so it would move first. However, there was no tracking how long a salad was kept. On the plus side, hot foods were prepared daily and not kept over, so at least there's that. Now a warehouse like Costco has enough volume I am sure so things like this would not be an issue. But your local grocery store, not so much. And that would be my advice: keep an eye on the customers getting deli meats and cheese where you shop. If the deli is busy, great. If not, maybe don't chance it.

19

wthulhu t1_ito9pyl wrote

I can't speak to the study, but I can speak from personal experience working 10 years in restaurants from 2009 to 2019. One place I worked only bought whole meats (pastrami, roast beef, turkey, etc) and sliced portions per order at order and rewrapped the slab. We almost never had waste or spoilage.

Two places bought pre sliced, pre packaged meats. Once the packaging was open the clock ran out in roughly 24 hours before it turned.

I honestly think this has something to do with surface area exposed to potential contaminants, possibly also related is the thickness of the meat. Recall that steak can be served rare but hamburger shouldn't, due to the bacteria being unable to get into the meat.

35

MikeUlul t1_itociqj wrote

If you go to a place that appears to not stringently practice food safety standards then I'd walk out even when faced with the unpleasant experience of short term hunger.

I rather not be food poisoned.

2

nottu77 t1_itoih93 wrote

I’m currently in a management role with a large grocery chain, any associate caught doing any of that would be terminated immediately. Food safety is the largest issue that is constantly monitored followed very closely by personal safety. Not saying it’s impossible but very improbable, at least in my experience.

37

UI_Tyler t1_itoslwx wrote

Any chain is scrutinized more heavily has more policy on this type of stuff. I've definitely seem mom and pop grocery stores in small towns do this stuff. Everything they throw away is money out of their pockets.

15

dasoupy1 t1_itpeh5u wrote

Is this more to do with storage of say a sandwich with deli meat on it. I know a many people don’t keep sandwiches under 40° until they are consumed.

2

candle340 t1_itpgsln wrote

I’m a deli worker in a regional chain, and it’s the same here. Dates and temps are tracked rigorously - fudging them is one of the surefire ways to get fired. We also clean our in-use slicers every 4hrs, per OSHA standard and scrub our floor every night with an anti-listeria cleaner

17

TossAwayGay92 t1_itpsh1f wrote

This study brought to you by Blue Bunny™️.

2

candle340 t1_itpsvmo wrote

Color change isn’t always a good indicator - exposed ham and bologna will pale/turn grey in a relatively short time just from light. Instead, rely more on smell/texture. If it smells bad/rancid or is slimy, it’s best to toss it. Most cold cut meats will last between 3-5 days in your fridge, but can last longer or shorter depending on the quality of the meat and how cold your fridge is. Salami and pepperoni often last up to two weeks. Soft or semi-soft cheeses should be consumed within a week of being opened - and sooner is better for processed cheeses. Hard cheeses (no processed cheddars and Italians like parmesan and Romano) do last longer, though, and it’s often enough to trim away any moldy bits.

5

Electr_O_Purist t1_itqbjvz wrote

Just another reason to cease eating corpses.

−3

sonoma95436 t1_itqedad wrote

White cheese especially the Mexican white cheese caused lots of outbreaks in Southern California over the last few decades.

−1

SAI_Peregrinus t1_itqs40r wrote

To quote the bottle: "If more than is used for rinsing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact a poison control center right away."

You really don't want to be consuming it. Washing or soaking food in Listerine is a bad idea.

2

saiyaniam t1_itqvt61 wrote

A steak is clean on the inside but needs cooking on the outside. So the middle can be rare but not the outside. Grinded meat takes the outside bacteria into the meat, And needs to be cooked all the way through. I think this may only be true for beef? Idk about other meats.

3

onioning t1_itr2yqh wrote

It's going to be substantially higher risk when sliced at a store instead of a processing facility. Any USDA inspected facility must be taking many actions to combat listeria. There's oodles of environmental and product testing. Strict sanitation through the use of "clean rooms." None of that happens at a grocer, and honestly most don't even come especially close to meeting the much more permissive local codes.

1

Diztrakted t1_its5vf7 wrote

666 likes? I ain't touching that.

1

HazardVG t1_itscdm9 wrote

It wasn't clear so I had to dig through it and the study didn't specify either. tl;dr it's mostly meat cut at the deli counter.
From one of the linked studies it mentions:
> RESULTS
This risk assessment, using current retail contamination data for deli meat (Draughon, 2006) and current consumer behavior data for deli meats (Cates et al., 2006) indicates that of those listeriosis cases and deaths attributed to deli meats, approximately 83% are associated with deli meats sliced at retail. The estimated mean number of deaths per year from L. monocytogenes in retail-sliced deli meats was 166.9 (95% CI: 164.5 – 169.3). In contrast, the estimated mean number of deaths from prepackaged product was 34.1 (95% CI: 33.4 – 34.9). Similarly, 919.6 (906.8-932.4) illnesses were attributed to retail-sliced product while 188.6 (184.7-192.4) illnesses were attributed to prepackaged product. Of the four categories of RTE deli meat, most of the predicted deaths were attributed to retail sliced product (which had a higher starting concentration) without growth inhibitor (which allowed for greater growth rates). Almost 70% of all predicted deaths fell into this category. The results illustrate the significant interaction between slicing location and use of growth inhibitor. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the percentage of deaths attributed to retail-sliced deli meats was not appreciably affected by consumer storage time, product shelf life, or total number of deaths.
CONCLUSIONS
Of those illnesses and deaths from L. monocytogenes from deli meat consumption, approximately 83% are attributed to deli meat sliced and packaged at retail facilities (Endrikat et al., 2010). The remainder is from prepackaged deli meat. Similar results were obtained by Pradhan et al. (2010) in a study that compared the risk of listeriosis in both retail-sliced and prepackaged ham and turkey. Studies are needed to determine how contamination of deli meat at retail occurs and to design effective interventions for reducing listeriosis associated with the consumption of deli meat sliced at retail.<

1