Offshoot Question Regarding Salmonella

[Porthos]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this or not. I thought salmonella was killed if the meat with the salmonella was properly and thoroughly cooked. Am I mistaken?

[gfweb]

Yes, but the temp must be fairly high. Medium or higher. Not all toxins are killed by heat though.

Why do you ask?

[Porthos]

The local major news station has been talking about a salmonella outbreak the started in March and the producer is only now being identified. The tainted product is ground turkey. Since they are identifying it specifically as a strain of salmonella the question of correct preparation to avoid the resulting food poisoning came to mind as I drove home this afternoon. The advice being given is to return the product or throw it away. I just wondered (and I have no ground turkey in the freezer at the moment) if throwing it away was really necessary or if it would be safe if thoroughly cooked. I'm only looking for info for myself.

[gfweb]

Chuck it. Salmonella sucks.

[Lisa Shock]

Not only would it need to be tossed, anything it came in contact with (refrigerator shelves, countertops, etc.) needs to be carefully disinfected.

The issue is much broader than looking at getting the meat to 167° and cooking it at that temperature for 10+ minutes -and being absolutely certain about it. Presumably the ground turkey was sold with some sort of wrapper on it. To attempt to cook it, one would have to handle and remove the wrapper safely and then discard the wrapper properly -isolating it from further human contact. Just unwrapping the meat could cause tiny bits to fly around the room and infect other foods/surfaces or even into the open mouth of a bystander.

Also, one has to consider that the wrapper may not have been entirely intact. A tiny tear could have infected all sorts of things, causing a lot of trouble even if the original meat isn't consumed.

The stuff should be tossed ASAP.

[Porthos]

Thank you both for the feedback.