What's next for hoarding?

[copyright1997reloaded]

Do you handle the meat?

I've always (well at least for the last 40 years) handled raw meat as if it was full of diseases.
Meat:
E. coli O157:H7"
Salmonella serovars
Shigella
Staphylococcus aureus
Listeria monocytogenes

Poultry:
Salmonellas
Campylobacter
milanotosis

So why would an itty bitty virus be treated any differently? Anytime I touch raw meat/poultry/fish I was my hands or wear plastic gloves and IMMEDIATELY wash any utensil I used with the raw product. Even during cooking, I will toss the thing I am using to cook/flip/etc the meat and use a different plate and different utensil to get the cooked product plated.

 

[Gumby]

I've always (well at least for the last 40 years) handled raw meat as if it was full of diseases.
Meat:
E. coli O157:H7"
Salmonella serovars
Shigella
Staphylococcus aureus
Listeria monocytogenes

Poultry:
Salmonellas
Campylobacter
milanotosis

So why would an itty bitty virus be treated any differently? Anytime I touch raw meat/poultry/fish I was my hands or wear plastic gloves and IMMEDIATELY wash any utensil I used with the raw product. Even during cooking, I will toss the thing I am using to cook/flip/etc the meat and use a different plate and different utensil to get the cooked product plated.

I learned all this working in a restaurant when I was 16. Don't let anything that touched the raw meat touch the cooked meat, including things like the marinade. The young wife thinks I'm a bit obsessive about this. She'll lick the marinade off her fingers after she skewers the chicken that I will then grill. I scold her about it, but that never works.

 

[gwraigty]

On the meat packing labor shortage. Correct me if I am spreading misinformation, but I think the meat packing workers are allowed to quit, citing fear of the virus, and then are able to collect state Unemployment Insurance plus the newly created federal UI of $600 per week, totaling, let's say, $700 per week state, plus the $600 fed, equals $1,300 per week to stay safe at home. Might be making more money, and staying safer, by voluntarily quitting. Can't find detailed info online about this, and there is some confusing rule about having to stop collecting UI if your plant reopens. I would not be too happy about working in a contagious zone, but there has to be a solution to this labor shortage. Maybe this 'Defense Production Act' will have a positive effect on things all around, let's hope.

It may depend on state law, but even though many usual restrictions have been modified, I think the employee still has to be furloughed or laid off to collect unemployment. Quitting is still quitting and disqualifies the employee from unemployment. If I'm not correct, someone feel free to chime in.

This is a serious issue. I read a few articles this morning about the potential meat shortages. Some of the comments under the articles that disturb me the most are from vegans who could care less and think we should all just become vegans. Putting aside what anyone wants, we all need food. The supply chain isn't set up for the entire country to become vegans at once. It wasn't set up for so many people to rely on grocery stores vs. restaurants and school meals at once. Look what happened there.

 

[Sunset]

I learned all this working in a restaurant when I was 16. Don't let anything that touched the raw meat touch the cooked meat, including things like the marinade. The young wife thinks I'm a bit obsessive about this. She'll lick the marinade off her fingers after she skewers the chicken that I will then grill. I scold her about it, but that never works.

Wow.....
I've become more adverse to raw chicken, try to limit my handling of it so will cut up 8 lbs at once rather than 1 lb each time I cook it.
I've even thought maybe I should wear the nitrile gloves so I don't actually touch the chicken.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Wow.....
I've become more adverse to raw chicken, try to limit my handling of it so will cut up 8 lbs at once rather than 1 lb each time I cook it.
I've even thought maybe I should wear the nitrile gloves so I don't actually touch the chicken.

It's one of the reasons I already *had* a bunch of nitrile gloves when covid 19 hit.

 

[MRG]

I've always (well at least for the last 40 years) handled raw meat as if it was full of diseases.
Meat:
E. coli O157:H7"
Salmonella serovars
Shigella
Staphylococcus aureus
Listeria monocytogenes

Poultry:
Salmonellas
Campylobacter
milanotosis

So why would an itty bitty virus be treated any differently? Anytime I touch raw meat/poultry/fish I was my hands or wear plastic gloves and IMMEDIATELY wash any utensil I used with the raw product. Even during cooking, I will toss the thing I am using to cook/flip/etc the meat and use a different plate and different utensil to get the cooked product plated.

So I guess we agree that people can get diseases from improper handling of meat?

I had Salmonella once. Ate a pork tenderloin from The Phoenix in KCMO, six hours later me and a bucket went to the bathroom, two days later I emerged to go to the ER. Spent 3 days in the gastrointestinal unit where they captured and analyzed everything I passed. Fun times.

 

[Gumby]

So I guess we agree that people can get diseases from improper handling of meat?

I believe all the ones listed are bacteria, not viruses. Not sure about Milanotosis

 

[REWahoo]

Not sure about Milanotosis.

I think that's also bacterial. Makes your breath smell like you've been eating Italian food.

 

[Amethyst]

That's so funny! The Old Lady Parade (and some Old Men too) begins around 7:30 a.m. and goes on all morning in my tiny neighborhood. I'm only aware of it, as being the unusual Old Lady who is out tending her yard at that time (which causes much craning of old necks to see if it's actually a resident, not a hired hand, up there on a stepladder, wielding a pruning saw). I can hear squawk-squawk-squawk long before the various little gaggles appear.

I really don't remember this much taking of constitutionals before the shutdowns. I don't know what they did before.

I think the next hoarding items will be walking/tennis shoes. If my neighborhood is any indication, there will be lots of shoes that need replacing before this is over.

.

 

[Amethyst]

Because it is!! I had a summer job as a stocker in the college book warehouse. The warehouse foreman, Mr. Stimmerman, who had once worked as a meat cutter, used to tell us younguns frightening tales of the injuries and infections he saw happen to others. He said that if you ever got the smallest cut while handling raw meat, you had to go and wash your hands like crazy or it would go septic. And chicken (he said) was worse!

I've always (well at least for the last 40 years) handled raw meat as if it was full of diseases.
Meat:
E. coli O157:H7"
Salmonella serovars
Shigella
Staphylococcus aureus
Listeria monocytogenes

Poultry:
Salmonellas
Campylobacter
milanotosis

So why would an itty bitty virus be treated any differently? Anytime I touch raw meat/poultry/fish I was my hands or wear plastic gloves and IMMEDIATELY wash any utensil I used with the raw product. Even during cooking, I will toss the thing I am using to cook/flip/etc the meat and use a different plate and different utensil to get the cooked product plated.

 

[ER Eddie]

On the meat packing labor shortage. Correct me if I am spreading misinformation, but I think the meat packing workers are allowed to quit, citing fear of the virus, and then are able to collect state Unemployment Insurance plus the newly created federal UI of $600 per week, totaling, let's say, $700 per week state, plus the $600 fed, equals $1,300 per week to stay safe at home. Might be making more money, and staying safer, by voluntarily quitting.

I heard the same -- that if employees don't want to return to work, they won't have to. I didn't hear any specifics beyond that, but what you say makes sense (they'll be eligible to collect unemployment).

These are tough jobs. We complain about our white collar work (which is fine, of course, everyone needs to complain now and then), but be glad you don't work in a chicken plant. A guy told a friend he was a "sawhead" down at the chicken plant. "What's a 'sawhead'?" my friend asked. "I saw heads off the chickens," he said. Imagine doing that for a living...

 

[Jerry1]

maybe I should wear the nitrile gloves so I don't actually touch the chicken.

I’ve worn nitrile gloves when prepping meat for many years now. Like copyright97, that’s why I have a lot of gloves on hand. I’ve done pretty good BBQ and all the meat cooking in our house and no one has ever been sick. I take it very serious. Not fanatical, but serious. Clean before prep, clean some during prep and definitely after. Keep raw away from cooked.

I like the gloves so that germs don’t get up in my finger nails. I’ve done way better the last few years (since retirement, go figure) to not bite my nails, but that was a real concern when I started my foray into BBQ.

Personally, I wouldn’t be worried about the virus on any meat that gets cooked. It’s on the surface so even a med rare steak is going to get the surface up to a temp that will kill the virus. Anything ground imho, better get up to 165* throughout.

Plus, this is a virus. I’m completely out of my field here, but doesn’t it need a living organism in order to replicate? I thought it attaches to a cell and goes about replicating with the living cells. I’m guessing that’s hard to do on a dead piece of meat. Seems like any concern would be whether or not the animal could be infected with it before slaughter.

 

[brewer12345]

I wear gloves to handle game meat, and I am weird among my hunting buddies in that I generally won't touch a game animal I have just shot with my bare hands. Generally avoid touching raw meat directly even when it it domesticated. Just good practice.

 

[easysurfer]

I heard the same -- that if employees don't want to return to work, they won't have to. I didn't hear any specifics beyond that, but what you say makes sense (they'll be eligible to collect unemployment).

These are tough jobs. We complain about our white collar work (which is fine, of course, everyone needs to complain now and then), but be glad you don't work in a chicken plant. A guy told a friend he was a "sawhead" down at the chicken plant. "What's a 'sawhead'?" my friend asked. "I saw heads off the chickens," he said. Imagine doing that for a living...

Just saw an article saying that Meat Plant workers my refuse to go to work:

Meat plant employees are among America's most vulnerable workers, and some say they expect staff will refuse to come to work. "All I know is, this is crazy to me, because I can't see all these people going back into work," said Donald, who works at Tyson's Waterloo, Iowa, facility. "I don't think people are going to go back in there."
Donald asked to be referred to by his first name only. He is currently recovering after testing positive for the virus.

"I'm still trying to figure out: What is he going to do, force them to stay open? Force people to go to work?" he asked.

CNN Business has spoken to employees in several Tyson plants who do not want to be named for fear of losing their jobs.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/busi...t-workers-reaction-executive-order/index.html

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Just saw an article saying that Meat Plant workers my refuse to go to work:


https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/busi...t-workers-reaction-executive-order/index.html

Pay enough money, people will work there. Even with the risk. Especially if they are young & healthy.

I think an approach that rewards people for taking the risk is about the best we can hope for. Keeping a significant portion of the processing plants closed will result in protein shortages, and when people even think they will end up starving, that would not be a good thing.

What seem about a million years ago (near the beginning of this thing), I warned about the food distribution and transportation system. Now we are here.

 

[Amethyst]

My goodness, I wouldn't touch any wild animal without gloves, any more than I would eat their meat raw (I am sure you know how to prepare it so it is safe). It is my impression that they all carry parasites, poor things.

I wear gloves to handle game meat, and I am weird among my hunting buddies in that I generally won't touch a game animal I have just shot with my bare hands. Generally avoid touching raw meat directly even when it it domesticated. Just good practice.

 

[brewer12345]

My goodness, I wouldn't touch any wild animal without gloves, any more than I would eat their meat raw (I am sure you know how to prepare it so it is safe). It is my impression that they all carry parasites, poor things.

Apparently venison carpacchio is safe to eat. I will not be finding out.

 

[Pellice]

I think they aren't being offered the amount of protection that we are assuming here. I don't think they are being offered enough protective gear, enough testing, and enough spacing. From the article cited by Easy Surfer:

For years, major meat processors have been ruthlessly tamping down costs and increasing efficiencies. That has contributed to a hazardous working environment even before the coronavirus hit.
Over the years, meat processing companies have been speeding up production lines to process more meat in each facility. Faster lines require more workers who have to stand closer together.

Add to that the president's statement that his executive order will "solve any liability problems." That is not exactly reassuring if you are a worker. If the meat supply is to be stabilized, spend money - probably taxpayer money - on loads of protective gear, very frequent testing, and slower production.

 

[Chuckanut]

I think that's also bacterial. Makes your breath smell like you've been eating Italian food.

Ahhhhh.. What a marvelous odor. I guess every cloud does have a silver lining. Il cibo italiano è il migliore!!! Buon Appetito e Mangiare!!

 

[swakyaby]

A month ago, I ordered a UV sanitizer, designed to sanitize CPAP masks and the humidification chambers. But I really wanted it to sanitize my few N95 masks. Customer service told me yesterday that everyone else has the same idea. The device is back ordered for 6 weeks as the manufacturer can’t keep up with the surge in demand.

 

[audreyh1]

I think they aren't being offered the amount of protection that we are assuming here. I don't think they are being offered enough protective gear, enough testing, and enough spacing.

Yes, I think that the main problem. It is not a safe working environment, and they don’t have the PPE. Which is why there have been large outbreaks at the plants and some workers have died. It’s a very tough situation.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

My goodness, I wouldn't touch any wild animal without gloves, any more than I would eat their meat raw (I am sure you know how to prepare it so it is safe). It is my impression that they all carry parasites, poor things.

As do we. (At least some humans.)

Then again, some of them (parasites) might even be good for us! https://theconversation.com/they-might-sound-gross-but-intestinal-worms-can-actually-be-good-for-you-49868

Intestinal worms are properly called “helminths,” which most dictionaries will tell you are parasites. Exploiting their hosts, draining resources, sucking the life out of the body – that’s what parasites do, by definition. Indeed, many helminths, including the porcine tapeworm and the human hookworm, are known to cause disease and even death in the human population. Parasitic worms are still a big problem in some parts of the world.

But for decades, results coming out of lab after lab have shown that some kinds of helminths can be extremely beneficial to their host, and aren’t parasites at all.

These helpful helminths are mutualists, a type of organism that receives benefits from its host, and also provides benefits to the host.

Hope that makes you feel better!

 

[Calico]

Easy for you to say, not being a meat packing plant worker......

+100

 

[John Galt III]

A bit off topic maybe, but... a poster previous said that the expiration dates are getting better (farther in the future) on fresh food lately. I just looked at the exp date on the fresh pork loin I bought sometime around April 25, and the exp date is May 22, 2020. So that's almost a month of being good in the fridge! Can that be right? It's in a tight vacuum plastic wrap. Google says to consume or freeze pork within 2 days of buying, which can't be right.

 

[W2R]

A bit off topic maybe, but... a poster previous said that the expiration dates are getting better (farther in the future) on fresh food lately. I just looked at the exp date on the fresh pork loin I bought sometime around April 25, and the exp date is May 22, 2020. So that's almost a month of being good in the fridge! Can that be right? I hope so, since I won't have to freeze it.

F has been bringing me cheddar cheese from the grocery store when he goes grocery shopping (with mask, gloves, goggles, and all precautions).

But despite the expiration date in May, these cheeses are all a bit moldy when I get them, an hour or less after purchase. He doesn't intend to bring me slightly moldy cheese but that's what it is. It's not bad, nothing that can't easily be cut off, but still it doesn't look like it would last until mid May either.

My point is that I'd be cautious about expiration dates right now, and maybe it would be best to freeze your pork loin just in case.