Chapter 9

How did the Jack in the Box restaurant chain respond to its outbreak of salmonella?
The Jack in the Box restaurant chain responded to its salmonella outbreak by hiring Jimmy Carter's former press secretary to help control how the public perceives them and a food scientist. The food scientist put in place a number of safety controls, including requiring safety courses, the monitoring of temperatures, the use of tongs when handling hamburger patties, and testing for bacteria. Meat from various meatpacking companies was tested, and companies that shipped bad meat were no longer used.

What kind of things are fed to cattle, things that might facilitate the spread of pathogens?
In the past, cattle were fed pigs, sheep, other deceased cattle, cats, and dogs. Then, after studies from Great Britain suggested these practices caused an outbreak of mad-cow disease, it was made illegal to feed sheep, cattle, dogs, and cats to cattle; and "Americans who spent more than six months in the United Kingdom during the 1980s are now forbidden to donate blood, in order to prevent the spread of BSE's human variant" (Page 202). Dead poultry, pigs, and horses are fed to cattle today; but it is still legal to feed poultry cattle: cattle are being fed poultry that consumed cattle blood. Cattle is also fed chicken manure, which "may contain dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobater, parasites such as tapeworms and Giardia lamblia, antibiotic residues, arsenic, and heavy metals" (Page 203).

What are the advantages and disadvantages of irradiating meat?
Irradiating meat damages the DNA of pathogens, making reproduction impossible; and it makes irradiated foods safe to eat, according to the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization. However, the labor force inside slaughterhouses is mostly comprised of illiterate, poorly-educated non-English speakers, that is, people who you wouldn't want to operate nuclear technology. Furthermore, irradiating meat would encourage the unsafe and unsanitary practices at slaughterhouses and provide a false sense of sanitary security.