Hot Dogs and Lunch Meat sprayed with LIVE VIRUSES?

Question

I just read this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/19/us/19viruses.html

About the FDA approval of spraying of LIVE VIRUSES on processed meat products like hot dogs and lunch meats. I was hoping some friendly Yahoo Answerer could clarify this for me, as it seems that:

1) Viruses are generally bad, are incurable, and spreadable
2) Hot Dogs are consumed within large hubs of civilization (e.g. New York Street vendors.)
3) Viruses tend to MUTATE from time to time.

Now I could be wrong here, and maybe there are some friendly viruses. But isn't there the potential here for something catastrophically bad to happen?

Rich Z - I wish I was making this up, but it's an associate press article posted in the NY Times.

Answer 1

Hate to break it to you, bub, but there is nothing wrong with this practice. Trust me, I'm starting grad school for Epidemiology next year, and have had plenty of classes on the subject. Epidemiology, in case you didn't know, is the study of the spread of disease. Contrary to popular belief, many illnesses, especially foodborne, such as E. Coli outbreaks are caused by bacteria. On the whole, bacteria are harmless, and even crucial for our survival. For instance, E. Coli, which gets a bad rap, is crucial to our digestion. It thrives in the large intestine, adn helps us to break down some of the more difficult compounds. That's neither here, nor there. The point is, most foodborne illnesses come from bacteria, and there are certain kinds of viruses, called bacteriophages that specifically target bacteria. They will not harm humans. They are extremely host specific, and can only reproduce within the specifc bacteria that they target. While it could happen that a potentially harmful strain could evolve, the odds of this occuring are only slightly better than me being declared king of the universe and all around greatest guy EVER. It really is a sound practice, and one that can help to curb the spread of many illnesses. I encourage you to read the wikipedia articles attached. Understanding the mechanics of the organisms involved should help clear things up for you. Besides, once you are done, you'll probably know more about it than 95% of the population. ( I'm very serious about that, if you don't believe me, read the other answers. It works out to around that) I especially encourage you to read the last one, it is very informative. Hope that sheds a little light on why it is done.

PS- Don't listen to papeversomniferum. She's got the facts totally twisted. And Nicholyn- do me a favor: lay off the crack!

Answer 2

" Don't Worry About The Live Viruses; There Is Something Far More Dreadful Than This.

That Is, The Use Of A Growth Factor For Brucellosis, Called Erythritol, A Chemical Substance Used As A Medication, For High Blood Pressure; And To Dilate Blood Vessels.

Compounded, Within All Of The Lunch Meats,
And Hot Dogs Also.

And Just To Make Sure These Things Are Effective; A Little Booster Is Added To The Mix Called Radiation! "

A Glowing Prognosis :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brucellosis

Answer 3

I wasn't able to read the full article. But to me, it sounds like it could be similar to the way vaccines work. The way I understand vaccines to work is that live viruses (that are almost dead) are injected into someone's body. (Or maybe I'm getting viruses and bacteria mixed up). Anyway, vaccines serve to strenghten the immune system.

I'm not a doctor, so I'm not an expert. But if people are wanting to spray live viruses on food, they must have a good reason for it. If you're so panicked, then maybe the NY times is trying to scare people. Make sure you get all the facts (from both sides) before jumping to conclusions.

The only problem I can see with this is that people with extremely weak immune systems might not be able to eat that kind of food. I think that if anyone decides to use viruses like that, they should have a warning label for those people.

Answer 4

I read an article about this in the newspaper either two or three days ago. I find the idea of putting viruses into food very disturbing. I fear that people are not taking this seriously enough. the three points you make are true. Unlike with chemicals, biological organisms are very unpredicable, scientists may think these viruses are safe but you can never be certain. There is definitely potential for very bad things to happen. Sure these viruses are bacterophages, but that doesn't mean such things cannot mutate. its seems unwise to distribute these products to so many people.

Answer 5

In any normal way of using the brain does spraying viruses on meat a good thing. Wow the FDA is slowly but shorly trying to ride the United States of people. Maybe they have some demented way of trying to poison us all. They just added another reason for people to stop eating hotdogs. I don't really care for lunch meat. I don't eat sandwiches othen. Thank God I don't eat em. Thanks for the points.

Answer 6

The viruses they are talking about are a special type of virus called bacteriophages. They attack only certain species of bacteria. They are so diferent from the types of viruses that harm humans that a mutation to something that could hurt us is VERY unlikely.

If you want to do more research about bacteriophages, read this article at wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage

Answer 7

The virus is bacteriophages. The preparation of bacteriophages — the name is from the Greek for “bacteria eater” — attacks only strains of the Listeria bacterium and not human or plant cells, the food agency said. So, People and animals will not get sick, only the bacteria.

Answer 8

When and if I eat processed lunch meat... It is always the best quality and always says "Natural, no preservatives" Like Boars Head. If I ever eat hot dogs, I always rinse them off under cold running water first and then boil the living crap out of them! Nitrates are salt based and kill everything. Not good for you... but they kill harmfull bacteria.

Most bacteria found on live vegetables in even health food stores will actually KILL YOU if you're not carefull. Like the black ooze that grows on produce. A man actually died from eating green onions (which are supposed to be naturally antibiotic) because he didn't rinse them off well enough and the black gooze was all up inside the shaft of the onion.

You can get sick from not preparing anything correctly... Bacteria exists. Most of it wont kill you. but the naturally occuring kind when left unchecked can.

I left a bag of bread up on my fridge and it turned to mold and when I found it (behind a cereal box) almost everything that was not well sealed and close enough to it, in the entire kitchen had mold on and in it including the flour! (Which is quite dangerous if left unchecked) a kid just recently died from eating old pancake mix)

You can't pick on just hotdogs... Everything is potentially harmfull if your not carefull! and I am a neat freak germaphobe.
Im not going to stop eating just because of some bacteria.

Answer 9

well i'm thinking that they may not be live viruses, sort of in the way that they make booster shots, by injecting the dead virus into our sytem, and then letting your bodies create a defence for it, so that the next time that particular virus (live ones of course) enters our system our bodies will remember how to fight it

Answer 10

These are bacteriophages that kill harmful bacteria to prevent it causing food poisoning. They are calling them viruses for want of a proper name, but they eat bacteria