Active Low-Carber Forums
Atkins diet and low carb discussion provided free for information only, not as medical advice.
Home Plans Tips Recipes Tools Stories Studies Products
Active Low-Carber Forums
A sugar-free zone


Welcome to the Active Low-Carber Forums.
Support for Atkins diet, Protein Power, Neanderthin (Paleo Diet), CAD/CALP, Dr. Bernstein Diabetes Solution and any other healthy low-carb diet or plan, all are welcome in our lowcarb community. Forget starvation and fad diets -- join the healthy eating crowd! You may register by clicking here, it's free!

Go Back   Active Low-Carber Forums > Main Low-Carb Diets Forums & Support > Low-Carb Studies & Research / Media Watch > Low-Carb War Zone
User Name
Password
FAQ Members Calendar Search Gallery My P.L.A.N. Survey


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1   ^
Old Fri, Mar-01-24, 08:09
Calianna's Avatar
Calianna Calianna is online now
Senior Member
Posts: 1,900
 
Plan: Atkins-ish (hypoglycemia)
Stats: 000/000/000 Female 63
BF:
Progress: 50%
Default Scientists assess the safety of plant-based meat products

Quote:
Researchers in Germany have provided an initial evaluation into the microbial quality of plant-based “meat.”

The microbiological status of 10 raw plant-based ground meat products was assessed. Items produced by different companies made from soy, pea, oats, or wheat were obtained in 2021 from Kiel, northern Germany stores.

Total bacterial counts at the end of the best-before dates varied. No Listeria monocytogenes colonies were obtained, but other Listeria species were detected and found in the Journal of Consumer Protection and Food Safety study.

The increased consumption of plant-based products is an ongoing consumer trend. Plant-based meat analogs generally have lower microbial loads than their meat equivalents, but they are not sterile products, so refrigerated storage is essential to limit microbial growth.

Meat analogs are produced from plant-based protein raw materials, amongst which products made from soy, wheat, or pea currently dominate. Plant-based meat analogs are high in protein and water activity with weakly acidic pH, so they are at risk of microbial spoilage by various microorganisms, depending on storage conditions.

Production of meat alternatives includes raw materials, food additives, and/or processing aids, as well as processes such as extrusion, which involves a heating step.

The study detected low levels of enterobacteria, enterococci, presumptive Bacillus cereus, Listeria spp., and Staphylococcus aureus.

Survival and recontamination issues

Spore-forming bacteria, such as Bacillus cereus or Clostridium perfringens, from the raw materials may survive heating during the extrusion process and germinate in the extruded product.

Most of the bacteria that comprised the total aerobic plate count in the frozen product were presumably Bacillus cereus.

“Assuming that the product was immediately frozen after production and a heating step was employed during production, this may imply that spores of these bacteria possibly survived the heating step,” said scientists.

Scientists said the detected Listeria and presumptive Staphylococcus aureus probably stemmed from recontamination and highlighted the need for adequate processing hygiene.

Vegan ground meat analogs are not intended to be eaten raw. However, it is not easy for consumers to judge whether they have been sufficiently heated, as unlike meat, the color of products does not change.

Results showed contamination of vegan ground meat products by pathogenic bacteria can be a potential safety concern.

“The detection of presumptive Bacillus cereus and the isolation of various Clostridium species from these products indicates that spore-formers may have survived the food processing and, therefore, could pose a safety concern, which should be assessed in further studies,” according to the report.


https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024...-meat-products/
Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
  #2   ^
Old Sat, Mar-02-24, 05:03
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 14,684
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/130/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 129%
Location: USA
Default

I've gotten more sensitive to contamination danger. Got a meat thermometer. Eat a whole chicken within four days.

I buy my greens from small producers, especially local farms. The shorter the chain, the less chance of something happening. And discovered that they keep much better than the mass-produced bags.

From the article, undercooking is at least as real a danger. And what, it doesn't brown up? What slice of monster are they offering here?
Reply With Quote
  #3   ^
Old Sat, Mar-02-24, 19:37
Calianna's Avatar
Calianna Calianna is online now
Senior Member
Posts: 1,900
 
Plan: Atkins-ish (hypoglycemia)
Stats: 000/000/000 Female 63
BF:
Progress: 50%
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by WereBear
I've gotten more sensitive to contamination danger. Got a meat thermometer. Eat a whole chicken within four days.

I buy my greens from small producers, especially local farms. The shorter the chain, the less chance of something happening. And discovered that they keep much better than the mass-produced bags.

From the article, undercooking is at least as real a danger. And what, it doesn't brown up? What slice of monster are they offering here?


LOL! I'm picturing Frankenstein's monster, only in slices!

But seriously - this is an article about German made vegan "meat", so maybe theirs don't get brown.

I saw a video a few days ago of someone grilling burgers - they prepared all three the same way, and were comparing before/after, and flavor/texture of real hamburgers to the two vegan fake meat burgers that are available in the US.

All three browned up on the outside - and one brand (I don't recall which one) browned all the way through. The other one did not though. And that's kind of disturbing that one of the fake meats didn't brown.


When I was reading that article, I was thinking about how many food recalls we have in this country due to contamination.

Supposedly, ground meat is the most recalled food but what I read did not specify if that was in terms of total weight recalled, or total individual packages for sale recalled, or total number of recalls.

I mostly hear about lettuce recalls, and ready to eat salad or bagged salad recalls, which often end up expanded to all of a certain type of lettuce, usually Romaine.

It makes sense that both ground meat and lettuce have so many recalls - they both involve the original food being chopped up and mixed together with tons of other chopped up pieces of the original food, before finally being packaged and sent to stores. If even one piece of meat along that chopping and mixing procedure is contaminated, it can contaminate all of it.

Surely one thing that the vegan "meats" were hoping to avoid was the potential for the kind of contamination recalls we have with ground meat, but it appears that the vegan products are just as prone to contamination as real meat.

Yet another reason to avoid vegan meats, especially if they don't change color to give you a hint that they're cooked all the way through and are safe to eat.
Reply With Quote
  #4   ^
Old Sun, Mar-03-24, 04:59
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 14,684
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/130/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 129%
Location: USA
Default

The reason they are investing billions in this project are many, especially since it's at a pricier point than actual meat!

But I think a population distribution curve applies to all species, and so the right hand side of our billionaire distribution are also the less intelligent. They see veganism getting "hot" and think it's a profitable market.

They don't know anything but the smart ones have someone do a real analysis. This is just another get rich quick scheme, all about the Tech Bro dream of tech food. Which isn't going to work.

Mother Nature is smarter than all of us.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:51.


Copyright © 2000-2024 Active Low-Carber Forums @ forum.lowcarber.org
Powered by: vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.