C hlorine
population, in contrast to the European Union's "Museum
wash
M e at
talk
Does chlorine destory or hide pathogens like E. coli?
of Agriculture."
We all drink it
With chlorine, in the USA farms are allowed to dip or wash chicken carcasses in water containing chlorine
S
dioxide in order to kill potentially harmful organisms such
o, what’s the deal with chlorine. Millions drink
as E coli, Campylobacter and Salmonella on the surface
chlorinated water every day without dying.
of the meat.
Americans eat around 150 million chickens a week
that have been treated without dying. Disagreements over poultry safety standards stem from a fundamental divide in how the US and EU have
The process is known as pathogen reduction treatment (PRT) in the industry. Is it safe using PRT treatment? According to numerous US university studies, the
tackled food regulation. The EU operates on the basis
answer is yes. For example, Mohamed Badaoui Najjar and
of the precautionary principle, preferring not to permit
Jianghong Meng of the University of Maryland wrote a
untested methods. The US is less interventionist, only
research paper entitled ‘Risk assessment of disinfection
forbidding processes that do demonstrable harm.
byproducts in poultry chilled in chlorinated water.’
This difference can be seen easily in how vitamins and
The two researchers found: “Chlorine is a common
health foods are sold in the USA and Europe. While in the
disinfectant used in water treatment and food processing
USA, you can buy tablets with mega doses of Vitamin C
worldwide. It is very effective to destroy foodborne
or E for example, those sizes are not permitted in the EU
pathogens such as Salmonella and Campylobacter
since it would say mega doses have not been proven to
that are frequently present in poultry products. Efficacy
be effective nor have they been proven to be not harmful.
of chlorine in killing microorganisms and preventing
There is nothing stopping anyone, however, from buying
contamination/recontamination depends highly on
numerous bottles of approved-size vitamins and taking as
concentrations and acidic pH.
many as desired. In the States, the government’s attitude is: If you want
“Chlorination of water in chiller at 50 ppm in poultry process has proven to be an effective method in reducing
to take 50 times the daily recommended amount of
microbial contamination, thereby improving microbial
Vitamin C, we are not going to stop you.
safety of poultry products.
meatpacking.info
March~April 2019
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