Food but not recipes

[John Thomas8]

[tek]

I started to watch that, but I just couldn't take the host yelling his commentary.

[Suranis]

Not sure what thread this would go in...

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/23/health/b ... index.html

FDA finds traces of H5N1 bird flu viruses in grocery store milk but says pasteurized dairy products are still safe

By Brenda Goodman, CNN

The US Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it had detected viral particles of H5N1 avian influenza in milk purchased at grocery stores, but the agency says it still believes that the milk is safe to drink.

In an update about an ongoing outbreak of bird flu in cattle, the FDA noted that it believes the viral particles were detected by highly sensitive lab tests and are likely to have been remnants of viruses killed during the pasteurization process. The agency said that it does not think it is likely that the particles would able to infect people but it is conducting additional tests to be completely sure.

The FDA said these egg inoculation tests are “a gold-standard” for determining whether a virus is still viable and able to infect people.

“To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe. Results from multiple studies will be made available in the next few days to weeks,” the agency said.

Dr. Eric Topol, founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said the finding of viral particles in milk on grocery store shelves means the outbreak is probably more widespread than we’ve known.

“The dissemination to cows is far greater than we have been led to believe,” Topol said in an email Tuesday.

“The FDA assurance that the dairy supply is safe is nice, but it’s not based on extensive assessment yet, which they acknowledge, and won’t engender trust and confidence because it comes in the wake of USDA mishandling,” he added.

The US Department of Agriculture confirmed in late March that it had detected highly pathogenic avian influenza in dairy cows in Texas and Kansas, which was the first time a virus that has been decimating bird populations around the globe had shown up in cattle. Since then, infected cows have been confirmed in more than 30 farms across eight states. Scientists have said the USDA is sharing too little information about the virus and too slowly.

The infected cows stopped eating as much as they usually did, and their milk became thickened and discolored. Veterinarians running tests on the animals found that the milk was teeming with the virus, although samples from their lungs didn’t show much evidence of infection, leading the doctors to believe that the animals’ mammary glands were directly infected, perhaps through shared milking equipment.

Researchers are still trying to determine how cows initially became infected and how the virus is spreading between animals.

Cats that have lived on the same farms as infected cows have died, perhaps after exposure to their milk.

The FDA said Tuesday that milk from sick cows is being “diverted or destroyed,” while milk sold in interstate commerce is being pasteurized, a process that heats it briefly to kill microbes.

“Even if virus is detected in raw milk, pasteurization is generally expected to eliminate pathogens to a level that does not pose a risk to consumer health,” the FDA stated.

The agency said 99% of milk in the commercial supply comes from farms that follow the pasteurized milk ordinance, “which includes controls that help ensure the safety of dairy products.” However, it noted that pasteurization doesn’t render milk completely sterile.

For that reason, it has been running tests on milk samples collected at grocery stores across the country. It is also collaborating with the food safety group at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The FDA has long recommended that consumers not drink unpasteurized or raw milk because of the possibility that it may harbor germs that can pose serious health risks.

So far, efforts to track the spread of the current oubreak have relied on voluntary reporting.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service keeps a list of diseases that are required to be reported in animals. Although avian influenza, or bird flu, is required to be reported in poultry and wild birds, reporting is not required in cattle.

“No one ever thought it was going to be in cows,” said Dr. Richard Webby, director of the World Health Organization’s coordinating center for studies on the ecology of influenza at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

“You wouldn’t even think of an H5N1 in cows being something you’d ever have to worry about, and I think that’s where it’s fallen through the cracks a little bit.”

More at the link.

[AndyinPA]

This isn't exactly food, but it's not recipes.

I am thinking about changing my gas cooktop to an induction cooktop. My main concern is that I like being able to cook when there is an electrical outage, but that's not a real frequent problem. Some of my pots and pans are induction safe; most are not. Any opinions?

[zekeb]

This isn't exactly food, but it's not recipes.

I am thinking about changing my gas cooktop to an induction cooktop. My main concern is that I like being able to cook when there is an electrical outage, but that's not a real frequent problem. Some of my pots and pans are induction safe; most are not. Any opinions?

It's not a matter of being induction safe. It must be induction compatible. The base must be made of a ferrous material or the magnetic field will not induce heat into the base. Throw out your cookware that has a copper or aluminum base. It will not work with an induction range.

[RTH10260]

I understand that to be most effective the walls of the pans should be ferreous material, not just the bottom. induction-compatible (likely only the bottom) will not take advantage of the physics of heating the contents.

[zekeb]

With gas or electric you can look at the burner and determine somewhat just how much heat you are applying to the pan. Induction gives no visible clue, other than looking at the dial setting. It seems to me that there'd be a learning curve involved. If anyone here is using induction, I'd like to know how the switch to induction went.

[northland10]

Are woks out with induction?

[Maybenaut]

With gas or electric you can look at the burner and determine somewhat just how much heat you are applying to the pan. Induction gives no visible clue, other than looking at the dial setting. It seems to me that there'd be a learning curve involved. If anyone here is using induction, I'd like to know how the switch to induction went.

We have induction at our home and at the cabin. I’ve been cooking on induction since 2013. There is a learning curve, but it’s no steeper than any other change in what you cook on and what you cook with. Even with gas or electric, how fast or slow a particular pot or pan is going to heat up will depend not just on the stove, but on the pan.

I think the side walls of a pot only matter to the extent that they do a better job conducting the heat from the bottom, but so so long as the bottom is ferrous, your pan will work. Don’t know? Stick a magnet on it; the better it sticks, the better it will work. I have All-Clad D3 pots at the cabin and D5 pots it home. They work great on induction. But you don’t have to go high-end - so long as it’s ferrous - most new pans will tell you on the packaging if it will work on induction. Also - cast iron - OMG - perfection (just be super careful setting it on the stove top).

As for the stoves, You don’t have to go high-end in those, either. They are more spendy than a regular electric range, but most brand have some that are reasonable. We went high-end at home (Bosch drop-in countertop over a built-in wall oven), mid-range at the cabin (Frigidaire slide-in range). Love them both! They use less electricity than a conventional stove so they’re better for the environment. And now they’re saying you shouldn’t cook indoors with gas - it’s not as clean as we’ve been led to believe, apparently.

Anyhoo, here are some images of what we have:

► Show Spoiler

IMG_9587.jpeg (177.4 KiB) Viewed 131 times

IMG_9586.jpeg (155.01 KiB) Viewed 131 times

[northland10]

Also - cast iron - OMG - perfection (just be super careful setting it on the stove top).

That's good to know if I ever thought about moving to induction (which would also require a move from being a renter). I like using cast iron on some things. After you mentioned that, I did some checking on woks and a carbon steel (which is what I use) is compatible.

Again, I assume you have to be careful and not bang it around like you do on a gas grill.

[Maybenaut]

Are woks out with induction?

Traditional woks (parabola shape) work best on gas - they work, but not all that great, on electric, but not at all on induction. You’d need the kind with a flat bottom, but the’n it’s not really like a traditional wok.

Since I can’t use my wok on my induction, I cook outside with it on my wood-fired camp stove (this thing is AWESOME!).

EcoZoom Rocket Stove, Portable Camp Stove for Outdoor Cooking, Versa Dual-Fuel (Wood & Charcoal)

https://a.co/d/fCw376e

[Maybenaut]

Another thing about induction - if you’re the kind of cook who likes to remove the pot from the heat and swirl the contents around a bit before returning it to he heat - or vigorously shaking it back and forth in the stove top - you can’t really do that with an induction. As soon as the unit doesn’t detect the flow of electrons, it shuts itself off. And sliding it back and forth will ruin your sleek glass finish.

This was only an issue for me with popcorn, so I got a popcorn pot with a crank in the lid. Works great on induction. I can’t eat microwave popcorn because it has whey in it (at least all the brands in my local Food Lion does).

[Maybenaut]

When I got my new set of pans when we moved here, I had to come up with a storage solution. For the lids I hung a chain and put a hook for each lids so it just overlaps the lid above it - that’s what keeps them all snug against the wall.

IMG_9590.jpeg (177.21 KiB) Viewed 97 times

[MsDaisy 2]

Very neat and tidy!

[bill_g]

Very nice. Decorative, functional and artistic.

[pipistrelle]

Another thing about induction - if you’re the kind of cook who likes to remove the pot from the heat and swirl the contents around a bit before returning it to he heat - or vigorously shaking it back and forth in the stove top - you can’t really do that with an induction. As soon as the unit doesn’t detect the flow of electrons, it shuts itself off. And sliding it back and forth will ruin your sleek glass finish.

This was only an issue for me with popcorn, so I got a popcorn pot with a crank in the lid. Works great on induction. I can’t eat microwave popcorn because it has whey in it (at least all the brands in my local Food Lion does).

I like my Colonel Popper. It doesn't look available anymore, but there are similar out there. Healthier than microwave popcorn, and you control what you put on it. Take a bag of it when I go to local ball games.

[tek]

There is a learning curve, but it’s no steeper than any other change in what you cook on and what you cook with. Even with gas or electric, how fast or slow a particular pot or pan is going to heat up will depend not just on the stove, but on the pan.

This.
I grew up on old-school electric..
I've often cooked on gas at rentals as well as in our ex-neighbor's gourmet kitchen. It's fine.
I've been cooking on radiant electric for 14 years now, and I like it. The Bosch cooktop we had back in Mass is easier to work with than the Samsung we have here, but even that is fine. The heat is very even, the control is good but you don't get the fast heatup that gas gives you (but cutting the heat is about the same).
I am considering induction, but I"m not up for replacing all the still-functional pots and pans.

There is no one true answer, and EVERYTHING you can buy today is way better than my mom's 1961 Hotpoint that I learned to cook on.
Though the pushbuttons on a pod were kinda neat

hotpoint_range.jpg (200.77 KiB) Viewed 31 times