19 replies to this topic

[GMO]

We all know that considering consumer use and potential but likely misuse is part of HACCP. (Well I type that but frequently find it's not considered in HACCP plans but that's a whole other topic.) But sometimes consumers use products in a way they're not intended for when if used as intended it would be entirely safe. This has been made worse by food blogs and vlogs of course.

 

I always think though that consumer misuse is a good reason to have someone commercial on a HACCP team. They're often just closer to the consumer and the weird and wacky ways consumers might use products not realising the risk.

 

So some I can think of off the top of my head.

 

• Using frozen vegetables raw (in salads and smoothies) - Listeria outbreak
• Raw broccoli - Listeria recall (people use raw broccoli in salads, who knew?)
• Onion soup mix - Salmonella (people use the dried soup mix in dips apparently)

There are probably loads more I've forgotten.

 

[MDaleDDF]

I don't use frozen veggies, but we have smoothies with frozen fruit often, does that count?    

 

You've never had uncooked broccoli in a salad?  Try something like this, it's delicious:  https://www.spendwit...broccoli-salad/

 

I used to use onion soup mix to make dips and stuff when I was a kid, but haven't done it in forever.   I don't eat that kind of stuff anymore anyway.   I haven't had any kind of chip dip in a decade...

Edit:   I forgot last night we made cupcakes after dinner and my wife licked the batter out of the bowl too!    We shall cross the Styx soon.  lol

Edited by MDaleDDF, Yesterday, 12:50 PM.

[GMO]

Nope, uncooked broccoli in a salad isn't "a thing" in the UK and I know how crap the micro often is on any leaves which are hard to clean (e.g. curly kale) I dread to think on broccoli florets.

 

Frozen fruit is often made in high care environments and expected to be consumed raw in smoothies etc. Frozen veg, not so much.

 

Well licking the bowl was common when I was a kid too. It was before the days of salmonella in eggs being a well known thing. Albeit nowadays, the risks, especially in the UK are much lower with widespread vaccination of flocks. Salmonella in wheat is a thing but not as common as in eggs if unvaccinated.

[LostInTheWoods]

Nope, uncooked broccoli in a salad isn't "a thing" in the UK and I know how crap the micro often is on any leaves which are hard to clean (e.g. curly kale) I dread to think on broccoli florets.

Wow! In the US, uncooked broccoli is usually a staple in veggie trays. It's the lazy person's contribution to a holiday party. Usually raw baby carrots, broccoli, grape tomatoes, cauliflower, with a tub of ranch dip in the middle.

[TimG]

It's not a big food safety risk but the amount of folks that swear by honey to cure things has been an eye opener for me since I took this position. Does it have natural enzymes (especially in 'raw' versions) that can help very minimally with therapeutic concerns? Ok, maybe.

Is it the food of the gods that will cure and release your family of all of the scary G5 radio waves from the cell towers and chem trails? I don't think so but thanks for purchasing our product 

[LostInTheWoods]

It's not a big food safety risk but the amount of folks that swear by honey to cure things has been an eye opener for me since I took this position. Does it have natural enzymes (especially in 'raw' versions) that can help very minimally with therapeutic concerns? Ok, maybe.

Is it the food of the gods that will cure and release your family of all of the scary G5 radio waves from the cell towers and chem trails? I don't think so but thanks for purchasing our product 

I've seen "raw" local honey promoted as a remedy for seasonal (pollen) allergies. The reasoning is that local honey is made from local pollen, which when ingested will get a person's immune system "used to" the pollen that they inhale.

 

Again, I'm going to add a disclaimer that it's anecdotal.

[GMO]

I've seen "raw" local honey promoted as a remedy for seasonal (pollen) allergies. The reasoning is that local honey is made from local pollen, which when ingested will get a person's immune system "used to" the pollen that they inhale.

 

Again, I'm going to add a disclaimer that it's anecdotal.

 

Whenever someone makes this claim I normally probe what kind of hay fever they have. It's surprisingly common how many people know and 99% of the time it's tree or grass.

 

Then I ask how many of them are insect pollinated and whether a wind pollinated species is something (literally) likely to get up their nostrils more than an insect pollinated one... So even if the mode of action claimed worked (which is a bit like homeopathy for my liking anyway), the pollen in honey is likely to be different pollen from that causing the symptoms. 

 

But it normally fails just like any other attempt at dispelling pseudoscience.

[Scampi]

Fresh veg of all kinds are used in salads...….defiantly not a miss use on that one

 

I use frozen fruit everyday in my breakfast

 

Perhaps the actual failure is not understanding human behavior and using it in a proper risk analysis? 

[GMO]

True. I didn't say that was a problem. Just that it might not be expected. Also some fresh veg is more contaminated than others. For example, there is no way I would eat curly kale raw. It's just so hard to clean. Even less so if prepared into a smoothie, left for a few hours in the fridge then consumed. Would be Listeria heaven.

[kfromNE]

Raw flour. Considered an non-RTE item. However eating raw cookie dough, etc made people sick and led recalls. 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/...-raw-dough.html

 

CDC investigated outbreaks linked to raw flour or cake mix in 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2023. Some of these investigations led to recalls. Flour and baking mixes containing flour have long shelf lives, meaning they do not go bad quickly. It's a good idea to check your pantry to see if you have any flour or baking mixes that have been recalled in recent years (search FDA's recall list). Throw away any recalled flour or baking mixes you have.

Edited by kfromNE, Yesterday, 03:17 PM.

[Scampi]

True. I didn't say that was a problem. Just that it might not be expected.

 

Eating fresh veg (as an example) should be the expectation, not that is will be cooked

 

My house eats raw leafy greens as routine---the expectation should be that they are safe to consume as purchased, that is an outright failure on the manufacturer

 

I'm in shell egg now---------should people eat raw egg?  Um no, gross, but do I expect that some will 100% I do

[MDaleDDF]

I love some good beef tartare with a raw quail egg in the middle. yum.

I'm going to a supposedly super duper French restaurant out of town for dinner tomorrow night....should be some dicey stuff there...lol.   I'm on it.

[GMO]

Eating fresh veg (as an example) should be the expectation, not that is will be cooked

 

My house eats raw leafy greens as routine---the expectation should be that they are safe to consume as purchased, that is an outright failure on the manufacturer

 

I'm in shell egg now---------should people eat raw egg?  Um no, gross, but do I expect that some will 100% I do

 

There's leafy greens and leafy greens. Just the morphology of some and the close growing to the ground increases risk. For example, a bumpy leaf of curly kale or savoy cabbage. Routinely sold in the UK at least as unwashed or washed and sliced but ready to cook not ready to eat. If someone decides to ineffectively wash that or not wash it at all and make into a salad, that is at least for UK consumers unexpected use. If they then store that, especially if their fridge isn't all that cold, it's a likely consumer harm. It might be common in other countries and that's where changes in consumer habits influenced by travel as well may come into play.

 

But in any case, I didn't post this to get into the minutiae of vegetable consumption, it was about unexpected product use you've seen that was unexpected to you.

[GMO]

I love some good beef tartare with a raw quail egg in the middle. yum.

I'm going to a supposedly super duper French restaurant out of town for dinner tomorrow night....should be some dicey stuff there...lol.   I'm on it.

 

Well as I said earlier. Raw eggs aren't all that dangerous over here anymore. I certainly have runny yolks in mine. Had two poached runny yolk eggs this morning for breakfast. They're not even contraindicated for pregnant women over here because food safety in Lion eggs have improved so much. Problem is if a pregnant Brit travels outside the UK and expects the same of course which again could be a consumer misuse issue.

[Lynx42]

 

• Using frozen vegetables raw (in salads and smoothies) - Listeria outbreak
• Raw broccoli - Listeria recall (people use raw broccoli in salads, who knew?)
• Onion soup mix - Salmonella (people use the dried soup mix in dips apparently)

.

 

FYI, these are all common in the U.S. 

I use frozen fruit in smoothies, and know people who use frozen veggies.  My grandmother used to give me and my cousins frozen peas and carrots when we were kids.  My oldest son also loved eating frozen peas, carrots, and corn when he was a toddler (honestly I think he still does when getting it out to cook).  His son is autistic and will sometimes get in a bite of frozen corndog (the pancake sausage ones) before they can grab it and pop it in the microwave for him.

If I have to eat fresh raw veggies, broccoli is on that list, and if I'm prepping some for a dish (usually an Asian dish where I am stir frying it, but not always cooking it all the way through) I always snack on it during the process.  If it's frozen broccoli I do cook that to a higher temp.  Kale is now a common green salad ingredient in my area.

It's not just onion soup mix that is used for raw applications (I have a friend who uses powdered pho beef soup base that she was sprinkling onto something she had made) and on the onion soup specifically, Lipton has a dip recipe on their packaging. I can see how people would take that recipe and try to apply it to all soup, not just the Lipton brand.

 

I know people who think anything frozen that says "precooked" means it's safe regardless of the temperature.  My brother would sometimes eat the chicken skin/breading off of frozen chicken (TV dinners and chicken strips) while waiting for the oven to preheat, and the toppings off of frozen pizzas.  

[kfromNE]

Not necessarily wacky but when a customer says they got sick eating your food item but then you hear the back story. (I know many are legit but..)

 

Drinking all night then ate the item you make (potato salad). Got sick. Blamed the food. 

Didn't follow the cooking instructions. Admitted it when you called them. 

Bought it, left it in the car for multiple hours while running errands on a warm day. Got sick. 

Blaming you for American's health problems b/c we produce soup that has sodium in it (average ml for sodium compared to other brands).

Edited by kfromNE, Yesterday, 05:38 PM.

[AJL]

Soup mix in dips, thats just... normal 😂

[bkrjones]

As a kid I would put a kraft single on my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I appreciate that that's not what you're getting at, but it feels like pretty wacky misuse 

[jfrey123]

Raw broccoli is weird to the UK?  It's pretty much identical to raw lettuce from a risk analysis point, and we all eat salad...

 

I've yet to come across a particularly weird misuse complaint in my career.  I've had multiple different auditors tell me that some random frozen tv dinner maker was sued by a construction worker who got sick, all because he would throw said tv dinner on the dash of his truck while he went to work and expect it to be defrosted and warm at lunch time.  Even in this modern era of information sharing I can't find any reports of the case so I don't know if it's just an Old Food Wife's Tale or not, but that would take the cake for me as far as purposeful misuse of a food item.

 

Good ol' Alton Brown was on Mythbusters and proved you can cook a Thanksgiving dinner in a car's engine bay while driving to grandma's house.  That was pretty danged cool, but he was using proper equipment to verify temps.

[SQFconsultant]

This has been quite an interesting thread to read.

 

I have 3 to add...

 

1. When I worked in a commercial kitchen years ago we use Knorr Swiss Dry Onion Soup Mix and sour cream to make loads of dip for the bars - served with fresh raw veggies and chips - people loved it and it made them drink more.

 

2. There was (now out of business) a boat here that was owned by a restaurant that would take people out to the scallop, oyster and clam beds where the captain would rake them up and serve them to people on the boat on the half sheet - yes, including raw scallops -- but not to worry, because the boat had a big sign on it that said - PREVENT ILLNESS - COOK ALL SHELLFISH BEFORE EATING.

 

3. When I was inspecting food factories I had taken a flight to Minneapolis, MN one evening and had to drive west in the dark, I was a little tired and pulled into a truck stop and as I parked I watched 2 truckers with their hoods propped open frying steaks on their engine covers and they had TV dinners warming on top of the radiators -- apparently very effective.