14 DAY TRIAL // The Food and Drug Administration recently announced the developing of a new method of annihilating bacteria which are ubiquitously present on all meat products. Sprayed on ready-to-eat meat, cold cuts, hot dogs, sausages, sliced ham, poultry products, turkey etc., the combination of six viruses is meant to kill all microbes and bacteria which can cause serious health disorders in consumers.
The Food and Drug Administration said that the new developed spray is going to be used on ready-to-eat meats before they are packaged. The device contains bacteriophages viruses, which are designed to annihilate strains of the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium - the most common bacterium found in meat. When found in meat products, Listeria monocytogenes bacteria can cause serious health impairment in people, especially in pregnant women, newborns and all people with a weakened immune system. The meat bacteria mostly cause a severe infection called listeriosis.
As a matter of fact, the new anti-virus method for eliminating bacteria in meat products is a food additive that is going to be added to the products prior to their packaging. This is the first food additive to be approved by the FDA, due to its beneficial effects on people's health.
The six viruses forming the mix which is going to kill Listeria bacterium in ready-to-eat meats are grown together with the bacteria they are going to kill. After the viruses become "adult", they are purified from the preparation and introduced as a food additive in meat products. The bacteriophages are going to target only Listeria bacterium, not human or plant cells. They do not contain toxic residues associated with the bacteria, the FDA stated.
"As long as it used in accordance with the regulations, we have concluded it's safe," Andrew Zajac of the Regulatory Agency's Office of Food Additive Safety stated.