6b. Re: Barrel & Spigot

[Guest guest]

Sorry, that simply does not make sense to me.

" The essential oils in the wood actually prevent bacteria

buildup, "

these oils may prevent pathogenic bacteria buildup but they

do _not_ prevent yeasts and bacteria from impregnating wood.

" effect of cleaning the board regularly after preparing meat

on it was not statistically significant "

Wood has been universally used since time. However, present

food processing has significantly increased the " normal "

pathogenic bacteria count and now we have a preponderance of

germs necessitating changes in how we handle foods.

I have to reject those statements just on face value.

live free and healthy

Ed Kasper L.Ac., Acupuncturist & Medicinal Herbalist

http://HappyHerbalist.com eddy@...

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6b. Re: Barrel & Spigot

Posted by: " Baker " vbaker@... vbaker555

Date: Thu Jun 22, 2006 7:59 pm (PDT)

>Audrey I thought the purpose of wood chips and barrels for

>ferments were to inoculate the ferment with the microbes

>that were in the wood. Like cheeseboards. That's also the

>reason cutting boards are/should no longer be wood. (wood

>harbors microbes).

This is not true. The makers of plastic cutting boards made

out that this

is true, but in fact the opposite is true. The essential

oils in the wood

actually prevent bacteria buildup, whereas plastic cutting

boards are

hotbeds of bacteria once knife scarring has occurred (a

universal

occurrence). For the many links on this subject, Google:

wood cutting

boards bacteria

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infxtra/infcuttingboard.s

htm excerpt:

>a case-control study of sporadic salmonellosis had been

done in this

>region and included cutting boards among many risk factors

assessed (Kass,

>P.H., et al., Disease determinants of sporadic

salmonellosis in four

>northern California counties: a case control study of older

children and

>adults. Ann. Epidemiol. 2:683-696, 1992.). The project had

been conducted

>before our work began. It revealed that those using wooden

cutting boards

>in their home kitchens were less than half as likely as

average to

>contract salmonellosis (odds ratio 0.42, 95% confidence

interval

>0.22-0.81), those using synthetic (plastic or glass)

cutting boards were

>about twice as likely as average to contract salmonellosis

(O.R. 1.99,

>C.I. 1.03-3.85); and the effect of cleaning the board

regularly after

>preparing meat on it was not statistically significant

(O.R. 1.20, C.I.

>0.54-2.68). We know of no similar research that has been

done anywhere, so

>we regard it as the best epidemiological evidence available

to date that

>wooden cutting boards are not a hazard to human health, but

plastic

>cutting boards may be.

>Now I'm thinking I would like to try fermenting kombucha

out

>of a wood barrel.

I'm definitely interested.

--V

[Guest guest]

>Sorry, that simply does not make sense to me.

>

> " The essential oils in the wood actually prevent bacteria

>buildup, "

This was postulated to me as the reason why wood cutting boards don't

harbor bacteria. However, the link I posted did not theorize this.

>these oils may prevent pathogenic bacteria buildup but they

>do _not_ prevent yeasts and bacteria from impregnating wood.

I was responding to your statement that wood cutting boards aren't safe to

use. Leave aside the issue of essential oils. According to the study that

I cited and linked, salmonella bacteria don't impregnate or survive on the

wood. There have been many studies of this wood cutting board issue. They

all say that wood cutting boards do not harbor salmonella. That particular

study said that the bacteria don't reproduce once on the wood, they

die. They don't colonize in the wood. Unlike on plastic or glass, where

they do-- and when the plastic gets knife scars, which is universal, the

bacteria colonize the scars.

>effect of cleaning the board regularly after preparing meat

>on it was not statistically significant "

>

>Wood has been universally used since time. However, present

>food processing has significantly increased the " normal "

>pathogenic bacteria count and now we have a preponderance of

>germs necessitating changes in how we handle foods.

Ed, I didn't make it up. If you do the Google search I suggested, you'll

see the many many studies that have been done on this issue. Plastic and

even glass are far more likely to infect food with salmonella than wood--

twice as likely.

>I have to reject those statements just on face value.

I never bought the argument that wood was dangerous, and eventually that

position was vindicated by the scientific research instead of theory. As I

said, I didn't make this up, it's been researched.

--V

~~~ There is no way to peace; peace is the way ~~~~

--A.J. Muste