Viruses the New Condiment

Lip writes to tell us that a new bacteria killing virus has been deemed safe by the FDA as a food additive for ready-to-eat meats. These bacteriophages are designed to kill a common microbe (Listeria monocytogenes bacteria) to which hundreds of deaths every year have been attributed. From the article: "The viruses are grown in a preparation of the very bacteria they kill, and then purified. The FDA had concerns that the virus preparation potentially could contain toxic residues associated with the bacteria. However, testing did not reveal the presence of such residues, which in small quantities likely wouldn't cause health problems anyway, the FDA said."

"Waiter! There's a virus on my steak!"

[Nova Express]

"Please keep it down, sir, or everyone will want some."

Viruses NOT the New Condiment

[Anonymous Coward]

The federal government classified them as vegetables along with ketchup.

Re:Mutation?

[Enzo the Baker]

Is it possible for a bacteriophage to mutate and infect human cells?

If it does, we'll just come out with some virus-eating bacteria. It's the ciiiiiiircle of liiiife!

Re:Opening doors.

[Tatarize]

We're geeks. Screw cancer. Acne is caused, in part by, P. acnes. While we are at it, tooth decay is cause primarily by Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus. Lack of sex is called by Geekoccus maximus. Lets get some phages to eat this suckers.

The secret ingredient is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Viruses in our food? I think I can see the into the not-so-distant future...

FDA approves the sale of new Hormel vegetarian alternative food
Hormel will begin marketing it's unique new meat alternative this month under the name Soylent Green. "We've been pushing for FDA approval for some time, and we're happy we'll finally be able to offer such a wonderful product to our customers," said PR spokesperson Adele Wright.

When asked about the unusual color, Wright responded, "We were very inspired by Dr. Seuss, and saw the success that Heinz had with their green ketchup. Such a fun looking food will appeal to children, who are notoriously finicky eaters. Soylent Green offers all the benefits of a vegetarian diet, but without missing any of the flavor. Soylent Green has a distinct flavor that we think will be quite popular."

Imitators, however, do not have Hormel concerned. "We keep our secret recipe closely guarded," says Hormel CEO Dr. Hannibal Lector. "We don't anticipate anybody coming up with a knock-off product any time soon."

Most people, though, are probably only interested in the taste. The Star's very own food critic Ken Prescott offers his opinion: "Soylent Green is really just vegetarian spam: it has a funny color, and a taste like nothing else. A lot of people like Spam, and a lot of people hate it. Soylent Green is the same - how it tastes will vary from person to person."

Re:Mmmm.....

[AJWM]

Nothing wrong with fishing on Love Canal. The canal was fine, the problem was the (1940s era?) Hooker Chemical dump near Love Canal. That wouldn't have been much of a problem either, if the town hadn't expropriated the old dump site. Hooker Chemical didn't want to sell, but the town forced the issue -- HC put in a proviso that the land never be used for anything. Few years later the town builds a school on it...

Nothing wrong with thalidomide either, so long as you're not female and pregnant. (If you're male and pregnant you have bigger problems ;-)

Re:Viruses NOT the New Condiment

[kfg]

The federal government classified them as vegetables along with ketchup.

Which is totally ridiculous. Everyone knows that ketchup is a fruit.

KFG