Gross, Yes. But It Could Curb E. Coli

A Spray To Kill Dangerous Food Bacteria Is In Development. The Catch — It's Made Of Live Viruses

(CBS)  In a Baltimore lab, scientists are harnessing billions of tiny organisms in a war against deadly food bacteria, reports CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano.

“We’re trying to make the food supply safer,” says John Vazzana, CEO and president of the bioresearch company Intralytix.

Intralytix researchers are studying phages — aka viruses — ancient organisms that come in millions of different varieties.

Scientists have found six that are particularly good at killing listeria, a bacteria found on prepared foods such as lunch meat.

"They are very, very specific, so you have to find a phage that is effective against whatever is your target bacteria,” says Vazzana.

Last month the FDA approved the use of this virus cocktail on food.

Coming soon to your deli counter: cold cuts and hotdogs that have been sprayed with this live virus.

Customers won’t be able to tell from the taste, but each time they take a bite of meat treated with the formula, they are eating some phages as well.

The Attman family has served up corned beef and hot dogs for three generations — and can't stomach the idea of spraying live viruses on their family recipes.

Asked if the idea of spraying viruses on his meat grosses him out, deli owner Mark Attman says yes. “Of course it does. ... I would have a very hard time spraying that on meat.”

But most people don't know that they already consume millions of these viruses every day — they occur naturally in our water and on our food. What these scientists have done is harvest the most helpful ones.

And it's not just listeria. Scientists at Intralytix are developing phage sprays to kill other bacteria, such as salmonella, and E. coli.

Scientists believe they'll soon have an E. coli spray which could prevent another deadly spinach crisis.

“We have a high degree of confidence that our E. coli phage product could make fruits and vegetables a lot safer for the American people,” says Vazzana.

Safer, but like many things that may be good for you, a little hard to swallow.

[tibu987]

In the old days of ice boxes instead of refrigerators, before the massive use of insecticides and other chemical additives in our foods, I'm talking pre World War II and post for a time, I and no one in my family, or anyone that I know, ever got sick from food. Granted, it was not the market it is today. Perhaps, it is overkill and a way out for our litigious society.

[optimas2]

Dinwiddie,

I'll think about our mechanized society for a moment. I'm thinking of a society in which there is ample food for everyone. I'm thinking of a society that produces so much nourishing, life-giving food that we can export it to other countries and feed their starving people, too.

I'm thinking of an almighty dollar that has encouraged and motivated some of the brightest minds of America to develop larger, more nutritious fruits and vegetables; fatter, plumper animals that feed more people. I'm thinking of treatments and genetic engineering that allow food to last longer before rotting and to be more resistant to bacteria and disease.

You're *** right the dollar has been the greatest consideration in designing the process--and don't forget for a second that it's the same process that feeds the world, yourself included.

[cantshutup]

i just saw WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR...so long as Americans consume what corporations tell us we must consume this is what we will be stuck with...whether it's being dependent on corporate oil or food products produced in unnatural ways, we can put a stop to all of it...we don't have to be slaves to corporations

[bwright923]

I must agree. very good post dinwiddie.

We don't treat our food animals very well (understatement). I tried to go vegetarian but it just didn't work, so I try to get free range chicken, etc. The scientific approach to food safety, irradiation, and this new approach with specific viruses, doesn't address the fact that we have reduced our livestock to factory products in immoral conditions. I'm not saying go vegan, but... turn cows into cannibals and you get mad cow disease. Is a higher power trying to tell us something? Maybe we should look into the processing of that burger next time we go to the fast food joint for a quick burger. The news media, instead of focusing on spraying viruses on the end product, should look at the whole process and see what could be improved. Maybe there is a reason the Native Americans considered it of utmost importance to treat with respect the animals they hunted for food. All the science in the world isn't going to explain something that can only make sense in our hearts, if we put down the cheeseburger and just have an existential moment to think about what our mechanized society has become for a minute. In that moment of staring at that half eaten burger, ask yourself whether your health and respect for animals, or the almighty dollar, was the greatest consideration made in designing the process that produced it.