Pot Pies Are Dangerous
Really? There are safety issues with a pot pie? Yeah, I didn’t believe it either but the New York Times video, Pot Pie Confidential made me think twice. If you can get over Michael Moss’ deep, awkward voice and the silly staged “pot pie making” skit, this video actually opens up some good questions about the safety of the food we naturally trust, like the pot pie. In the article Moss writes:
“The pie maker, ConAgra Foods, began spot-checking the vegetables for pathogens, but could not find the culprit. It also tried cooking the vegetables at high temperatures, a strategy the industry calls a “kill step,” to wipe out any lingering microbes. But the vegetables turned to mush in the process.
So ConAgra — which sold more than 100 million pot pies last year under its popular Banquet label — decided to make the consumer responsible for the kill step. The “food safety” instructions and four-step diagram on the 69-cent pies offer this guidance: ‘Internal temperature needs to reach 165° F as measured by a food thermometer in several spots.’”
I don’t usually have microwave meals, but they make a good point–if you are a mom with three kids, how convenient and/or safe is it to serve this stuff? It appears that mac’n'cheese might be the solid choice here.
