Making Norway's Deadliest Food

[Judee]

Making Norway's deadliest food - Nofima breaks ground on facility
By Mark Astley, 30-Jul-2012

A processing plant designed to purposely produce food contaminated with potentially deadly pathogens is under construction in Norway.

The Ås-based facility, which is the only one of its kind in Europe, will offers researchers the opportunity to studying the survival and growth of pathogens such as E.coli and Listeria monocytogenes during production, packing and storage.

The project, which was funded by the Research Council of Norway, was the brainchild of food research institute Nofima and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

At the facility, researchers will be able to explore how raw materials and products become contaminated by equipment and conveyor belts, the most effective measures to destroy pathogens and the optimal way of disinfecting equipment.

The plant is scheduled for completion in mid-2013.

Snip...

The facility will have a ‘Biosafety level 3’ grade – the second highest safety level. At this level, the microbes being used could lead to serious or lethal consequences.

Researchers will be required to wear protective gear and follow strict safety regulation inside the sealed facility, which will only be accessible through air locked doors.


Full Story:
http://www.foodqualitynews.com/Innov...SUsDmTaA%3D%3D

[Dr Powerfun]

Would you believe when I first saw the headline for the thread, I thought the story was going to be about Lutefisk?

[Judee]

Would you believe that's what I actually thought when I first glimpsed the headline too Dr. P!

[maryals]

I will be hopeful that this facility will be used for good, will do some good, and not a cover for making food born Bio Weapons.

Oh, wait, what with the radiation from Fukushima, Chernobyl, etc and toxins and trash, no one needs to create a food born Bio Weapon.

Yes, maybe this will do the world some good

BTW, what is a Lutefisk?

Mary and Baby

[Judee]

BTW, what is a Lutefisk?

Mary and Baby

Not for the faint of heart I understand Mary...

Definition: Lutefisk, long a holiday food tradition among Scandinavian-Americans, is dried stockfish (normally cod or ling, but haddock and pollock can also be used) that has been brined in lye, soaked to remove the resulting causticity, and then steamed until it flakes (although it still looks and feels gelatinous). It is typically served with a warm cream or butter sauce and copious amounts of beer or aquavit.
Pronunciation: LOO-teh-fisk
Alternate Spellings: Lutefisk (in Norwegian); Ludefisk (in Danish); Lutfisk (in Swedish), Lipeäkala (in Finnish)

Examples:
(From a novelty American folksong by Red Stangeland, sung to the tune of "O Tannenbaum"): O lutefisk, O lutefisk, how pungent your aroma / O lutefisk, O lutefisk, you put me in a coma.

HISTORY OF LUTEFISK:

Norwegian Lutefisk / Lutefish Dried Cod Fish

Lutefisk (lutefish) Meal

Lutefisk (lutfisk) is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries made from stockfish (air-dried whitefish) or dried/salted whitefish (klippfisk) and soda lye (lut). Its name literally means "lye fish", because it is made with potash lye or caustic soda.

Origins of Lutefisk Lutefish Dried Cod Fish

The origins of lutefisk are a subject of debate. Some accounts mention a fish accidentally dropped in a washing bowl containing lye, and because of family poverty, the fish had to be eaten. Other stories discuss fires of various kinds, because ashes of wood combined with water will create lye. One possible scenario is that drying racks for stockfish caught fire, followed by days of rain, and then the fish, being too valuable to throw away even in this condition, was picked from the ashes, cleaned, prepared, and eaten. However, the use of softening with lye is actually a fairly common practice with many kinds of food (such as hominy), so it may have been a deliberate and not accidental move.

Traces in literature
The point at which people first began eating lutefisk is also debated. Some enthusiasts claim that the dish has been consumed since the time of the Vikings, while others believe that its origins occurred in the 16th-century Netherlands. At any rate, it is generally agreed that the first written mention of "lutefisk" is in a letter written by Swedish king Gustav I in 1540, and the first written description of the preparation process is in Swedish archbishop Olaus Magnus's (1490–1557) personal writings from 1555. In Norway, author Henry Notaker (in the encyclopedia Apetittleksikon) states that the earliest historical traces are from the late 18th century in the southeastern region of the country. Additionally, a classic Norwegian cookbook ("Hanna Winsnes") from 1845 tells about how to make lye for lutefisk from a combination of birch ash, limestone, and water.

Folklore holds that lutefisk originated during the Viking pillages of Ireland, when St. Patrick sent men to pour lye on stores of dried fish on the longships, with the hope of poisoning the Vikings. However, rather than dying of poisoning, the Vikings declared lutefisk a delicacy. Some Scandinavian descendants claim that their strength and longevity are derived from eating lutefisk at least once a year.

Lutefisk and Norwegians

A misconception is that lutefisk is most popular in Norway. In fact, lutefisk is today more commonly eaten by Norwegian Americans and Canadians of Norwegian descent than by their counterparts in Norway. In America, two cities: Glenwood, Minnesota, and Madison, Minnesota, claim to be the "lutefisk capital of the world." A survey [1] performed by the National Information Office for Meat in Norway claimed that as few as 2 percent of Norwegians consume lutefisk on Christmas Eve (while 52 percent dine on rib roast, the most popular Christmas dinner in Norway), while 20 percent eat lutefisk before Christmas.

Spelling:
- Danish: ludfisk or ludefisk
- Norwegian: lutefisk (earlier ludefisk (Danish) spelling still sometimes used in English) or lutfisk
- Swedish: lutfisk
- Finnish: lipeäkala

[maryals]

Thanks for the info Judee
It sounds...not bad...maybe pretty good even.
I mean, I grew up in a mostly German family: souse AKA head cheese, a Deli Meat of blood and tongue, liverwurst which is a liver pate', Limburger cheese served on Pumpernickel Bread with thin sliced onion...just to name a few

Mary and Baby