Pooperoni anyone? According to LiveScience.com, Spanish scientists are using bacteria from baby poop to make “delicious sausages”. Using fermented beverages such as wine and beer as examples, scientists reasoned that probiotic bacteria in poop could be used in fermented sausages as well.
“Probiotic fermented sausages will give an opportunity to consumers who don’t take dairy products the possibility to include probiotic foods to their diet,” said study co-author Anna Jofré, a food microbiologist at Catalonia’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Research’s (IRTA) food-safety program in Girona, Spain.
For probiotic bacteria to work, they must survive the acids in the digestive tract. As such, the researchers focused on microbes found alive in human feces.
The article goes on to say that 43 fecal samples from infants up to six months old were taken from diapers, and used in fermenting sausages.
Specifically, the investigators made “fuet,” a kind of Mediterranean fermented pork sausage commonly found in Catalonia in northeastern Spain. It resembles the Spanish fermented sausage known as “chorizo,” although fuet does not contain paprika like chorizo does and is also usually shorter, thinner, less acidic and less fatty. (The sausages the researchers made had no feces in them, only bacteria cultured from the poop.)
*caution: may cause backdoor drainage
Professional tasters say the sausages taste like regular fuet – even more reason I will never go to the OHSU food tasting center again! God knows what those people are up to!
Michael Russell has responded to the confusion I reported on early today about change in the way the Oregonian is going to rate restaurants:
To set a baseline, here are my last five restaurant reviews, re-ranked under the new system:
- Trifecta (read the review): gets 2 stars, but no grade.
- Ecliptic Brewing (read the review): grade C+, gets 0.5 stars
- Davenport (read the review): grade A- “Shines”, gets 2.5 stars.
- Roman Candle (read the review): grade B, gets 1.5 stars
- La Taq (read the review): grade B-, gets 1 star
Maybe it’s my pills, but I’m more confused than ever. Lots of good comments going on over at the first post.
PDX Food Dude says
Thanks for the mention on the media blog!”
Tom says
To clarify Michael Russell equates an A with 2 stars and the lower rating of an A- with 2.5 stars?????
PDX Food Dude says
Well, I made a mistake with that one, but if you check out the below, on a quick glance it does look like that is what they are saying:
Trifecta
Rating: ★★☆☆ (Two stars)
Cuisine and scene: A
combination restaurant, cocktail bar and bakery from Ken Forkish, the man behind Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Ken’s Artisan Pizza.
PDX2FLR says
coprophagy |kɒˈprɒfədʒi|(also coprophagia |ˌkɒprə(ʊ)ˈfeɪdʒɪə|) noun [ mass noun ] Zoology ‘the eating of faeces or dung’.
Many species in the animal kingdom do this to put healthy bacteria in their guts. I’m sticking with the human philosophy of eat shit and die.