Saturday, February 16, 2008
This is just peachy!
According to the CDC there is a new neurological disorder that may come from pigs. So far only found among slaughterhouse workers, it comes from using every part of the pig except the whistle.
Virtually every part of the pig was used, including ears, entrails, and bone. The 12 Quality Pork workers stricken with the neurological illness are mostly Hispanic immigrants and all work at or near the "head table" where the animals' severed heads are processed. One of the steps in the process involves removing the pigs' brains with compressed air forced into the skull through the spinal cord entrance. Brains are then packed and sent to markets in Korea and China as food.Hopefully, this will be strictly job related and 100% preventable with the discontinuation of that lovely technique.
Investigators do not believe the meat was contaminated and have theorized that the harvesting technique-"blowing brains" on the floor-produces aerosols of brain matter. Once the matter is inhaled, the body's immune system produces antibodies that attack the brain compounds. Apparently, the antibodies also attack the body's own nerve tissue because of its similarity to that of the pig.
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