h a l f b a k e r yExpensive, difficult, slightly dangerous, not particularly effective... I'm on a roll.
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As an erstwhile restaurant chef I am accutely aware of the importance and difficutlites of assuring that the dining public is protected from disease organisms that might be introduced into their food by restaurant workers.
Current practices to prevent foodborne illness are mostly prophylactic (e.g.
donning of rubber gloves, hand washing, sneezing into shirtsleeves) and do nothing to actually kill organisims such as e. coli, salmonella and quasi-organisms such as the viri that cause the hepatiti. (sic)
A plutonium node located in the ceiling of the restaurant kitchen should kill everything that might cause harm to patrons. Adequate dispersal of ionizing radiation would be facilitated by a fan, similar to the type found in a microwave oven.The dining public would be protected by a lead "fire wall" between the dining room and kitchen.
Food Irradiation: Toxic to Bacteria, Safe for Humans
http://www.fda.gov/...SUMER/CON00031.html
An FDA article on irradiated food. [egnor, Dec 01 2000, last modified Oct 17 2004]
Physical, Nuclear, and Chemical Properties of Plutonium
http://www.ieer.org...sheet/pu-props.html
It's tasty stuff. [egnor, Dec 01 2000, last modified Oct 17 2004]
[link]
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And kitchen staff would lumber about wearing lead hats, lead aprons, lead boots. What a marketing nightmare: "Come and eat at Don Luigi's, where you won't catch salmonella and we promise you won't get lead poisoning either. Or be exposed to our plutonium kitchen". |
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"A plutonium node...should kill everything that might cause harm to patrons." Do you intend to imply that the kitchen staff might cause harm to patrons? |
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Irradiation is by no means a bad idea, but there are two basic problems here: |
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One, plutonium is actually not sufficiently radioactive. Food is generally irradiated with bursts of gamma rays or X rays, but plutonium is primarily an alpha emitter. Alpha particles delivered externally aren't even all that harmful. Metallic plutonium would be safe to pick up in your hands, if it weren't for the fact that ... |
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Two, plutonium oxidizes readily at room temperature, and plutonium oxide is a fine powder which is among the most toxic substances known to man. It is readily inhaled or ingested (you'll never keep it out of the food). Once in the body, it tends to stay there, and it *will* kill you. |
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And that's all assuming you have a subcritical mass. With a critical mass, well, you know. |
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I've never heard of anyone proposing food irradiation on-site at a restaurant, but it's far from unthinkable (though the use of plutonium is unthinkable). Food is generally irradiated at the packing plant, and of course there's nothing that stops a restaurant from using pre-irradiated food (and many probably would, if irradiated food weren't doomed to obscurity by an unthinking public). |
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or you could just wear one all the time so no germs would get near you. lighten up, vaccination is best followed by good health and personal hygiene. |
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You gotta admit, that a critical mass would make it the cleanest kitchen in the world...briefly. |
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Discarded medical radiation sources have already killed people; society *might* be able to learn not to be so sloppy, but *certainly* has known how to keep food uninfected without spreading more dangerous technology around. |
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Second problem with having subcritical lumps of plutonium in restaurants: probability of someone on a lark stealing a bomb's worth. |
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egnor: How about technetium-99m, cesium-137 or a UV emitter? Certainly UV light (260 nm?) would kill the germs (but would not take care of the cooks who might still harbor disease causing microrganisms where the light won't penetrate). |
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The problem with UV is that it tends to coagulate proteins in large doses. Sort of like boiling an egg, but not as pretty. While this may not do much to vegetables, any meat, fish, or egg products will be rendered inedible. |
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Sterile environments such as the one you are suggesting are dangerous. They create a biological vacuum in which only the most virulent microorganisms can survive; but the vacuum will always, eventually, be filled. |
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