Joe Rosenthal, a cooking hobbyist whose career as a mathematician has made him a stickler for detail, told BuzzFeed News that he worries viewers who attempt to replicate Leone’s process may put themselves at risk of botulism.
Botulism, a food poisoning caused by the botulinum bacterium that can grow on preserved food if it isn’t properly sterilized, is rare but deadly.
Rosenthal extensively highlighted what he sees as several areas of safety risk in the video in a series of Instagram stories. “Beyond the serious food safety issues, he has seriously misrepresented pastrami,” Rosenthal told me in a call last week.
We’re following the influencers who want you to follow them. Sign up here for weekly dispatches from our Please Like Me newsletter.
Leone did not respond directly to a request to comment. When I asked Bon Appétit whether his video should be considered entertainment or educational, the publication sent me a statement: “Our safety practices are of utmost importance at Bon Appétit and we have many processes in place to ensure all content is accurate, fact-checked and safe for viewers,” it read. “Our culinary production team extensively reviews all of our video content to confirm they adhere to safety protocols. In addition, we have a fermentation expert who oversees our recipes for this series, including this video.”
The magazine declined to have its food safety expert address our itemized list of potential concerns about Leone’s pastrami video, so BuzzFeed News reached out to five different food safety experts who said that concerns about a botulism risk are valid.
Leanne Blommaert, an expert on health and safety for NSF International, a public health organization, told BuzzFeed News that when curing meat, replacing “standardized ingredients” with consistent levels of salt and nitrites can create unsafe conditions. According to Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a toxicologist and co–medical director of the National Capital Poison Center, there hasn’t been a single case of botulism linked to companies that use standardized curing methods since the use of sodium nitrite was authorized by the US Department of Agriculture in 1925.
A sixth expert, Jim Kincheloe, a food expert at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said he wasn’t concerned about botulism but noted that the video doesn’t show Leone washing his hands after handling raw meat — an even more common food safety issue. There might be more precise food preparation going on behind the scenes, but if the audience doesn’t see them, they don’t always know to copy them.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kelseyweekman/brad-leone-bon-appetit-botulism-scandal
