Perhaps that’s the case but I used to work in a parasitology lab at CDC several lifetimes ago. We had no qualms about anything 
Thanks for verbalizing that for me 
Great summary.
My cousins are both health inspectors. The husband is the chief health inspector for the province they live in. She posted on Facebook about being out for dinner somewhere with friends. I was teasing her saying that I didn’t think she ate out anywhere.
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My understanding is that the truly “rotten” pieces tend to be cut off before its cooked. Beef that’s aged for a shortish period of time is fine, but when you get to 60, 120, 150 days you are going to get more spoilage and lose more from both the dehydration of the ageing process and trimming the meat (so the price goes up).
I bought a couple of very aged steaks (I think 50+ days) from a famed London butcher and trimmed off the green/grungy looking pieces. It tasted OK but more funky than I like my beef.
“Rotten” is a fairly imprecise term but in my book its food that has decayed to the point its inedible e.g. its taste makes you gag (I understand a natural defence mechanism to protect against dangerous food) or its visibly decomposed to the extent its dangerous.
I like pretty runny and funky cheese but I tend to think of that as mature. I once had some Brie which I left out overnight (covered) and found it literally heaving with maggots the next day…to me that was rotten not just mature…!
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And yet, casa marzu exists…
I used to work with a woman who married a man from Corse. I asked her about marzu, and she said that she had tried it while takin part in an old tradition where a new bride serves the stuff to her new father in law.
She said it’s very tasty cheese, but she had to choke it down and wouldnt try it again.
I’ll take her word for it.
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Stinky tofu… not fermented bean curd, but pure, sour, fully funki-fied stinky tofu – a prized delicacy of many Chinese. I’ve had mild ones that I can stomach and think are ok, but there are some that smell (and I presume) taste like you are eating really rotten food.
Oh and kimchi too I guess? My brother said when he was in South Korea the whole country seemed to smell of it. Of course he had to try some and instantly fell in love!
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I worked for a retired military officer for many years – he said several decades ago, they were flying a squadron of fighters back to the US from Korea.
The night before they left was a huge celebration, with lots of kimchi – but once they got in the air, they realized they’d have to fly at a somewhat lower altitude than originally planned… Wearing their oxygen masks was almost impossible, as they couldn’t stand their own kimchi breath.
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I didn’t read the discussion, just the original post. Here’s my take.
A lot of people just want something familiar. Food isn’t their hobby, like it is for us. It’s a mild hobby at best, and chains make them feel safe while providing a slight twist, or controlled experimentation if you will. Bang Bang Shrimp or whatever will give them a familiar dish with an “asian” flavor or two thrown in.
Food is like fashion or mobile phones. Everyone eats, wears clothes, and uses cell phones, so everyone feels like it’s their hobby in some way. In my experience, people will invent all sorts of reasons to justify their comfort level. Some of my favorites. “Chains are more consistent.” “Chains sell more, so they have better turnover and are fresher.” “A lot of research goes into chains, so they taste better. It’s science.” And something like the OP: “A big company doesn’t want to get sued, so they take extra precautions for food safety.”
I’m sure I do it, too, for other things I don’t want to be adventurous about. Like bungee jumping. Sure I’m more likely to die on the drive home, but I’m perfectly fine on the kiddie coaster, thank you very much. Believe it or not, for some people, eating head-on shrimp is as dreadful as sky diving is to me.
Sorry if I drifted off-topic and shoehorned my rant into the discussion.
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Well said.
Lol! That happened to me with super garlic hummus and my motorcycle helmet.
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The only place I was served rotten meat was at PFChangs.
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Maybe my definition of “rotten” should be refined to include an exception for “managed decay”. Many foods rely on managed decay from fermented products (including breads and some meats), cheeses that use molds, and meats that are aged like beef and game.
In all these processes its important to manage the process to exclude unwanted microbes and insects: the maturation rooms/caves for cheese; the climate controlled rooms to age meat; and the inoculation of products (like Marzu) with organisms to change the nature of it.
That said I suspect Marzu wouldn’t get past my gag reaction no matter how well “managed” the decay process has been…
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rotten?
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Humor.
Yes, it makes total sense
I think that part of the norovirus problem at Chipotle or any other place, is the fact that norovirus is, from what I’ve read, one of the most contagious things out there. You only have to pick up four spores or something like that to get the disease.
but “contaminated with norovirus” and “rotten” are not the same thing at all.
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