Well, yes there are many many over the top regulations in North America, and Europe. It seems any time there is any recall the corrective action is to change the regulations jump over a bunch of hoops, get in a panick and take that further step to try and make sterile meat product. Which will never happen. The latest case in point is mechanically tenderized meats, refer to this page for some latest info:
http://www.meatingplace.com/Industry/News/Details/42592This will continue until the industry says enough is enough and put some common sense back into these regulations.
The problems at the local levels with health departments is even worse for resto owners, as these organizations have the power to modify regulations. The regulations at all levels should reference back to one standard. Another case I can think of recently was where a Pacific Northwest state HD suddenly decided that all people working in a resto needed to wear gloves at all times, no scientific backup, or reference to National standards just simply an edict that was later backed down on after resistance.
Common sense needs to prevail, there will always be food illnesses, sterile meat is not possible, and the more western nations try and make it so the worse the immune systems of their citizens will become. Some information of allergies and what all these clean hysteria is doing to your immune systems.
http://www.hygienehypothesis.comI'm a firm believer in this. Common sense and good practices that existed for many decades have now been replaced by hysterical changes to laws that are doing long term harm, IMHO.
Having a good knowledge of meat processing, also gives one a level of self confidence that is very necessary when dealing with foods, this used to come in the form of common sense taught by family who did the cooking at home and you learned these common sense practices. That is all gone, instead of teaching common sense people are sensitized to believe everything is dirty and contaminated and there are no good bugs out there.
Ok, enough on my soap box, take it for what its worth, but let you kids play in the dirt, they'll thank you some day.