1.   Agriculture Department and industry officials defend the practice of recycling tainted beef as completely safe because the cooking kills any harmful bacteria.

2.   He noted that proper cooking kills the virus even in infected chickens.

3.   Meat processors complained that the standards were unnecessary, because proper cooking kills the bacteria, and were too difficult to meet.

4.   Proper cooking kills it.

5.   Proper cooking will kill the bacteria, but many people have grown used to eating their beef rare or raw.

6.   Thorough cooking kills bacteria.

7.   Thorough cooking kills vibrio vulnificus or other illness-causing bacteria.

8.   Thorough cooking kills the bacteria.

9.   And ordinary cooking does not kill them.

10.   U.S. poultry producers and Consumer Reports agreed that thorough cooking kills the bacteria.