Monday, October 09, 2006

There is a new threat to humanity, and it is carrot juice. Apparently, tainted carrot juice is behind a string of recent botulism cases here in North America. This comes just a few short weeks after a bunch of fresh spinach was found to contain E. Coli.

This is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and as usual we prepared a chicken with all the fixings, and had a great feast. One thing I am always careful with is making sure the bird is done. I double and triple check it with a thermometer and let it go extra long just in case. I would certainly rather eat dry meat than have a case of salmonella.

One thing I would never imagine is that food that I trusted to be good for me could actually kill me. If I were to open a bottle of commercially packaged carrot juice or buy a spinach salad (OK, I ask you to use your imagination on both counts), I would not expect that I should be worried about ending up in the hospital. Unlike when I roast a chicken, there is really no way for me to determine if fresh fruits and vegetables are safe to eat. I guess we have to count on the producers to ensure that this food is handled in such a way as to not pose a threat to our health. These cases in recent weeks clearly demonstrate that they are not doing enough.

I don’t know what should be done, but one thing I do know is that I will not be going out of my way and paying a premium to eat “healthy food” if horror stories like this keep showing up in the news. I am pretty sure that eating vegetables from a can is better for me than needing kidney dialysis.

2 Comments:

Joan said...

I'm not sure about the strength of your argument in your closing paragraph, however, I can personally attest to feeling extremely ill from the very same brand of carrot juice that is now in the news.

8:44 PM, October 09, 2006  
Auntie Sue said...

I noticed on the news today that one of the recalled carrot juice brands was ORGANIC!! However I will not be scared into giving up good nutritious food. If you keep yourself reasonably healthy you can fend off a lot of the bugs that make it past the bacteria police.

12:21 PM, October 11, 2006  

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