Top "iffy" foods, article

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Oh phooey! Maybe we should just stop eating!

I mean, when you look at the reasons why they are calling these foods dangerous, it's just plain weird. Who doesn't wash their greens? And why would you leave tuna (or any other fish or meat) out of the fridge for extended periods and think it was safe to eat?

Any food at all can be dangerous if not handled properly.

Who else remembers back when they were blaming cancer on bacon? Yes. bacon has nitrites, but so does spinach. Who stopped eating spinach? :wacko::huh::wacko::huh::wacko:
 
LOL!
O.K. who has a recipe for spinach salad with eggs? (smirk)
 
Note that "most dangerous" means illness, not health hazard. Leafy greens, in 20 years, have caused 13,568 illnesses. A life long spinach eater wills till be able to run laps around the lifelong bacon eater's grave =)
 
Articles like these are, in my opinion, more dangerous than the "information" they pretend to disseminate.
 
Top ten "iffy" foods

"I mean, when you look at the reasons why they are calling these foods dangerous, it's just plain weird. Who doesn't wash their greens?

Any food at all can be dangerous if not handled properly."


I agree with this statement. Spinach needs to be washed so many times before been served. Even a beautifull fruit like strawberry needs to be carefully handled, sometimes I get some with dirt on them.
 
The problem with the spinach wasn't surface contamination, unfortunately. Washing didn't help. The problem, if I recall correctly, was in the soil. The greens actually took the contaminants up into it as it grew. It likely either came from incorrectly composted manure as fertilizer, unintended runoff from an animal farm, or, as I saw it so delicately put somewhere, field workers not practicing good hygiene. I'll leave the rest of that picture to your imagination.
 
The problem with the spinach wasn't surface contamination, unfortunately. Washing didn't help. The problem, if I recall correctly, was in the soil. The greens actually took the contaminants up into it as it grew. It likely either came from incorrectly composted manure as fertilizer, unintended runoff from an animal farm, or, as I saw it so delicately put somewhere, field workers not practicing good hygiene. I'll leave the rest of that picture to your imagination.

uhm, problem here. the article does _not_ mention what "out break" they're talking about with regard to spinach / leafy stuff.

it is the tenth paragraph before
"Salmonella was also a chief culprit in egg, cheese and tomato-related illnesses,"
is a specifically named "out-break"

sound bytes at their best.

"Are you still beating your wife?"
 
My post was in reference to ChefJune's comment about washing greens. I probably should have specified that the "problem with the spinach" I was talking about in particular is the e coli/spinach problem in 2006, as that was the biggest and most recent scare about greens. My point was that washing wouldn't have made any difference in that case, because the contamination was not on the surface.
 
"The FDA has also speculated that washing the spinach is insufficient to sanitize it because the bacteria is systemic, meaning that it is not just on the outside of the spinach, but that it has been absorbed through the roots and is now inside the spinach. This hypothesis has since been deemed only hypothetical as there is no evidence that this can happen in spinach."
2006 North American E. coli outbreak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yes, I know it's wikipedia, but nevertheless, I found this interesting.
 
is this what is in reference:

FDA Finalizes Report on 2006 Spinach Outbreak

/quote
Because the contamination occurred before the start of the investigation, and because of the many ways that E.coli O157:H7 can be transferred -- including animals, humans, and water -- the precise means by which the bacteria spread to the spinach remain unknown.
/unquote

and that's from the "final report"

and in terms of the absolute best "So glad to hear you've stopped beating you wife" headliners:

/quote
Although washing produce would not have prevented the recent E-coli outbreak involving spinach, washing can reduce the risk of contamination from some other causes. FDA advises consumers that all produce should be thoroughly washed before eating.
/unquote

so, how it got there is "unknown" - but washing would not have helped.

your tax dollars hard at work.

this list details the twisted history:
Spinach and E. coli Outbreak

2006.11.15: CDC Food Safety Activities and the Recent E.coli Spinach Outbreak details congressional testimony. it says in part
/quote
A better understanding is needed of the mechanisms by which leafy greens become contaminated so contamination can be interrupted.
/unquote

don't get me wrong, I'm not in denial - but I have seen no scientifically validated information that plants absorb e. coli. all the real science points to surface contamination. washing / rinsing is good, it that sufficient? don't know.

I do however have serious issues with (loosely defined) "journalists" taking a sentence from here, half a paragraph from there, a couple words from somewhere else and spinning it into a "The Sky Is Falling" headline.
 
While I think this story could have been written from a better angle, I think the point is clear: Handle your food carefully. Especially the types of food on this list.
 
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