The other thing is the government doesn’t pay attention or both doing anything when mean companies dont follow the rules. I’ve been told about cancer cows being removed, then the inspectors go on break, and once they are back the cancer cows are back on the line. Who knows if eating a cow with cancer will give you cancer or something else….but do you really want to risk it ?[/quote]

Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m a Vegetarian (and therefore biased) but I don’t believe taxpayers should be paying for meat inspectors AT ALL.. why aren’t the individual meat proccessing plants paying for their own meat inspectors?

Please tell me if I’m missing something here, because I really don’t understand why the government would be paying for that in the first place!

What you SHOULD be worried about is them missing carcasses not only contaminated with fecal matter, but those with encysted parasites in them. Then there are the carcasses where illegal antibiotics and drugs have been used in the animal (illegal = antibiotics not permitted in animals intended for food because these antibiotics are not safe for human consumption). Cancer is the least of your worries. Luckily you cannot “catch” cancer from eating it. Cancer cells in a dead cow are as dead as the cow. And your digestive system will render them into very small molecules no matter if the cell is cancer or normal. However, I will say eating a steak with a big tumor in it doesn’t really sound that appealing - it is however not dangerous. Well - unless the cancer was caused by some sort of toxic chemical or something - but most likely it wasn’t.

That said - I feed mice with huge mammary tumors to my snakes all the time :P, and they don’t seem to mind - protein is protein to them.

The number of meat inspectors is down by about half of what it was a decade ago. A leaked memo shows that Harper was planning to reduce that number by about 1/4th right before this outbreak. Its a terrible thing to happen, but perhaps this will force the government to wake up. The other thing is the government doesn’t pay attention or both doing anything when mean companies dont follow the rules. I’ve been told about cancer cows being removed, then the inspectors go on break, and once they are back the cancer cows are back on the line. Who knows if eating a cow with cancer will give you cancer or something else….but do you really want to risk it ?

Story of my life.

and currently living off of eggsalad and PB&J sandwiches!

And now, apparently unrelated, they say they’ve found listeria in two brands of soft cheeses from Quebec (9 cases there, 1 possible death).

But the scary thing is that many of the so called “healthy” alternatives that you find in the produce department are actually some of the worst when it comes to carcinogens in the form of pesticides. Many of our fruits and vegetables are some major contributors to cancer related illness. Along with the pesticides, some is genetically modified, etc., etc. My rule of thumb is that the pretty, shiny, flawless stuff is usually the stuff to steer clear of. It’s the imperfect produce that I search for (with bug holes - if the bugs’ll eat it, it’s not so bad).

I just learned a little more about the PLU codes on fruits and veggies - it can help identify what’s been done to the produce before it’s picked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_Look-Up_codes

Being a “Mom on a Mission for Good Nutrition” [yes, I realize it's corny, but it's catchy :-)] I’m thinking this whole listeriosis scare is actually a great thing! People need to start paying attention to what they are putting into their mouths instead of just stuffing it to get to the next “thing” we so badly need to do. We eat to fill the gap without paying any mind to the CHEMICALS that we are putting into our bodies: MSG, aspartame, nitrates, pesticides, sugar and food colours ~ these all have an effect on our health. People wonder why they can’t sleep, why they’re overweight, why they suffer panic attacks, why they’re always sick, why their bodies ache ~ this is not normal? Why do people accept it as…oh, that’s just the way it is. Give me a f@cking break! You want to be healthy? Look at what you are eating FIRST and FOLLOW THROUGH with the changes you need to make. Is it easy? Nothing worth having ever is….

As for our Government and us TRUSTING what they authorize? HA! Cha ching is what I will say to that! We as consumers need to start demanding higher quality and nutrient dense foods! Just because you can buy it at your grocery store, doesn’t mean that it’s good for you. [cigarettes are still sold and cigarettes still kill, very efficiently too ~ here, let me slowly suffocate myself to death by damaging my body; my lungs specifically, so that they slowly but surely restrict oxygen to my brain] Look at our kids for goodness sakes ~ they’re being diagnosised with adult diseases at 6 and 10! Dr. Katz says that today’s children is the first generation to die before their parents…. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

Taken from a Seinfeld episode: “You’re not a patient, you’re a customer.” $$$

Health is my business. I work with people and teach them how easy it is to become active and how to make simple but good nutritional choices: if you’re not washing it, then you need to wonder if you should eat it.

If I had eaten or fed any kind of processed meats to my family; I would be seriously concerned.

This story is still unfolding….I hope when it finally settles, people will be motivated to eat healthier.

…macaroni baloney….it doesn’t even sound good.

you know… i just cannot help but think that, beyond the unfortunate deaths (one in my local hospital), illnesses and those to come, this is the best example of the advantages of food security/sovereignty and moving away from corporate control over our food.

i know that sounds way off in the deep end, but really, if people were eating actual FOOD, and not something that was food that has been stripped, molded, folded and packaged into a food-like substance, we could have not avoided this whole mess?

Greater inspections in processing facilities? LAUGHABLE. instead of trying to save these businesses that are in the business of selling food-like substance, how about we start growing our own, buying from our local farmers, and taking control over something that was once in our control in the first place.

revolutionary? counter-revolutionary? i dunno. i just know that i enjoy having a greater say in what i eat instead of supporting a business that strips its food of any nutritional content and then try to fool me into believing that buying their foods fortified with omega 3 fatty acids because the processing of the ‘food’ STRIPPED it of it’s original nutritional value in the first place, makes me a better, healthier consumer. buy buy buy! i mean…

wow.

tangent, i know. i always do it, but it is very much related. and i very much enjoyed the reference to micheal pollan. i am reading ‘in defence of food’ right now. it is extremely informative. now i gotta go now

Ciao!

*ahem*

Unfortunately, the EST number is indicative of the facility in which the product was manufactured (so they said on TV), and thus, I have consumed suspect meat (yikes!)…In fact, the most recent death related to the outbreak occurred a half hour away from here. Creepy and tragic.

Lifeless.[/quote]

I got bad news for you then, Listeria is the only food born bacteria that not only can survive a high salt environment - they love it. A few years back there was a good scare of Listeriosis in hot dogs.

But the good news - most immuno-competent human beings will not become ill as their immune system will remove the pathogens from their system before they can become established - it is however a problem for neonates, AIDS patients, pregnant women, the elderly and anyone whose immune system’s compromised.

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/listeriosis_gi.html/quote

What!

That’s crap.

Do these little pathogen sons of bitches like scotch too? If so, I may have found my ancestors…

Oh, and there’s nothing I love more than the vegetarians that come out of the woodwork during times like these. They always have a refreshing take. Paraphrasing: “Meat eaters are idiots.”

Lifeless.[/quote]

I got bad news for you then, Listeria is the only food born bacteria that not only can survive a high salt environment - they love it. A few years back there was a good scare of Listeriosis in hot dogs.

But the good news - most immuno-competent human beings will not become ill as their immune system will remove the pathogens from their system before they can become established - it is however a problem for neonates, AIDS patients, pregnant women, the elderly and anyone whose immune system’s compromised.

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/listeriosis_gi.html

Sorry, couldn’t resist :)