Is anything safe to eat anymore?
7Is it just me, or have we had way more food recalls and warnings than before? I seem to see a new one every day. Some are regional, like the recent McDonalds one. Some are national, like the nasty Quaker one from last year that cost me the only cereal I really liked, they have apparently quit making it.
What do you think is the cause? Are we just more aware and do we find more of them or is something else going on?
- 13 comments, 108 replies
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I think awareness plays a large part, as does what I can only assume is increased testing prior to distribution.
If you look at the listeria recalls recently, the only one that seems to have had any direct link to patients is from Boar’s Head. There are at least two or three others that I’m aware of that were possibly pulled before they got into the food supply evidently (or at least there are no reported illnesses linked to them).
@Cerridwyn
Actually reviewing this it seems that a lot of it was recalled prior to any reported illness. So it appears that maybe they did get distributed and were found wanting when testing was done. I suspect there is a very small amount of the 9 million pounds of Bruce Pac products that actually are contaminated, but because they can’t narrow down the specific dates better than a few week range they had to recall everything processed through those plants during that time.
I do know from working in the ER that we had a lot of patients who came in with “food poisoning” that they associated with whatever their last (usually a restaurant) meal was. Being a small community hospital we rarely sent anything off for testing, and the vast majority of those people never had to be admitted. Open these cases came during community-wide runs of gastrointestinal illnesses in general.
@Cerridwyn @chienfou A GP friend in Tennessee related that she’d seen multiple instances of such widespread gastro upsets which, if you knew the people involved, were suspiciously restricted to just the members of one church. Sometimes it was just after their potluck, which pointed to possible food contamination, but often it was mid-week, which made more of a case for a viral issue.
@Cerridwyn @werehatrack
Exactly
@Cerridwyn @chienfou @werehatrack Work used to do a potluck lunch in December for the division I’m in. Then one year about half the employees were out sick for a day (or several) after the lunch. It took me down for three days.
After that it’s been catered every year!
Some folks compared notes on what they ate, trying to pin it down, but without success.
@blaineg @Cerridwyn
Meant to post this link with my initial comment… but had a hard time finding it again. So here it is now
@blaineg @chienfou
https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts
And that’s only a public listeria list. The most recent recalls were things like Frozen waffles. That’s the FDA link and there’s over a thousand entries in it and some of them are tiny of course
@blaineg @Cerridwyn @chienfou I foresee a tremendous increase in the usage of irradiation prior to sale for a lot of raw and even some processed foodstuffs in the near future.
@blaineg @Cerridwyn
1,000+ includes all of the ones have been terminated going back to 2017. Some of them are legit recalls for products that were drugs that were not approved before they started being distributed etc. But yes the vast majority of them are for food products that had issues.
@blaineg @Cerridwyn @chienfou @werehatrack
Maybe but maybe not. It’s been available for a long time but has not really caught on.
Around 1967/8 I was one of several undergraduates in the Physics Club chosen to be an emcee at a NASA demonstration at the Texas State Fair. Among other demos we were showing packages of bacon irradiated so they wouldn’t need refrigeration on a space trip. The bacon definitely looked good enough to fry up and eat. IDK if any astronauts ever benefitted from such.
It’s one of those things that makes too much sense at a low cost to catch on. Kinda like seat belts on school buses.
@phendrick
Until people get over their inate fear of the term irradiation I think it’s going to be a tough row a hoe.
@chienfou @phendrick Just make up a friendly name for it. Problem solved.
Just like nobody uses Nuclear in MRI anymore.
@blaineg @chienfou Same people who think nothing of irradiating their bodies for a tan, along with the increased risk for skin cancer?
@blaineg @chienfou Name? Need something technical sounding but easy to pronounce. My proposal is “Gamma-Effect Enhanced Preservation of Our Food” or GEEPOOF. Rolls off the tongue (and onto the floor?)
Or replace “Food” with “Produce”, giving us GEEPOOP. Er, maybe not.
@chienfou @phendrick “microwaved”
@chienfou @pakopako Think microwaved has already been taken.
Some of it is definitely increased testing, though we’re way short of the frequency of testing that took place back in the '50s and '60s when “USDA INSPECTED” was a common thing to see. Some of it is increased sensitivity of testing, a subject that has mixed science behind it. Much of it is “processing almost but not quite to the rules” by manufacturers (or their employees in pursuit of an efficiency bonus) who are confident that nobody’s really going to get sick from a little corner-cutting (or worse, who just don’t give a damn). Some of it is uncertified or nonexistent “testing” by suppliers outside the US. This is not an exhaustive list.
@werehatrack
Testing at that time was radically different. Focus before that was on animal health prior to entering the food chain.
(From the USDA.gov site)
those twin pack of trails best double salami sticks i got from meh were pretty damn safe. (side note: i’m out and need someone to sell some more… hint hint… i’m looking at you meh)
@carl669 my kids love them and we are almost out too!
Cake and circuses, now without the cake.
@capnjb Look at what that got Marie Antoinette
@phendrick I really do like the cut of your jib
@capnjb Don’t even remember what my jib looked like; believe it was cut soon after i was born.
If you read the details on the Boar’s Head disaster, it wasn’t a one-off, but a “The Jungle” level plant that had somehow got away with it for years. Standard operating procedure for the company.
“We are so, so sorry. That we got caught.”
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/08/blood-puddles-mold-tainted-meat-bugs-boars-head-inspections-are-horrifying/
@blaineg I had wondered why that brand had vanished at two local establishments. I guess I know now.
@blaineg @werehatrack
Yeah. I’d be interested to know if they’ve uncovered any confirmation of collusion between the inspectors and the plant. Sure seems likely at this point.
@blaineg @chienfou A lot of plants used inspectors that were only trained and certified by the FDA or USDA, not actual Federal employees. When that system was made legal, it was predicted that the rate of “indulgences” would increase.
@blaineg @werehatrack
Obviously some people have never heard the story of the fox guarding the hen house!
@chienfou @werehatrack Also deliberate cuts in inspectors/inspections to keep fat cats fat.
Go on, read that Ars Technica article, I dare you!
@blaineg @chienfou @werehatrack Absolutely eye-opening.
@blaineg @chienfou @werehatrack this is probably how pandemics get started
Trunk tidbits are always fresh. Stop on by for a healthy helping.
@yakkoTDI Long pork isn’t FDA-approved.
@werehatrack @yakkoTDI
Remind me not to show up wherever you are for trunk or treat!
Paging @YakkoTDI to the forum, @YakkoTDI to the forum…
@werehatrack You’re paging me to the topic by replying to my reply?
I’m just gonna leave this here (don’t mind the politics of it, just listen)
@SarahKirby12345 There is a hell of a lot of misinformation in that video. Tartrazine is not carcinogenic. Sounds like the type of person who won’t ingest anything they can’t pronounce, or who thinks gluten causes autism…and of course there’s a Trump endorsement at the end.
@PooltoyWolf You sure about that?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23026007/
Tartrazine = Yellow 5
@SarahKirby12345 Please re-read what you just typed yourself. ‘Contaminated’ means exactly that, tainted by an outside source, not endemic to the ingredient itself. Tartrazine itself has never been shown to cause cancer in humans. The rest of your quote(s) may or may not be verifiable but do not concern cancer. The same goes for aspartame, another often-maligned chemical by the overly organic folks out there.
@PooltoyWolf I was quoting the pubmed article – still, it’s not a good sign and it’s concerning that other countries have banned it but the USA hasn’t. I’d rather not eat food coloring if there is so much debate on it. The below article where it talks about the 2015 study doesn’t sound good.
https://www.healthline.com/health/yellow-5#research
Why can’t I just have beta carotene in my mountain dew like Europe?
@SarahKirby12345 If I had to guess, it’s because beta carotene is more expensive to procure and implement. I’m not arguing that some of what’s used in mass produced food products isn’t harmful, but that a lot of what the general public thinks is toxic isn’t.
EDIT: I’ve not yet had Mountain Dew in non-US regions, but I’d be willing to bet it tastes different. Whether or not ‘different’ means ‘better’ is up for endless debate!
@SarahKirby12345 No wonder RFK,J is so thin. He doesn’t eat any of the fun foods. (And he is letting the food conglomerates down. No surprise he didn’t get their endorsement.)
@PooltoyWolf @SarahKirby12345
Source for that?
@PooltoyWolf @SarahKirby12345
But who IS willing to ingest road-killed bears if he gets the chance!
@SarahKirby12345 Kennedy? Worms and heroin ate my brain Kennedy? Anti-Vax Kennedy?
Bwwhahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
@blaineg I did mention to not mind the politics of it… but sure, ignore everything he says even though it would benefit us all
@SarahKirby12345 He’s a raving lunatic, how can anything he says benefit anyone but himself?
I’m not talking about politics, but science.
@blaineg It seems you’re name-calling based on your personal opinion and talking about heroin eating his brain when it was actually a tapeworm diagnosed by doctors. I wouldn’t call that science.
@SarahKirby12345
"Long before it was reported, members of the family knew about the brain worm, which in court testimonies Kennedy conjectured he’d picked up from food he ate in South Asia. He said the tapeworm consumed a portion of his brain and led to protracted “brain fog.”
But more often his family points to Kennedy’s 14 years as a heroin user, which began when Kennedy was 15 and didn’t end until he was 29."
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/robert-kennedy-jr-shocking-history
Namecalling? If you say so, but based on his actions and words, he IS a raving lunatic.
@PooltoyWolf @SarahKirby12345
At least some of the color difference shown there was from the bottle color…
I know because I drink a lot of Diet Dew.
Because I cannot physically tolerate coffee and I really need caffeine.
@PhysAssist @PooltoyWolf
What cereal did Quaker discontinue? Was this recent?
@PooltoyWolf Looks like it’s Quaker Oatmeal Squares - is that right, @Cerridwyn? https://www.coloradowic.gov/alerts/2024-01-17/quaker-oatmeal-squares-cereal-recall
@Cerridwyn @Kyeh Huh, that’s not one I’d heard of before. At least my Cap’n Crunch is safe, whew!
@Cerridwyn @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf
Doesn’t pretty much ALL food have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella?
So recall ALL food?
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf yep. Love(d) them lots
@Cerridwyn @PooltoyWolf I never tried them.
They look a lot like shredded wheat - are they similar but made of oats?
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf yes and no. The texture is so different I don’t want to say that they are. That’s partially because I think shredded weight is sort of like eating grass. I never could get into them. And they were sweet. Not like a sugary kids cereal but definitely sweet.
@Cerridwyn @Kyeh Reminds me of another cereal I liked: Crispix, if it’s still around. It wasn’t Froot Loops or Lucky Charms sweet, but sweeter than regular Cheerios or Rice Krispies.
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf yeah kind of sort of it’s a little bit firmer and denser but closer to that than shredded weight
@Cerridwyn @PooltoyWolf The Quaker Oatmeal Squares are still showing up as available at Target; is it just going to be sold until it’s gone and not replaced?
@Cerridwyn @PooltoyWolf They still have them on the Quaker website, too -
https://www.quakeroats.com/products/cold-cereals/oatmeal-squares
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf maybe they finally decided to make more. There’s been a lot of clamor on their website in elsewhere to bring them back. But Quaker never responded. It made me think that they were never going to make them again. It’s been close to 2 years I think or more. They used to show up on a few websites but they always said not available or sold out. Maybe I need to wander over to Target since it’s across the street
@Cerridwyn @PooltoyWolf
I hope you find them!
@Cerridwyn @Kyeh Y’all are making me wanna try 'em now.
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf didn’t make it over today so going to run over tomorrow. And let me know what you think about them because I really do kind of like them.
@Cerridwyn @PooltoyWolf Yeah, I want to try them now too! Which flavor is the best?
@Cerridwyn @Kyeh @phendrick @PooltoyWolf yes.
Or start cooking your cereal
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf
Whichever you can get. I like both the cinnamon and the brown sugar. And I eat my oatmeal cooked for overnight either way I just like oats
@Cerridwyn @PooltoyWolf What I don’t like is the uncooked overnight oats - I tried them, but they just seemed soggy and still raw to me. Bleh.
@Cerridwyn @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf I don’t cook mine as hot and hard as I used to, but I still get them cooked so that they are tender and not raw-seeming. Cooked too long, the starches start to convert, and they just become mush.
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack I used to feel that way. But before I retired, I was looking for something different to meal prep for breakfasts, and started making overnight oats I found a recipe for a smores one and it went from there. I use Greek yogurt and add chia seeds. I use an equal amount of toasted oats (TJ’s or make my own), milk, and yogurt and then add whatever else and it works for me
@Cerridwyn @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack Maybe toasting the oats makes a difference, I haven’t tried that.
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack no matter what your using the outs for it really changes the flavor for the better as long as you don’t burn them
@Cerridwyn @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack Do they soften as much if they’re toasted?
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack let’s try this again do they soften as much if they’re toasted pretty much yes. It just Alters the flavor profile a tiny bit in such a way that’s really yummy. The easiest way is to go to Trader Joe’s and to buy a box of their toasted and see if you like it before you go to the trouble of trying to test your own and then you also know what it’s supposed to taste like.
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack and cheerrrrrs
Honey Bunches of oat is the second most favorite one that I have and well salted caramel with Honey Bunches of Oats I had to buy a box of that too. So I guess I’m eating cereal for a while
@Cerridwyn @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack Yay! Congratulations! Your precious cereal is protected by Koolhandjoe baby ghouls?
Salted caramel, hmmm - I might have to try that.
@Cerridwyn @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack
Are you talking about rolled oats (like Quaker) or pinhead oats? Because I get the overnight prep for pinhead, but I cook rolled oats in the microwave at breakfast time (a bowl at a time, regular not quick oats) - two minutes and they’re done.
I like mine with mashed banana and peanut butter or fresh blueberries when in season.
@Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack hehe yep
@Kyeh @macromeh @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack I had to Google then head outside no clue what that was. Steel cut if somebody else wants to know. And no I don’t use them for overnight. Although you can. I use the toasted oats that I buy at Trader Joe’s or make myself there sort of in between they’re a little thicker cut usually than your classic quick cooking oats but not as thick as steel cut oats more like the rolled sometimes a little bit thicker depending what brand you buy. And I actually like them that way mashed banana and peanut butter is good. Fresh blueberries is good I’ve done blueberries I’ve done raspberries I did a blended once with blueberries raspberries and some other kind of fruit and I didn’t care for it very much. But I hate it it was okay. And I really don’t like peanut butter the only Nut Butter I usually use is cashew butter and I don’t see any real purpose in adding it to oats. I do sometimes add protein powder if I don’t want to do something like make her boiled eggs to have on the side. But that was a go-to the last 6 months or so I was working with overnight oats a small portion and a hard boiled egg
@Kyeh @macromeh @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack
breakfast this morning was gooood
/image quaker oat squares
@Cerridwyn @Kyeh @macromeh @werehatrack Sweeeeeet!
@Cerridwyn @macromeh @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack
Yay!
I’ve got to get some to try.
Did anyone else notice what the brand name on the can of beans is trying to say?
@pakopako
/giphy shocked
/showme thoughts on peas
@mediocrebot I can’t believe it wrote ‘pyes’ on the can. How rude.
/showme pyes in a can
@mediocrebot I would sign up for those pyes.
@mediocrebot @mehcuda67 I’m not sure which is worse, the giggles or the fact that I’m awake at 3AM CDT.
@pakopako Ha!
/image Soylent Green
@f00l Great film.
@f00l We’re two years into it, how’s it taste?
@blaineg @f00l Make Room! Make Room!
@blaineg @Cerridwyn
it tastes very Charlton Heston, according to film industry sources.
@blaineg @f00l You can order some and report back when you’ve tried it…
https://soylent.com/
@blaineg @f00l @werehatrack
In case no one got the reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_Room!_Make_Room!
@blaineg @Cerridwyn @f00l
So… Wait. What??
“So… We took Moby Dick, set it in Sweden, gave Ahab pigtails and called it Pipi Longstockings… But it’s totally that story… yeah”.
@blaineg @Cerridwyn @chienfou @f00l
I’d never heard of the original novel! Ironic that it has the world population at 7 billion, and now it’s actually 8.2 billion. You don’t hear much about population control anymore, either, although we should. Instead they’re worried about birth rates going down!
@Cerridwyn @f00l @werehatrack Hey, we’re literate around here.
I hear cats are good.
For whatever reason, I first read the title as “is anyone safe to eat anymore?”
@seespotbark
Freud would have something to say about that…
@chienfou @seespotbark We’re back to Soylent Green!
@seespotbark Back to Soylent Green…
@PhysAssist @seespotbark
@Kyeh Great minds…
@PhysAssist Yes!
I used to really love Boar’s Head stuff, but I realized last year that getting my sausages and ham and sweaty charcuterie meats from the local butcher, all locally made, costs about the same.
@Catburd nice. I sort of Miss being able to get some of those items locally. Never been a huge fan of Boar’s head. Strangely enough my favorite deli ham is the Safeway Albertsons store brand. The ham off the bone. It to me tastes a little bit more like regular ham than most do. When I lived in Monterey I could get all kinds of interesting things fresh at the Farmers Market and I did
@Catburd @Cerridwyn
Maybe this belongs in the “things from Europe” thread but I always enjoyed the variety of specialty shops in France. You bought different products at different stores. Beef, fish, fowl, charcuterie, each had their own individual shops.
@Catburd @chienfou I think our car Centric culture makes that very difficult. And maybe the few that areas like that that might have existed pre-covid don’t anymore. I can remember being in a I don’t know what you want to call it space build a big building where they’re a bunch of little tiny merchants and you could do stuff like that. Pikes in Seattle has some of that. But it’s not really in most cases geared for locals to shop except for possibly the large produce section. The farmers market that we had in Monterey was almost that sophisticated. If you went to the larger one that was up in Aptos, you really truly did not need to go to work grocery store. It had multiple meat vendors it had bread vendors fresh pasta vendors cheese vendors Etc but I think outside of the right Marketplace you don’t see that anymore
@Catburd …and prolly tastes better!
@Catburd @PhysAssist Houston didn’t lose its main Farmer’s Market during the plague, and it has rebounded to be everything it was before. And we’ve got more of the smaller amateur and semi-pro and boutique-level “farmer;s markets” that pop up on weekends on a regular schedule all over town, with varying levels or produce quality and variety.
@Catburd @werehatrack
Cool! I’m jealy…