OT: food contamination

[Guest guest]

I think someone has possibly misunderstood what I wrote about. I'm not clueless

and believe that there's still no chance of contamination of fresh produce from

animal sources (predominantly) nor that one should carefully wash (and in some

case peel) produce. I'm well aware of some of the food-borne disease outbreaks

(although the numbers for those directly due to bad meat are considerably

higher, and often not recognized).

 

My point was, maybe lost in the verbage, that as a vegan I don't have to worry

about cross-contamination of meat and dairy with other foods, meat rotting in a

refigerator without electricity, and that in general, my kitchen doesn't have to

be run like a bio-hazards lab.

 

That's a significantly different perspective than " being fooled that one needn't

worry about... yadda yadda. "

 

Given the odds on food-borne diseases in meat, poutry, and dairy, as to those

with fresh produce, I'll take the produce.

 

" Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of food poisoning in the

United States. One study found Campylobacter contaminating 98% of retail chicken

meat, the most common cause of Campylobacter poisoning. "

 

(from: http://www.drgreger.org/june2005.html)

 

....and:

" While E. coli 0157:H7 remains the leading cause of acute kidney failure of our

children in this country,[31] only about 50,000 people get infected every year

and only about 50 die. But literally millions of people get what's called

" extraintestinal " E. coli infections--urinary tract infections (UTIs) which can

invade the bloodstream and cause an estimated 36,000 deaths annually in the

United States. That's over 500 times as many deaths as E. coli 0157:H7. We know

where E. coli 0157:H7 comes from--fecal contamination from the meat, dairy and

egg industries[32] "

 

(same source as above).

 

Finally, the study that was cited by the person saying " don't be fooled " and

" noting " that produce is responsible for the most individual outbreaks is

unintentionally misleading. If you add up and total ALL the non-plant based

outbreaks and individual illnesses, and compare them to produce, they FAR

outnumber that of produce on both counts.

 

Fact remains: you are less likely to suffer from a food-borne illness as a

vegan.... ideally, one practicing reasonable hygiene in the " non-biohazard "

kitchen(!).

 

Best and FYI, Mark

http://www.soulveggie.com

[Guest guest]

I did a food safety course when we first set up Angel Food, and it made

me glad in yet another way that I don't handle animal products!

Vegan foods to be particularly careful with include hummus (because of

it's high water and protein content) and rice (because of a particular

microbe it naturally contains).

Sushi and hummus that have been sitting out on a buffet for hours are

best avoided.

Cheers

Alice

[Guest guest]

I don't recall calling anybody clueless and I certainly wasn't

implying anybody was clueless.

 

Here's where I'm coming from: I work in public health investigating

infectious diseases. I am one of the people who collects all that

data on food-borne and other communicable diseases and does disease

reporting for my state. As a result, when I see statements such as

the one below which indicate someone may " believe that there's still

no chance of contamination of fresh produce from animal sources

(predominantly) nor that one should carefully wash (and in some

case peel) produce. " or, in the preceding message where " contamination

may make me nauseous but won't give me 'food poisoning' " , I feel the

need to correct what appears to be a misconception. Perhaps you meant

something else. I don't really know. I did, however, feel the need

as a public health professional to point out that contaminated produce

is an issue and can result in very serious illness.

 

You are welcome to follow whatever food safety guidelines you choose.

I didn't want people to have a false sense of security that just

because they aren't using animal products they don't have to worry

about food poisoning. I'm happy to talk further about food-borne

disease data, but I think that should probably happen off-list.

 

Mary

 

 

, Mark Sutton <msutton wrote:

>

> I think someone has possibly misunderstood what I wrote about. I'm

not clueless and believe that there's still no chance of contamination

of fresh produce from animal sources (predominantly) nor that one

should carefully wash (and in some case peel) produce. I'm well aware

of some of the food-borne disease outbreaks (although the numbers for

those directly due to bad meat are considerably higher, and often not

recognized).