10/19/09

No One Wants to Die From Dinner -- Here's a Quick Primer on What's Safe to Eat and Who's Looking Out for Your Health

This is a pretty scary list. Peacenik has eaten everything on the list except ice cream in the last two months. Click on the link near the top of the article to see the scary 10.

When Peacenik buys a pre-packaged salad there is not much Peacenik can do but eat it. But what about packaged beans, or carrots, or spinich, or lettuce or Parisenne potatoes? Does Peacenik have to wash them before eating? Do you?

By Vanessa Barrington, EcoSalon. Posted October 17, 2009.

Thousands are dying every year from food-borne illness and we have a confusing morass of regulations and agencies charged with enforcing them. How to sort out the mess?

On the heels of the devastating article in the New York Times about a young woman who paid dearly for the horrifying practices and lack of oversight in the meat industry, the Center for Science in the Public Interest released a list of the top 10 riskiest foods regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Some of your favorite foods are on this list, including ice cream, berries and leafy greens, with tuna being the most surprising culprit. Though meat contains some of the most virulent contaminants, like the strain of E. coli that almost killed Stephanie Smith, it's missing from the list, because it isn't regulated by the FDA. It's regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Confused yet?

Read on...