Sunday, October 02, 2011

Produce - The Silent Killer

This is the one that got me.
The cantaloupe has been exonerated, and I offer my apologies to all melon lovers out there.  The produce item that almost spelled my demise last week?   Romaine hearts, my friends - never trust a leafy green.  An entire bag (well, half a bag - that was the problem) of listeria-ridden lettuce was in my fridge.  I had been chowing down on it all week because - get this - I thought it was healthy.  Silly me.

These people were NOT helpful.
What kills me (aside from the listeria) is that all the recall articles state that no illnesses have been reported.  Well!  I attempted to report mine - I figured the CDC would have a webpage for such a thing, or maybe my local health department.

Nope.

I would have had to go to my doctor (at a time when I couldn't be more than 3 feet from a toilet) who would have then required a stool sample, etc., before he'd report to the health department. In case you ever thought that food poisoning cases in our country are massively under-reported? You would have been correct.

So now I"m scared to eat produce.  But ice cream is still safe, right?  I'll just eat that instead.

No cherry on top, thanks!

[Oh, and - unlike eating fresh produce - it's not life-threatening to  vote for me.]

[lettuce image: kcra.com]
[sundae image: cltampa.com]

7 comments:

  1. Um, I remember a local ice cream place having E. coli-contaminated ice cream at some point. Just saying.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I guess it's a good thing I didn't buy that cantaloupe at the grocery store even though it did have a sign that said it was grown in the Central Valley, CA and ok to eat :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've never read of someone getting sick off of Oreos. Brilliant post title.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Salmonella in Schwann's a while back. Like 15 years ago. I guess I should let that go. ;) Some days I wish I could get really indignant about our food machine and go buy a mini farm for my brood. Get back to the land! But that would be work...a lot of work so I just sit back down with my chips and wait for the feeling to pass. Ever heard of contaminated Ruffles?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anything that won't support listeria is probably not food. Don't eat it.

    Have you considered cooked greens? With bacon, of course...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm sorry--food poisoning is the worst. You probably earned some ice cream.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Our local ice cream place had a bad fire last week. I was trying to find some huckleberry ice cream and it was a shock to see the store boarded up.
    Now I'm worried about the lettuce I bought today...

    ReplyDelete