Why so mny food recalls? One authority said that it is likely becuse we are getting better at detecting food pathogens and recalling food quickly.

Let’s hope these food and product safety agencies are left to do their important work.

" I’m grateful that the USA still has government agencies overseeing food safety and quality. "

Don't be too grateful.

Our food supplies, meat and eggs especially, have much higher rates and frequencies of contamination than is the case in other developed countries. At fault are underfunded and inadequate governmental inspection services and ineffective enforcement of otherwise lax handling and purity standards.

If you want some confidence the food you eat is safe, you can find that in EU member countries in Europe. Not here.

" I have been ill from food poisoning before. Not my cooking. "

Sometimes it doesn't matter who was cooking. Sometimes no cooking is involved at all. Proper cooking can make a difference, but even something like salad greens can cause problems.

One order of a local Chinese restaurant’s shrimp dish (~26 or 30 years) ago made me violently ill for hours. vomiting, then intense nausea with dry heaves for many hours after. I was too ill to do anything but crash on the bathroom floor.

That was one of the worst experiences of my life — and I sure have had some “experiences”

^^^ about 3 years ago I went with 3 other friends to a really good local restaurant. Everything was scrumptious and it was a great lunch.

About a day and a half later, I got really sick. ( up all night, really sick). Then I was over it and didn't think more of it.

The following week, one of the women texted the group and said how much she had enjoyed the lunch, and meant to text us sooner but had gotten really sick with a stomach bug........ then one by one we each said "so did I'. My friend reached out to the restaurant and the county health department.

The restaurant offered us gift certificates or a refund. We all took the refund.

The county health department did do inspection but it was at that point a week after.

Anyway we believe it was food handling because we had ordered different dishes.

It's still a very popular and well regarded restaurant but I cannot bring myself to go back.

Salonva, I couldn't bring myself to go back either. I was just reading an article the other day that said when eating out, there is little we can do to protect ourselves other than insist foods that should be served hot are really truly hot when they arrive at your table, and that foods that are meant to be cold are cold and not room temp.

A friend of mine stopped at a little restaurant for her lunch just a couple of weeks ago, she was making some deliveries for her husbands office and it was a type of food he wasn't interested in - she was alone so treated herself. She was so ill that night. A friday and she spent the entire weekend in bed (and bathroom), did not go into the office the following Monday still feeling dehydrated.

It wasn't that many years ago there was the huge recall of all romaine type lettuces. It's one of two salad greens DH will enjoy and I was afraid to buy any for weeks. In fact, we were at a restaurant we frequented when visiting mother weekly and I remarked the steak salad sounded very good but the romaine concerned me. The server overheard me and quickly assured me theirs was cleared and was safe. I still didn't order the salad for my dinner even though I'd had their steak salad before and it was wonderful.....

At fault are underfunded and inadequate governmental inspection services and ineffective enforcement of otherwise lax handling and purity standards.

I worked for the state for a while as a nurse for a program giving assistance to families with severely chronically ill, medically dependent children. I agree with 'underfunded and inadequate', we did help many families but because of the heavy workload there were some workers who cut corners to the detriment of the served families, and there were other families that desperately needed help but were doomed to waiting lists and bureaucracy.

I am hearing ideas about a federal 'Department of Government Efficiency'. I am hoping that this might mean that waste will be cut and that efficiency will be rewarded, but I think that is naive, and what it actually might mean is that an already stretched workforce will be slashed in numbers so the slashers can preen and strut about decreasing costs.

'Department of Government Efficiency' will most likely result in more deregulation, less inspections, and self regulation for the food industry to make decisions about what is bad for consumers, and what is good for the industries bottom line. Buyer Beware will be the new policy.

Re carrots, we did buy the at risk brand in the at risk time and ate them before we knew of the recall. We must've as I checked the bag we have now and it was purchased after the at risk date. Fortunately, our state is not one on the list of reported illnesses, but we all know there are more cases than are ever reported.

" a federal 'Department of Government Efficiency'. "

Just to be clear: The "Department of Government Efficiency" is NOT a part of the federal government and has no official governmental status at all.

seagrass_gw Cape Cod

Government efficiency is an oxymoron

There appears to be a current recall of organic packaged carrots due to E coli contamination being sold in multiple stores. One article I read mentioned that the contamination may be due to the drought conditions in California where much of this crop is grown. The farmers are having to bring water in from further away and some of the water maybe be going through or near pasture lands. I have no idea of the truth to this.

I recently had food poisoning which was my fault. I ate rice that was too old and boy was I sick. I don't ever want to go through that again.

fwiw, in my the instance I was sharing, we believe it was novovirus. Also, the fact that it was about a day or two after , none of us associated the meal with the sickness. (plus the fact that the food had been so tasty. Yuck).

https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/about/index.html

What a great idea to have an outside, unaccountable group decide where to cut government services.

What could go wrong?

And there are the ”crunchy moms” that have the ear of one or two overseeing expenses (for some) and health policy.

" They are referred to as crunchy because they tend to die earlier and the description refers to their bones. "

The term "crunchy" to describe people who are intense in their beliefs of alternative health and anti-establishment goes back over 30 years " Student slang sense of "annoyingly intense about health or environmental issues" is by 1990, short for crunchy granola (considered a natural and wholesome food) used as an adjective. It could be neutral or positive at first, but later often was dismissive. " https://www.etymonline.com/word/crunchy

Or " The crunchy movement loosely describes bloggers, influencers, and other content creators as well as their followers who strive to live a more natural, sustainable, and generally politically liberal lifestyle. The origins of the term have roots in phrases like “crunchy granola people.” In the 90s, this term largely applied to people who opted for alternative diets, made their own food staples, and otherwise bucked social norms in a sort of linen-clad, barefoot, vegetarian, embracing nature sort of way. " https://medium.com/@eleni.georgiadis/lets-talk-crunchy-a6bbf8153a3e

There is some merit to crunchy / granola heads. Chosing organic food, mindfulness of the environment, recyling are fine values. Others listed may be too ”feel good” and unsound. I enjoy people who are open minded, science-literate (as well as being versed in other areas like history, humanities, human rights….).

I never enjoy anyone who is a zealot or stubbornly and ignorantly opinionated, or who is going along with a trend to address their need for belonging.

Crunchy is just a catchphrase / snapshot for a perceived group that may not all be on the same page. Still, it can be a useful term in certain situations.

So I’m sitting here scrolling through forums while I’m eating my salad for dinner. I'm trying to eat healthy. I cut up some baby carrots and put them into my salad. Cal-Organic from Costco and was crunching one when I read this …. A carrot recall? What??? I hadn’t heard about it!

And here I was just thinking that I have a good chance of not being sick on Thanksgiving, which hardly ever happens. Time will tell.

Sorry to sound self-involved, but I really don’t want food poisoning!

Following "jjess"

" One order of a local Chinese restaurant’s shrimp dish (~26 or 30 years) ago made me violently ill for hours. vomiting, then intense nausea with dry heaves for many hours after. I was too ill to do anything but crash on the bathroom floor. "

" Also, the fact that it was about a day or two after , none of us associated the meal with the sickness."

Both of these statements reflect a poor understanding of what causes food poisoning. Food poisoning can take as long as 72 hours to surface after consuming the food that caused it, so it isn't necessarily the last thing you ate. Unless you have had the food tested and it is contaminated, you can't definitively blame a particular meal.