I Recall The Recall

 

Pexels (Free download) Photo Credit: Ekrulil

"You can't see bacteria, they're everywhere, so keep it clean."

~USDA

Do you practice food safety? Do you wash your hands, before and after handling food? Do you know the proper cook temperature and time on your homemade meals? How about cross contamination of your foods? Do you ever wonder what the food handling protocols are for the meat packing plants are? How about the fruits and vegetables... how are they deemed safe?

Do you know what products are currently under recall?

Personally, I am terrified of catching food poisoning. I've had salmonella once in my lifetime, so I have NO interest in experiencing it again. Both hubby and I wear kitchen gloves when working with uncooked foods. We separate ingredients to lessen the chances of cross contamination. Like on the cooking shows, prepare your work space, and have all the components of the meals chopped and measured separately when indicated. I was all surfaces as I go, so clean up is easier. Do your research about cutting boards. And the temperature probe is your friend. Refrigerate as directed, and writing the recommended expiration dates on the containers is such a nice way to keep track. It sounds like a lot to do, but it's really not. Experiencing "exploding diarrhea" is a lot more time consuming, and not nearly as fun!

As with Covid-19, the Trump administration isn't going to be very helpful about letting us know the statistics. We have to educate ourselves. You can contact the FDA, or the Department of Agriculture, if you trust them, but you can also check with local health departments for information, and the CDC lists recent recalled items. But reading from different sources, and checking with your personal physician is great too. Look, just take care of yourselves. We are heading into autumn, children will be back in school, and different pathogens will be making the rounds again, so be prepared. Stock up on basic over the counter stuff now. Don't wait for Trump to make it all cost more!

I think it will be well into the autumn before I try eating a salad again. If you have a favorite restaurant, check with your county health department regarding their current safety rating. Have they ever received a warning? Have they been shut down? what you find might be surprising! I still can't bring myself to buy, Boar's Head, lunchmeat. If you haven't heard about that nightmare, click the link below. Ugh.

NBC News

Boar's Head Indefinitely Closes Virginia Plant tied to Deadly Listeria Outbreak.

Take care of yourselves.

Wired

CDC Has Cyclospora Lab. Doge Downsized It Last Year.

Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts

Food Safety Charts at FoodSafety.gov

There are several PDF's you can download that details, Safe Food Handling, from the FDA. 

That Time Gilligan's Island Saved Our Lives...

 

“Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.” 

~Hanya Yanagihara,

  A Little Life

 

What you are looking at is the, Amanita phalloides, aka, the Death Cap mushroom, commonly found in parks throughout California. You don't want to eat these... THEY WILL KILL YOU! Every single year it will be on the news... a story about folks venturing out to their favorite park in search of wild mushrooms, to prep and serve in some amazing culinary dish passed down from family member to family member. Probably something with turkey. Unfortunately, sometimes the chef gets it wrong, and they return from their pleasant day of park shopping, with a deadly mushroom. Like Maryanne did in Gilligan's Island. You know... the professor told her the bad mushrooms would result in a case of, Roomus igloomas. Not a real condition, but wild mushroom poisoning is very real and deadly.

 

 The San Francisco Chronicle featured a story, from last summer, about the deadly fungus and issued warnings, but the harvesting continues. A lady in Australia is suspected of poisoning her in-laws with poisonous mushrooms, but she contends that she got them at two different local stores. She has not yet been arrested, but she is still under suspicion by the Australian authorities. But back to sunny California. Because of this year's El Nino conditions in California, the bloom should be even greater than last year. Just don't do it! Mushrooms aren't that expensive, if you want yummy and organic, let Whole Foods or Trader Joe's do the work for you. A liver transplant is not what you want to give your Uncle Bob for Christmas!

 

Personally, since my bout with Covid-19 (Omicron) in the winter of 2021, I can't eat mushrooms. They taste nothing like I remember them tasting. In fact, they have no scent, and taste like old garbage, so I will be fine, but I think about all those well meaning adults in the world, who don't know any better than to eat mushrooms out of a park. I mean... what else are they deciding to take home and eat? Oleander? Castor Beans? And it's not just we dense humans that have to worry, did you know that cats are highly allergic to common holiday plant, the poinsettia? Look friends... just be careful, and keep the phone number for the poison control center and emergency animal shelter handy. Okay?

 

San Francisco Chronicle

August 17th, 2023 

 

A dinner party ended with 3 dead.

 The culprit could be a mushroom infamous in California.

 

9 Dangerous Plants In California You Should Never Touch

 

Recipes

 

Mushroom Risotto

 

Our 40 Best Mushroom Recipes

(Food & Wine) 

CDC 

Food Safety

 

ASPCA

Animal Poison Control Center

 

 

 

Best When Used By...

"It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing warnings about toxic substances and just gave me the names of one or two things still safe."

-Robert Fuss









If you are like me, you are a label reader! I like to cook, so I like to know what it is I am putting in my food, and what my food consists of. As a diabetic, I have learned to be especially diligent with things. Calories, fat grams, cholesterol... it all counts, but the most important thing of all is the art of dealing with food safely. I didn't learn that from being diabetic, I learned that when a former boyfriend's mother poisoned me, and a few others, with a deliberately mismanaged turkey. If you have known me for any length of time, you have probably heard about my adventure that June 6th, all those years ago! I remember it like it was yesterday, it was probably the sickest I have ever been, and in truth, I don't think I have felt the same since. It was violent, and painful, and it left an impression, both about the guy I was dating, and about food.

Turkey had my respect from that moment on! What I mean by that is that it all became very clear about how things should be done just a certain way. It was about 10 years, or so, after the food poisoning before I ate turkey again, and another 7 years before I dared cook one myself. Turkey and I have made our peace with each other, in fact we are good friends now, mostly because I am so diligent with things. I am pleased to report that as a wife, I have never poisoned Alan or any of our dinner guests, either accidentally or on purpose. LOL. I am a good cook. It's something I take pride in, and do with love. To me, making a good, healthy meal is pretty much the easiest way to say,"I love you."

So I bet your saying to yourself, "what in the world is she on about here?" Ok, getting to the point, I want to ask you if you have been noticing what I have lately? Have you been noticing products left well past the "Use By" date on store shelves? I ask because, I have! And it hasn't been at just one store, it has been at several stores. I bought a Boboli whole wheat pizza crust at Safeway a couple week's ago, and didn't look at the "sell by" until I got home, only to find it was 3 weeks past the date! I dropped the ball! When I realized that, I went through everything I purchased that day to see if I had missed anything else. I hadn't, thank goodness, but it was disheartening all the same.

After that incident I became hyper aware of things, and began checking a little closer. I found some Egg Beaters at a different store in the East Bay that had a "Use By" date of December 31st 2008! The day I spotted that was February 25th 2009! YUCK! I have to wonder if this is yet another symptom of the economy? Are stores willing to push things, and hope we don't notice? I can't believe they are all in some sort of conspiracy to poison us, and yet, how come I am seeing expired food on shelves more and more?

I know that sometimes a manufacturer puts a date that merely refers to the quality of the taste, but sometimes I actually means quality as in the safety of the food. I try to use things well within the recommended dates, but I also know there is a little leeway in some cases. If you follow the USDA posted guidelines everything should be fine, on the other hand, I'd rather toss something questionable then end up...yuck...tossing it! All I know is I thank GOD for the Butterball hotline, but even with it, I don't make turkey in June!

Tell me what you think. Do you always check the date on items before you buy them at the grocery store? Have you ever bought something, and brought it home and then discovered it had expired? Have you been noticing expired products still on store shelves?

Butterball

USDA Food Product Dating Guide

Butterball - Food Safety

-Carly