Another Salmonella Alert

Put those carrot sandwiches down, hippies: your alfalfa sprouts might be contaminated. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) has issued a warning that raw alfalfa sprouts may be contaminated with salmonella. This just weeks after the same warning for pistachio nuts, and peanuts earlier this year and last.

The FDA reports that 31 cases of food poisoning with the Salmonella Saintpaul strain have been reported in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia. The warning is for raw sprouts, which authorities believe are harboring the bacteria in their seeds, so washing the spouts will not make them safe. The good news is that only the alfalfa variety seem to be contaminated; all other sprouts appear to be fine.

"Some reported eating raw sprouts at restaurants; others reported purchasing the raw sprouts at the retail level," the FDA said.

The FDA believes that this current contamination is an extension from an earlier outbreak this year that was reported in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, and Minnesota.

Well, another food, another contamination. It seems that food safety is a real issue today, and thankfully the government is making this a top priority. Congress is currently discussing setting up a new food safety agency with more resources than the FDA has. If it tightens up the controls on food quality, I'm all for it. I understand that feeding the masses is a tricky biz, but letting this much contaminated food out onto the markets is just unacceptable. I'll keep you posted, love children; but until I hear more, stick to the hemp paste.

Don't Eat the Salmonella...I Mean Jalapeño!

Warning! Breaking News: The culprit that caused the salmonella outbreak, which sickened more than 1,200 people over the last several months, appears to be jalapeño peppers. U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials have found a jalapeño pepper contaminated with Salmonella saintpaul, the bacteria that has been causing the widespread illness. The contaminated pepper was isolated from a distribution center called Agricola Zaragosa in McAllen, Texas.

Officials are not sure if the contamination originated in Mexico where the peppers are from or if the contamination was centralized in the Texas plant. Either way, one thing is for sure: DON'T EAT JALAPEÑO PEPPERS!!! Not until they've been cleared. So...hold the peppers, hold the salsa, no chipotle, nothing, nada. Can't think of a worse fate: a bug that gives you the runs in a pepper that makes you shoot fire. Yow!

Also, tomatoes, you're off the hook. Officials thought for a moment that it was this vitamin c laden fruit that was causing the runny woes, but lo and behold: TOMATOES ARE INNOCENT. Abbondanza!

There you have it--you heard it here first. From your source of health news and information with a twist. Now 'scuze me--gotta run to the....aaaarrrgghhhh!!!!