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US/Canadian Health Advisory: Do Not Use "Spring Mix" Salad Products

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Giancarlo:
Geez... I say take a chance in life. Don't be freaking out about everything. Spinach is better cooked anyways. When it comes to germs, this nation  is full of clean freaks. If they were consistent they'd be checking out restaurants like Ihop more closely... why anyone would want to eat there is beyond me.

serious crayons:
My philosophy is, if people aren't getting sick from it, it doesn't matter. That's how I manage to shrug off those news reports about germs on keyboards and body fluids on hotel-room bedspreads. They might be gross, but humans evolved to be repulsed by things that might be harmful. If something's doing no harm, we don't have to worry about it.

But in the case of the spinach, people actually are getting sick, and the sickness can cause permanent organ damage or even death. As someone who got hepatitis in college, presumably from restaurant food, I can't take those things completely lightly.
 

opinionista:

--- Quote from: Giancarlo on September 19, 2006, 02:31:15 am ---Geez... I say take a chance in life. Don't be freaking out about everything. Spinach is better cooked anyways. When it comes to germs, this nation  is full of clean freaks. If they were consistent they'd be checking out restaurants like Ihop more closely... why anyone would want to eat there is beyond me.

--- End quote ---

Well, Giancarlo here got a point. I know this e-coli outbreak is probably a serious one, but come on it is not like you can't survive without Spinach. My meaning is that sometimes this kind of warning are over sensationalized by the press. Ok, eating spinach is truly dangerous now, and I bet most kids are probably jumping with joy. However, from what I have seen the FDA is simply making a warning to avoid more cases. This is not a life or death situation, as the press is making it look like. So far there have been 114 victims distributed in 21 states and only one has died, according to CDC. This hardly makes it a major a health disaster. More people die in car accidents each day. CNN is now talking about the spinach e-coli mystery when it's well known that e-coli outbreaks are associated with improper handling at the plant, in transport or at the retailer. It's also associated with the use of certain fertilizers. This sort of reminds me of The Chicken Little tale. "The sky is falling!, the sky is falling!"

nakymaton:
E. coli isn't usually fatal (complications can be, but they are relatively rare), but it is a miserable infection to get. Maybe it's an overreaction, but you know... those eight weeks my kid was home from daycare two years ago? They were bad. And though I couldn't get him to eat spinach now if I tried, I'm still glad to know to avoid it until the sanitation problems get solved. (E. coli mostly lives in the guts of cows, and then is spread by manure from infected cow and by feces of infected humans. So E. coli can be a problem with any kind of raw fruit or vegetable that 1) is grown on the ground or 2) is handled by people who don't (or aren't able to) wash hands adequately after using the toilet. So... well, I would like to see the problems dealt with. Because I don't want to deal with an infected kid again.)

serious crayons:
I'd agree it probably gets overplayed a bit. The media tend to go overboard on stories that are novel.

But as someone who eats packaged spinach a LOT, and the brand I buy (Earthbound Farms) is one of the brands affected, and the state I live in is one of the states where people have gotten sick, I'm glad to be told about it. Everyone I've ever known who has experienced serious food poisoning has said it was a horrible experience. For the time being, I've switched to arugula.

I guess I'd rather see the spinach story overplayed than the JonBenet story or the latest blonde college girl disappearance or whether Brad and Angelina are going to tie the knot.

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