Health Tidbit: Foodborne Illness and Animal Products

Each week, I will share some of my knowledge of nutrition, health and natural living in the form of what I call "Health Tidbits", similar to what Dr. Furman does on his blog, Disease Proof Your Child.

Over the weekend, my mom attended a large catered business party. Come Monday morning, she came down with what seemed like the stomach flu. As far as I know, there is really no such thing as the "stomach flu" virus--the symptoms of a fever, diarrhea and vomiting are the result of some kind of foodborne microbe, chemical, or contamination of some kind. So, I wanted to share some information on this serious health issue and raise awareness of the current state of food safety in this country.

If you don't already know about the book Conscious Eating by Gabriel Cousens, I highly recommend reading it. In chapter 14, there are several facts about meat eating and the incidence of foodborne pathogens: "It is estimated that approximately one-third of commercial chickens carry salmonella. Most of the one million cases of food poisoning reported yearly are salmonella" (pg 322).

Toxins introduced into the food supply also carry risk for making people ill. According to Cousens, "Because the animals whose flesh is eaten are higher on the ecological chain, there is a higher concentration of radioactive materials...as well as higher amounts of pesticides, fungicides, and many other environmental toxins." He goes on to say, "There are approximately fourteen times more pesticides in flesh foods than in vegetarian produce" (pg 321-322).

I enjoy watching the Food Network to learn new cooking techniques and skills, and even to veganize recipes I see the chefs make. However, I am struck by when people on various shows prepare chicken, they have to go to such lengths as to use a separate cutting board and knife, to be very careful not to touch the raw chicken, and to wash their hands after handling the carcass. Why would you want to eat something that is obviously such a health threat, and could (and probably IS) contaminated? I am completely flabbergasted by this.

The reason I wrote this post is not to convince people reading this to be vegan (because I assume you already are), but to bring attention to this issue of food safety. In our country, most of us are blind consumers. We eat whatever we want, regardless of the consequences to our planet, our children (including unborn babies), our health, and the ultimate fate of the the creatures we eat. Foodborne pathogens represent a kind of karma that has surfaced as a result of many decades of abuse and neglect of health and the quality of our food in this country.