Thursday, February 12, 2009

if you use splenda

you might want to think twice- and apparently never eat peanut butter again- new wave of recalls

2 comments:

HAPPY IN NEVADA said...

Good morning! Back in 1977, I worked with the research company on artificial sweeteners; the dangers, etc., and have never used an artificial sweetener of any kind since I learned how bad it is over the long-term.

As to peanut butter, this did put a crimp in my husband's habit of nightly peanut butter and crackers.

What was sickening was watching the owner of PCA and his plant manager plead the 5th every time a question was asked of them by the panel investigating this terrible crime.

What I smell is a new form of testing that will require ever company to send out their food not only to a private independent lab, but also be required to send a sample of the same to the FDA - this will certainly take time; increase the cost of foods since the manufacturer will now 'beg off' because of testing, its costs have increased.

I think growing our own foods is going to continue to be the best way to go; eating fresh as much as possible, and also reminding people that they can reduce the chance of food poisoning by heating their foods to a temperature of 180 degrees (or over).

If you boil the food at 212 degrees, you'll eliminate 99% of the dangers, so we all should consider that when we buy foods we know we could actually take up to that temperature - cool before consumption (if the product is designed to be eaten at room temperature).

Remember that you can soak your veggies and fruits (not berries - they break down) in a water and white vinegar bath, and that will kill most bacteria.

You can also bury your food in coarse salt; that also kills germs.

I keep a spray bottle of white vinegar mixed with coarse salt handy to spray everything I bring home.

I mix one quart of white vinegar with 1 cup of coarse salt; to make the salt dissolve more easily, heat the two together in a microwave; cool, and put in a spray bottle.

Even an old squirt bottle saved from a dish liquid you've used up, is handy to add the liquid to. Then you can easily spray or 'squirt' the liquid over the food items (fresh primarily), and kill much of the bacteria.

I also brine my turkey; chicken, and ham to reduce bacteria.

Beef doesn't stand up as well to brining, but if you make up a corned beef using vinegar, this will remove that danger (as well as brining pork loin in a similar manner).

Going for the crock-pot cooking helps a great deal to kill bacteria; yes, it does destroy some of the nutritonal value, so I take a multi-vitamin/mineral each day.

It's a sad state of affairs when we now have to worry about the foods we eat; but, we have measures we can take and should just to be safe.

With canned goods, don't buy the dented cans; most of the canned goods remain pretty safe because they're brought to a temperature to preserve them (and kill bacteria), so like it or not, this might be an option for those who want to buy 'off the shelf' without having to take extra steps to insure safety.

I also pickle my beets; my carrots, and my cukes - adding red onion; it's tasty and much safer.

We rarely leat out; I've had food poisoning 4 times in my life; e-coli 2 times (one from Jack in the Box, and one from Denny's). I simply don't trust restaurants to be thoroughly clean; the people who do the cooking can't be watched 24/7, and that's how I also have changed my eating and food habits.

Thanks for putting up these links - we all need to help each other with posts liked this; things will probably become more difficult as times get tougher, and rules get broken because the cost of adhering to quality production is on the rise, and that translates into higher prices at the stores.

Take care. Diane

Kulkuri said...

Things with Splenda don't taste right to me. I also try to avoid foods with 'High Fructose Corn Syrup' in them as the body can't use it.