No Need for Panic in the Supermarket Aisles
Don't Add These to Your Pasta
It’s no surprise that in an effort to grab eyeballs, “Time Magazine” has produced a list of The Top 10 Most Dangerous Foods. But in order to avoid a panic in the supermarket, I will reassure you that there’s no real news in this list. In fact, my guess is that most folks have never heard of several of these items, and will probably never run across them in their lives.
Fugu, the Japanese blowfish delicacy won’t hit many plates in the U.S. or elsewhere at $200 a dish. And you’ll only need to worry about the unripe ackee fruit on your next trip to Jamaica. I’ve never met a person allergic to tapioca pudding, but be cautious the next time you run into a cassava plant.
The next couple of warnings fall into the “this isn’t news category”. Anyone with a kid in grade school knows that peanuts are both villains and heroes with peanut butter the lunchtime staple for many, and peanuts the fearful allergen of others. Tuna is another dual personality food, wonderful for its brain boosting abilities, and dangerous for the mercury levels. Just be sure not to eat too many pounds of it each week. Rhubarb has been around as a springtime pie ingredient for years, but any baker using it knows to toss the leaves away.
Hot dogs are another “dangerous” food that moms have been warned for years to cut into small pieces for their children. But really, are they any more dangerous than other large chunks of food? Apples? Soft pretzels? Grapes? And I’m sure that many kids will be happy to hear that leafy greens made the top 10 dangerous list. “But Mom, the spinach is too dangerous for me to eat.” You know “Time”, it’s not the plants, it’s the humans that are mishandling them.
That brings us to the last two items, mushrooms and coffee. This is just plain silly. Mushrooms? A most dangerous food? Only if you’re picking wild mushrooms and don’t know what you’re doing! That’s like saying picking and eating poison ivy leaves is dangerous. And coffee. “Time” must be joking with this one. They’re not referring to the elevated heart rate or sleep deprivation. No, coffee has made the list because of the dangers related to hot coffee being spilled on your lap. In hindsight, this article must have been an April Fool’s piece that was run a little too soon.
Health Food vs. Mass Market Food, Which Will They Choose?
Don't feed me any of that healthy, flaxseed, chicory root slop!
Ever since we’ve had our cats, I’ve gone out of my way to purchase the healthiest food I can for them. Originally I purchased the healthiest food available in Pet Smart, at the recommendation of Linda who runs the cat shelter from which we adopted several of our cats. When we adopted our fifth, most recent cat she changed her cat food recommendation to a high protein brand that was supposed to be nutritionally superior. I followed her recommendation, but it disturbed the digestion of our original cat. We switched to a different brand of high protein food recommended by the small, non-chain pet store where we now shop. All was good, for a while.
One day I decided to try them on the “light” variation of the food since the cat shown in this post was packing on the pounds. A major boycott ensued and it didn’t appear that any of the cats touched the food for days. I grew concerned and switched them back to the regular, high protein food. The cats seemed as happy as you might expect for a diet of dry food without access to the tasty meats we enjoy.
But lately I noticed there was a growing boycott in the food bowls again. This time we decided to try a premium variety of mass market cat food since,if we were switching, I wanted something that didn’t require an extra trip to purchase. As you might expect, it was a hit. For the past few days I’ve been mixing it with the other food, but they’ve been gobbling it all up at double the normal level.
Which goes to prove that mass marketers know equally well how to sell junk food to cats, as well as to humans. And that living beings have a predisposition to like the food that’s less healthy for them. That leaves the choice in our hands – what will we choose for ourselves, and to a lesser degree for our pets? Food that tastes better, but makes us overeat, and possibly cuts our lives shorter in the long run? Or boring food that we’ll only want to eat in moderation over the course of a potentially longer life? It’s a tough question that I ponder nearly every day for myself.
Buyers Beware – That Foodie Bargain May Be Too Good
We’ve heard about counterfeit money, watches, handbags, designer clothes, and other luxury items. And many of us are happy when we can knowingly purchase a “knock off” of a designer item for less, when we really don’t care about paying top dollar for the real thing.
But the latest concern in counterfeits gives us reason for genuine concern. Counterfeits in food items not only affect quality, but also our safety. The fraudulent replacement of red snapper with tilapia may spoil a good meal; French cognac diluted with U.S. brandy won’t sip as well; but we’ve seen the dangers in Chinese milk that has been boosted with melamine for the sake of simulating a higher protein content. Even if we’re not talking about an outright toxic product, consider the risks in a seemingly inexpensive can of extra virgin olive oil, that’s been diluted with peanut oil to bring down the expense. Sure, to most of us it will cheapen our salad, but for a person with peanut allergies it can be deadly.
According to the report on this crime in Newsweek, the FDA and other groups are attempting to uncover these fraudulent foods, and states are instituting stricter legislation to combat these crimes. But the public needs to be as vigilantly suspicious of a good food deal found in a store as we’ve been about a handbag sold on the street corner.