Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Scared to Eat.

Am I the only one obsessing over the recent food recalls? Okay, I'll admit I do have the reminders set to email me as soon as something is deemed unsafe, but it's only natural to want to know what I'm putting into my body. Right? First it was the ground turkey tainted with salmonella back in August, then the listeria laden cantaloupe, and now my beloved spinach is under attack once again, except this time it's not e. coli. Yes, the ground turkey scare is over, I think, but that doesn't mean I'm rushing into the stores to feed my family with the stuff. We haven't eaten it in months due to this ordeal and I'm pretty sure I had friends recently sickened by Jennie O's brand. But now spinach, mostly on the west coast, is being recalled and I am certain it will somehow make it's way to Ohio and the surrounding states.
Dan recently bought a bag of spinach, from the same brand that was recalled out in California a few days ago and I go and make a hearty sandwich with the stuff. Of course I thoroughly washed it, something I almost never do, took 2 bites before realizing it was that brand. I threw the whole sandwich out and took every precaution I could as to hopefully not fall ill with a possibly bad batch of spinach. That was a couple of days ago and so far I feel perfectly healthy, but I'll be honest in saying I've worried about it the entire time. No, that bag was not recalled and I'm sure I wasted a fine bunch of spinach by throwing it away but my motto with food has always been "When in doubt, throw it out" and so I did.
What will it take for our government to make sure our food is safe before it hits the shelves? Is it wrong of me to think maybe it's another way to control population by letting these things harm and possibly kill us? I don't want to have to worry about making my family ill because the higher ups can't do their jobs. I can't be worrying about what I eat. When I told my husband about the spinach he said there's no point in worrying about what you eat because there's always a possibility you could get sick from it, but then how many times have I actually been stricken with a case of salmonella? Oh yeah, never. Is it all mere fear that the government is instilling in us and creating a bunch of unnecessary anxiety? Also, you see this happening in a lot of healthy foods of late. Are they pushing us to change our habits into being unhealthy? Maybe I'm just addicted to conspiracy theories. Who knows. What I am certain of is that this epidemic will not make me suffer. It will not bring me down or hinder the way I live my life. Everyone gets sick eventually and I guess the only precaution I can count on is making sure I take care of myself and my family so that these things don't effect us as harshly as they would others. Worrying does nothing but create negative emotions so I'm going to push them out, stop the reminders from the food recalls, and get back to being fearless.

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