NUTS! SH*T! TOGETHER!

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DON'T EAT PISTACHIOS: THEY HAVE RATSH*T IN THEM

MMMMMMM RATSH*T!



Let's See How Obama Handles Food Safety (Couldn't Be Any Worse Than Bush)

So far, so good. They're at least PRETENDING they know the source of the poisoned nut products. But do they? Or is this just the beginning of yet another endless round of bullsh*t? It took Bushco and his corporate masters six months to a year to respond to the poisoned tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, etc. How long before the Democrats sort this out? Is their response so far just bullsh*t? Ratsh*t plus bullsh*t, bad combo.

The food industry is running scared. Having lost billions in previous food poisoning scandals, they are finally beginning to recognize that food safety is in their own best interest. After years of railing against "government regulation," some food companies are now asking for more inspections, and a more robust food safety system. How far this will get once the Republicans and Blue Dog conservative Democrats in Congress get involved is up to you, the voter.

Let your representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House know that you want your food supply secured, right now. Don't wait until you get sick, get arthritis, or lose a child, a senior or a person already in poor health, just because of poorly-inspected foods: Hundreds of thousands are sickened, and nobody knows how many of them die every year from food-borne pathogens in the United States of America. Food safety is do-able. But we're just not doing it. Demand that we do.


CONTACTING THE CONGRESS
"Online Directory for the 111th Congress"
Please write your representatives in Washington today: Just input your zip code.

WHITEHOUSE.GOV
"CONTACT US"
Let the new Administrationknow how you feel about food safety.

YAHOO NEWS
"FDA says to avoid pistachios amid salmonella scare"
At least they're not waiting until people die, this time.

' Federal food safety officials warned Monday that consumers should stop eating all foods containing pistachios while they figure out the source of a possible salmonella contamination. Because Setton Pistachio shipped tote bags of nuts weighing up to 2,000 pounds to 36 wholesalers across the country, it will take weeks to figure out how many products could be affected, said Jeff Farrar, chief of the Food and Drug Branch of the California Department of Public Health. "It will be safe to assume based on the volume that this will be an ingredient in a lot of different products, and that may possibly include things like ice cream and cake mixes," Farrar said. "The firm is already turning around trucks in transit to bring those back to the facility." Salmonella, the most common cause of food-borne illness, is a bacteria that causes diarrhea, fever and cramping. Most people recover, but the infection can be life-threatening for children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. For nuts, roasting is supposed to kill the bacteria. But problems can occur if the roasting is not done correctly or if roasted nuts are re-contaminated. That can happen if mice, rats or birds get into the facility. '

CNN
"FDA: Hang on to your pistachios"
Are they fixing the underlying problems, or not?

' If you have a stash of pistachios in your house, pistachio ice cream in your freezer or trail mix in your backpack, don't eat any of it. Wait until an inquiry into possible salmonella contamination is further along, advises FDA Associate Commissioner David Acheson. He said the FDA is "ahead of the curve" in the current investigation. "I want to emphasize that this recall was not triggered because of an outbreak, in contrast to some of the previous situations, for example, like the peanuts where people were getting sick and it was determined that peanuts, peanut butter was the likely cause," Acheson said. "This is a situation that the recall is being triggered because of ... action taken on the part of the food industry," he added. "What we're doing here is getting out ahead of the curve. It's a proactive approach by the FDA and the California Department of Health." Jeff Cronin, spokesman for the advocacy organization Center for Science in the Public Interest, had a mixed reaction to Acheson's comments. "I think it's partly the case," Cronin said. "It's good that the FDA is proactively issuing advice to consumers." But "this still begets the question of 'how did this contamination happen in the first place?' Is this an isolated problem, or are we going to be hearing the same kind of horror stories that we heard about ... the company that produced the peanuts?" He said he wondered when was the last time the FDA visited Setton Farms and whether it had known of problems there. In February, the Texas Department of State Health Services ordered the recall of all products shipped from the Peanut Corporation of America's plant in Plainview, Texas, after discovering dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers in the plant. The company's peanut butter and peanut paste products produced at its plant in Blakely, Georgia, were linked to a nationwide outbreak of salmonella poisoning that affected 600 people, nine of whom died. According to state health officials and many experts, the deadly outbreak of salmonella was fueled by poor oversight by food safety regulators and a slow response by federal agencies. The first problem is that almost nothing can stop companies from shipping contaminated food, William Hubbard, a former FDA associate commissioner, told a U.S. Senate committee in February. He also said there are not enough federal inspections. '

GUARDIAN ONLINE
"US food safety officials issue pistachio nut recall"
Beef? Global? Iran? There's a LOT we don't know about pistachios! We have a feeling we're about to get educated.

' US food safety officials have recalled more than 1m pounds (454,000 kilograms) of pistachio nuts from more than 30 states after traces of salmonella were found in batches sold by a California company. The agency said it first learned of the problem last week, when food industry giant Kraft Foods traced salmonella contamination in a brand of trail mix back to Setton. The agency warned the recall could affect many products because the nuts are widely used as a food ingredient in everything from beef dishes to ice cream. The recall covers a fraction of the more than 400m pounds of pistachios grown every year in California, which accounts for 98% of US production. In 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the US was the world's second-largest producer of pistachios behind Iran, according to the United Nations. The US is also a top exporter of pistachios, accounting for about 14% of global trade. '

CONSUMER AFFAIRS.COM
"Kraft Recalls Trail Mix Containing Pistachio Nuts"
So, you can get arthritis from eating health food? That explains all the old fogies limping around the health food store.

' “Our advice to consumers is that they avoid eating pistachio products, and that they hold onto those products,” Dr. David Acheson, the FDA’s assistant commissioner for food safety, said. “The number of products that are going to be recalled over the coming days will grow, simply because these pistachio nuts have then been repackaged into consumer-level containers.” FDA officials said they learned just a few days ago, on March 24, that Kraft Foods’ Back to Nature Trail Mix had tested positive for salmonella. Kraft identified the source of the contamination as pistachios from Setton and notified the FDA. Kraft and the Georgia Nut Co. also recalled the Back to Nature Nantucket Blend trail mix the following day. In rare circumstances, the organism can get into the bloodstream and cause more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis, and arthritis. '

US FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION
"Pistachio Product Recalls: Salmonella"
They're makin' a list, checkin' it twice, the FDA knows who's naughty or nice...

' List of Latest Company Recalls: * Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. Announces Nationwide Recall of Pistachios Because of Possible Health Risk * The Georgia Nut Company Issues Voluntary Recall of Certain Snack Products Containing Shelled Pistachio Nuts Because of Possible Health Risk * Back to Nature Foods Company Conducts Nationwide Recall of Nantucket Blend Trail Mix Containing Pistachio Nuts Because of Possible Health Risk * Kroger Recalls Shelled Pistachios Due to Possible Health Risk '

US CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL
"About Salmonella"
"Salmonellosis"
Salmonella has it's own home page! Who knew! Your tax dollars at work, we guess. Does it have a FaceBook page, though?

' -What is salmonellosis? Salmonellosis is an infection with bacteria called Salmonella. Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most persons recover without treatment. However, in some persons, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness. -Are there long term consequences to a Salmonella infection? Persons with diarrhea usually recover completely, although it may be several months before their bowel habits are entirely normal. A small number of persons with Salmonella develop pain in their joints, irritation of the eyes, and painful urination. This is called Reiter's syndrome. It can last for months or years, and can lead to chronic arthritis which is difficult to treat. Antibiotic treatment does not make a difference in whether or not the person develops arthritis. '

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WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SAL MONELLA?

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AND WHY DOESN'T ANYBODY KNOW?

SHIT HAPPENS. DID IT HAPPEN ON OUR TOMATOES?

The Real Question Is, How Can FOUR U.S. Gov't. Agcy's STILL Not Know, After Almost A MONTH? The Politics Of Food Safety:

CDC
Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases
Salmonellosis
"Salmonella live in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals, including birds. Salmonella are usually transmitted to humans by eating foods contaminated with animal feces. "

We all know that big business and their lackeys in the Republican Administration don't give a shit about public health. These are the people who brought you tobacco, alcohol, sugar-water, fast food, polyunsaturated fats, and even baby food with no food in it at all, just chemicals. And babies were their business, their only business.

So, when these same assholes decided to go with mega-doses of cancerous chemical fertilizers, pesticides & herbicides, growth hormones, animals eating their own kind, secretly genetically engineered franken-foods, gigantic anti-family factory farms and food from God knows where in the Third World, did anybody think they would exercise proper precautions? Why would they suddenly start giving a shit about us? We're like ants to them.

Still, fascists are at least supposed to make the trains run on time, right? Efficiency and control, above all. Everything is computerized and you can track anything anywhere, right? Whenever there's a bad batch of burgers now, they publish lists of the manufacturers and batch numbers, retailers and sale dates, within hours. OK, maybe some people die before they actually bother to recall the rotten, shit-covered, poisonous meat. But they do catch it, eventually.

Now, we have an entire tomato crop tainted with salmonella bacteria. How come they can't even narrow down the source of these infected tomatoes to one State? They put out a list of the States whose tomatoes are NOT poison. How can they say that without knowing which States tomatoes ARE poison? They act like they don't have a clue. They say they won't have a clue for quite a while. Just stop eating the shit, they say. Eat those other tomatoes, they haven't killed anybody yet. Don't worry, be happy, move along, nothing to see here, fuggeddaboutit. Not!

FDA
Food Protection Plan
Update On The Outbreak
"The Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak appears to be linked to consumption of certain types of raw red tomatoes and products containing raw red tomatoes. The bacteria causing the illnesses are Salmonella serotype Saintpaul, an uncommon type of Salmonella.
FDA recommends consuming raw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw round red tomatoes grown and harvested only from the following areas that HAVE NOT BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE OUTBREAK: (list)"

You'd think the industry would want to get this over with: Find the sources of the poison tomatoes and shut it down, clean it up, lock somebody up, whatever. They're losing a fortune as people everywhere just quit eating all tomatoes. Most people will probably avoid the love-apples for quite a while; many may never touch the fruit again. So why isn't the tomato biz getting to the bottom of this?

Are they THAT incompetent? Then they shouldn't be allowed to TOUCH our food. Are they covering something up? Then they should be imprisoned, and banned forever from the food business. People have died here.

USDA
Food Safety & Inspection Service
USDA News Releases
Nothing about tomatoes.

But the scariest thing is that the FDA, the Dept of Agriculture, even the CDC can't figure out how tomato A got to supermarket X on truck B from farm Y. Why is that? We're talking millions of tomatoes here, all over the country. Is there no common factor? Or are tomatoes just poisonous naturally, all of a sudden? How come these stores don't know where there produce is coming from? If the Gov. can't track and identify something as big as a fucking tomato, how can they ever be trusted to protect us from deadly little microscopic molds, fungi, bacteria and viruses? This is just a natural occurrence, or an accident of some kind, right? What is the big deal?

If they can't follow the trail of a tomato, how can they follow the trail of a terrorist? Were these veggies delivered by an army of black-ops commando's, driving hundreds of stealth produce trucks in the dead of night? Was this a veggie-terror attack? Then where is Homeland Security? Why can't ANYONE tell us where these goddamned things come from? Are they that incompetent? Or is there a cover-up here?

DHS
Office of Health Affairs
National Center for Food Protection and Defense
A talk shop & pork barrel.

Is NAFTA to blame? Did these tomatoes come from outside the US? Is Bushco hiding this for McCain's benefit? Did the Bushies let them in on Mexican trucks? (Notice Belgium is on the list of safe tomato-sources; so is Canada, and Guatemala. But not Mexico.) Did his food inspectors and customs agents give them a free pass? Notice that previous poisoned tomato outbreaks started in Eastern Florida and Virginia. They're not on the clean list, either. And they're both "battleground States" in this election. Coincidence? HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW???!!!

What the fuck is going on? Why aren't the media asking these questions? How long can it take before we get some answers? Is our food in good, clean hands, or has it all gone to shit?



[UPDATE HERE]
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TO POST A COMMENT: CLICK ON "COMMENTS," "Post a Comment" or "# of COMMENTS" just below the SOCIAL BOOKMARKING LINKS (Digg, Delicious, etc), about three inches down from here. Please do comment. Thank you.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:

Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!