We moms do our best to keep our families safe. But in light of recent safety news, I think we’re going to go find Saddam Hussein’s worm hole and take up residence there.
Not that I have to worry about toxic chemicals leaching out of sippy cups anymore. PunditGirl is way past that stage.
When she was a toddler, I thought I was being a conscientious mom by providing her with chlorinated water, sugar-free fruit juices and organic, low-fat milk. But apparently, there’s a good chance all those drinks were contaminated with toxic chemicals that have been linked to diabetes, breast cancer, and a whole host of other diseases I really can’t think about right now.
At least the food we’re eating isn’t contaminated, right?
Unless I’m getting the ground beef directly from my dad’s farm, it looks like burgers are off the menu here at Chez PunditMom– almost 150 million pounds of beef have been recalled today because of possible contamination. I might feel like we had dodged a bullet, except that MSNBC is reporting that the beef from these cows has been in the food chain since February 2006.
Yeah, you heard me — for TWO YEARS.
Sippy cups and ground beef are two staples of motherhood as we know it. If we can’t rely on regulators to demand that plastic manufacturers make sure that synthetic hormones aren’t going to leech out of sippy cups after a few times in the dishwasher or that family summertime barbecues won’t result in death from E. coli, mad cow, or salmonella poisoning, then what’s the point of having them there? May as well close them down and let us keep the tax money that funds them. I bet we’d be getting more back than the much touted stimulus package.
The tainted beef could still be in our freezers. News reports say that 37 million pounds of the potentially tainted beef went to school lunch programs. And we wouldn’t know about the potentially deadly meat if not for an undercover video showing cows who were too sick to stand at a California slaughterhouse.
I think I’m going to be sick.
What’s next? I know in my gut it’s not going to stop there. Maybe it’s time to go all Gilligan’s Island. At least I know the tropical fruit would be safe.
Or maybe it’s time to become an EcoMom? I’m thinking about that today over at PunditMom’s Spin Cycle.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Hadn’t heard the two years bit.
Oh, nausea making.
No more beef in this house for a while.
Truthfully I’d go all veggie if I had the discipline. But that’s another subject for another day.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I’m glad we’re veggies, but even that food hasn’t been reliably safe…spinach, anyone?
I’m glad I found your blog!
lauren
February 18th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Makes me want to dig a hole in the sand and bury my head.
UGH!!
February 18th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Ewwww and how horrible for the poor cows. We don’t eat beef too often although dd does eat the school lunches evey day.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
This terrifies me.
Two years? How can this happen?
And it doesn’t necessarily make sense to go vegetarian because we all remember what happened with the spinach.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I so agree about the horrifying mess that is conventional beef. If you’re in the DC metro area you should check out Polyface. They are starting to deliver again in March. You have to drive to centralized drop-offs much like a CSA drop but it’s worth it for the peace of mind (and yummy burgers/dogs).
February 18th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
The tainted beef in question was NEVER in the retail food chain. It was (and this is where I blanched and freaked out) sold to hospitals, schools, and nursing homes. None of it ever made it to a retail store, which is why it’s such a low level recall. According to the FDC, nobody reported any illness either.
The big problem with this particular company was not that they exported tainted meat into the nation’s food supply, which is in and of itself aggregious, but they were adding downed cows to the food chain, which is ILLEGAL. It could possibly be that the downed cows have either mad cow or could carry ecoli, but the point of the recall was more that this company practiced severe animal cruelty by forcing downed cows to get moving when they should have just been killed.
Additionally, I would like to remind EVERYONE that if you buy Kosher meat, you will never ever have these problems due to the laws of Kashrut. Kosher meat is readily available in major metropolitan areas and it is a guarantee that you will ALWAYS get the best quality beef because any animal that is sick or has lesions is not allowed to be used. Period.
Go Jews!
February 18th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Margalit, that’s excellent advice — advice I know my Jewish husband would approve of!
February 21st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
PunditMom — Stumbled on your blog. if you live near DC, have you considered farmer’s markets? I know the scheduling can be difficult with kids…
I know Takoma is year-round, as is the Dupont Market, Eastern Market, and the Courthouse Market in Arlington.
The costs are higher than the grocery store, to be sure, but cheaper than Whole Foods. And I really like meeting the folks who raise the food I eat.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Makes me wish I’d gone vegan sooner!
My father was a dairy farmer. If he was alive today, I think he’d probably be too disturbed by all of this to remain in business.
And really, you don’t want to know more….. if you can,stay away from everything that comes from cows. Sadly, even their milk is full of pus. Really. Only one state out of 50–Hawaii–even comes close to the acceptable upper *legal* limits for pus in milk, so basically the government just ignores it. Blecch!
February 21st, 2008 at 9:53 pm
And one of the main reasons that spinach and other veggies end up contaminated is because few people realize they can grow vegetables without dumping cow manure on them. Veganic agriculture works. Think about it. What does cows eat? Plants. Therefore their manure is plant-based. Why not skip the cow’s digestive tract entirely?