ROUNDUP

I have been out of touch...too busy on finishing my book on food safety, to keep up with the blog. Every day I wake up and decide this is the day I am going to update, and every night I go to sleep thinking I will do this tomorrow.

But it has been a fun few weeks if you are following hazards in your food supply. We moved from peanuts to pistacios (a step up in status and price), but it was all a bit deja-vu. As with peanuts, we found out that pistacios are everywhere, used in so many of our foods. Don't think it's over. New recalls are coming out every day. Maybe when it really is over, then we'll get bargain priced pistacios, just as there are bargain priced peanuts now. I remember when I lived in Istanbul, the pistacios there were incredibly fresh and delicious - and cheaper than potatoes.

But now while all this is still ongoing, we also have a widening outbreak in alfalfa, which has been going on for weeks. By the way, sprouted seeds, including alfalfa is about the most dangerous kind of food you can eat. The bacteria get right inside the seeds and there is no way to get them out. That is why people with suppressed immune systems are advised not to eat them. 'But I only eat organic alfalfa', a friend said to me the other day. 'That's safe.' No, it's not. Don't confuse pesticide residue and bacteria. Organic alfalfa are contaminated as well. Of course, you could cook it...

And then there is the swine flu. No, you can't get it from pork, although half the population still seems to think you can. But maybe you can get it from your salad....

Am I nuts? No.....See my next post.

In the meantime...bon appetit.

TSF