TRUMP ILL WITH FOOD POISONING?

No, this isn’t the case yet, at least as far as I know. Though it could be. He is a senior – and therefore in a high risk group. The fact that he is overweight – verging on obese – puts him at even greater risk for food poisoning. Research suggests that being seriously overweight is linked to a weakened immune system, which means he would have less protection against dangerous foodborne illness.

And I know this sounds mean, but I am kind of wishing for an outbreak of food poisoning at Mar-a-Lago, particularly at a time when he was entertaining a head of state there (hopefully President Putin of Russia, or Kim Jong-un of North Korea) which would really ensure that it hit the global news.

I think a first-hand experience is the only way President Trump will understand the importance of food safety, and hopefully begin to grasp the importance of regulations and inspections of our food. True, such regulations will never eliminate food risks completely, but at least they will reduce them.

Today, when announcing the drastic scaling back of federal regulations – something he had been threatening to do for months – he paved the way for exposing the American consumers to even more outbreaks of food poisoning than we are already having.

Even if regulations are not completely eliminated, Trump and Congress can financially starve the Federal food safety agencies from doing anything much to protect our food supply. Want to bet it will happen?


TSF

FOOD RISKS FOR PEOPLE LIKE STEVE JOBS OF APPLE

As of last night, the news has been full of Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple, taking another medical leave-of-absence from the company. This comes about a year and a half after his liver transplant and earlier absence. Apparently he has only been coming in a couple of days a week recently anyway, and it seems that even this got to be too much.

I am not surprised at the news. Why? For one thing, because of what I know about food safety. People such as Steve Jobs are in a very high risk group for food poisoning, because their immune systems are not functioning properly. The medication given after organ transplants is a major factor in this (some other prescription and over-the-counter medicines can have similar effects).

This means that a very few pathogenic Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes or other bacteria, or of a comparatively mild virus such as Norovirus, which would not affect a healthy adult, can be deadly for them. They have to be very, very, careful about what they eat.

A lot of other people fall into that very high risk group as well. In fact, anyone with a weak immune system is more at risk for contaminated food. Food safety is not just about what you eat, but about who you are.

To your good health,

TSF

UPDATE: Like many people all over the world, I was saddened last night to hear about Steve Job's death. He was a brilliant man, who lived his dream, and changed the world in the process.