Dead Blog

Well, I have not been updating and honestly don’t foresee any regular updating in the future, so I’m going to call this blog dead. But, that’s alright, I got to share some interesting things and hopefully somebody got something out of this.

I’ve been reading

a blog called barfblog, written by Kansas State University professors. As the title implies, it is focused heavily on food safety. It also includes a bit of the science behind it, including but not limited to microbiology, medicine, and environmental health. In addition to the science, there is a bit on policy as well. It’s quite interesting, go take a look at it.

On Centrists and Moderates

So, today I read this:

And in many ways they’re worse than Republicans, because at least with a Republican one knows what one is dealing with, and one can fight them toe-to-toe. But the pearl-clutching centrist, on the other hand, is actually worse: they’re the ones who actively marginalize the champions of the dispossessed and allow the rapacious Right to continue its pillage unimpeded while calling for greater civility from the victims.

It sounded familiar,

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

Doomed Government Program Finds Contaminated Spinach

The discovery of Salmonella in bagged organic baby spinach that led to a nationwide recall Tuesday has been attributed to a small government testing program that, ironically, is set to be eliminated in the 2013 federal budget plan. 

The Microbiological Data Program, a network of 11 labs that screen fresh produce for pathogens, discovered the contamination during routine testing, according to a program employee. The program, also known as MDP, has been fighting to survive for years as the produce industry has lobbied to have it eliminated.

Some Food Safety Things

Okay, I am currently working in food safety and have done so in the past so I like to tell myself I am qualified to talk about it. In this case, I’m going to talk about some things that people really need to do when eating out or preparing their meals at home so they can avoid getting sick.

In semi-random order:

1. Wash your hands. This one is not in random order, this is the absolute most important thing. Wash them with soap and lather your hands together for at least 20 seconds before rinsing off the soap.  When you are going to eat your meal, wash your hands or at least sanitize them with alcohol. Other important times to wash them are before touching ready to eat (RTE) food or after touching raw meat. Raw does not mean dripping wet, it means uncooked, the ground beef in your freezer still counts as raw and you can get just as sick from it frozen as you can from the juices it will eventually drip.
2. Very much related to washing your hands is cleaning food contact surfaces. For instance, use clean silverware and plates or bowls or whatever is appropriate. Do not touch them with dirty hands, especially if you are touching a part of it which will come in contact with any food. Other surfaces may include a counter top or a cutting board. If anything which touches RTE food comes in contact with a non-sanitized surface, wash it.
3. Allergens may be important if you are preparing something for somebody with a food allergy. If you lice with this person, it’s easiest to just keep the food out of the house. If this person is a guest, clean your kitchen well and if you make food containing the allergen, make it after you made everything else and keep it separated. Personally, I wouldn’t use the allergen at all, too great of a risk of contamination.
4. Cook all meat to its recommended temperature. Do it. Cooking is a kill step, which destroys harmful microorganisms, but it only works if it is cooked long enough
5. Unless you have bought pre-washed produce (the bag will tell you) rinse it with water. It doesn’t matter if it is conventionally farmed or organically farmed either.