What's Wrong With My Food?

As it's a rainy day in Coshocton, I thought I could talk about something near and dear to my heart...food. There's been much talk in the blog-o-sphere concerning food, most of it scary.

I've covered the scare regarding terrorism and the food supply. Who can forget the recent story about hot dogs causing genetic mutations?

If that's not enough to give you cause to pause, how about the global warming effect on our food supply? A recent ABC story points out that global warming could cause food to cost 20 to 50 times more than what it does now. Do the math. A package of genetic mutating hot dogs would cost $60 bucks. Can you say Soylent Green?

Of course, our wise president feels global warming in mucha do about nothing. At least, we're seeing movement on a state level as evidenced by California stepping to the front of the pack and saying, "Let's do something before it's too late." Hopefully, we'll continue to see states and cities ignore the beltway bumblers.

Wait, there's even more food news. This past week, the FDA approved the use of bacteria eating viruses for use on lunch meats. Those in the know maintain that this is a safe process and there's nothing about which to worry. I understand this is to kill Listeria on processed meats, but we have to ask this question. Why is the Listeria there to begin with? What's wrong with processing that would necessitate the addition of a virus to kill a bacteria? One more thought. I'm not a scientific mind, but what happens if the virus mutates?

Speaking of food preservation, what about the use of carbon monoxide to keep pre-packaged meat looking fresh? According to Consumer Reports, carbon monoxide can keep meat looking fresh up to eight weeks? What about the bacteria count on that stuff? How does this benefit me as a consumer? The FDA had been urged to ban this crap, but how do we, as consumers, empower ourselves, to stop this process? What do you think?

I'll tell you, this can be a depressing topic. That's why I recommend this list of junk food that can actually be good for you. Actually, a shot of tequila and some beef jerky sound pretty good right now. I know it doesn't sound healthy, but I do have my list of Dr. Perricone's pro-inflammatory foods to avoid. Avoiding the foods on the list will help me stay trim...or will it?

A recent study points to the fact that fat bodies are caused by a range of problems; from too little sleep to not smoking to your parent's choice of a mating partner. Great googly moogly.

All this writing about food has made me hungry. As my hero, Homer Simpson, would say, "Mmmmm...food."