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Chocolate ice cream is a frequent catch-all for botched batches of other flavors, which are doled out in small amounts and mixed with the dark, rich treat in order to avoid waste and expense. Reworking food is a common practice, industry experts say.
When a school lunch supplier repackaged moldy applesauce into canned goods and fruit cups, it drew a sharp warning from federal health regulators last month -- and general disgust from almost everyone else.
“I was appalled that there were actually human beings that were OK with this,” said Kantha Shelke, a food scientist and spokeswoman for the Institute of Food Technologists. “This is a case of unsafe food. They are trying to salvage that to make a buck.”
But even as Food and Drug Administration officials prepare to re-inspect Snokist Growers of Yakima, Wash., to ensure that the applesauce maker keeps toxin-tainted fruit off store shelves, federal officials and industry experts acknowledge that Snokist is not alone in “reworking” faulty food.
Turning imperfect, mislabeled or outright contaminated foods into edible -- and profitable -- goods is so common that virtually all producers do it, at least to some extent, sources say.
“Any food can be reconditioned,” said Jay Cole, a former federal inspector who now works as a senior consultant with The FDA Group, a firm that specializes in helping manufacturers comply with industry regulations.
“It’s how people do their business,” added Shelke, founder of Corvus Blue, a Chicago-based packaged goods consulting firm.
It may be something benign, such as misshapen pieces of pasta that are re-ground into semolina, or something unexpected, like a batch of mislabeled blueberry ice cream mixed in with chocolate to avoid waste.
It might be something unappetizing, such as insect parts sifted out of cocoa beans or live bugs irradiated -- and left behind -- in dried fruits like dates and figs.
Or it could be something alarming, such as the salmonella Tennessee bacteria detected last year in huge lots of hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP, a flavor enhancer used in foods from gravy mix and snack foods to dairy products, spices and soups.
Some 177 products were recalled in 2010, but bulk HVP products from Basic Food Flavors Inc. of Las Vegas, Nev., were allowed to be reconditioned by heat-treating the foods to kill the salmonella, according to the FDA. The reprocessed foods were then distributed and sold.
No question, FDA regulations do permit foods to be reconditioned, said William Correll, the agency’s acting director of compliance. That leeway can avoid both waste and expense, he explained.
“Some things can be adulterated and fixed, and you’re not throwing out food that would otherwise be OK,” Correll said.
That’s why chocolate ice cream becomes the catch-all when other flavors aren’t quite right, said Shelke. If a producer accidentally botches a batch of blueberry, small amounts of the mistaken treat can be mixed into future bins of chocolate, where the dark color and rich flavor mask any error.
The key, however, is that the process must render the food safe for consumption.
That’s why Snokist Growers drew such a strong warning. In the case of the moldy applesauce, there are a couple of problems, Correll said. Mold is tricky because when contamination is extensive, it’s not enough to simply remove the obviously tainted parts and then zap the food with heat.
Snokist officials claim that their heat process kills patulin, the most common toxin produced by mold in apples, and renders the food commercially sterile. But FDA officials counter that the firm’s thermal process is not adequate to ensure that other heat-stable mycotoxins are eradicated from the food.
“Mold is not an easily reconditionable product,” Correll said. “It’s not OK to take moldy tomatoes and make them into tomato paste.”
Not that some food firms don’t try. It’s no secret that the FDA allows certain levels of expected contaminants to remain in foods, simply because a zero-tolerance standard would be impossible to meet, officials said.
The agency’s “defect action levels” are used to define the point at which food becomes adulterated and subject to enforcement. Below that level, however, some unappetizing substances make it through.
The FDA allows, for instance, an average of 225 insect fragments or 4.5 rodent hairs per 8 ounces of macaroni or noodle products. An average of 20 or more maggots of any size is permitted per 3.5 ounces of drained canned mushrooms, or per half-ounce of dried mushrooms. When it comes to mold, an average count of 15 percent is OK for canned cranberry sauce.
Because such levels are permitted, some food producers propose to combine faulty and sound products to lower the overall level. An apple-juice maker might ask to mix juice with high counts of mold with a batch with low counts, for instance. But, Correll said, that’s not allowed.
“Dilution is not the solution,” he said.
Similarly, companies that propose to eliminate a serious contaminant without addressing the source are turned down. He recalled a seafood firm with faulty bathroom practices that led to canned crab contaminated with fecal E. coli bacteria. Heat-treating would have eradicated the bugs -- but not the problem, Correll said.
“If food is adulterated in an unacceptable way, reconditioning won’t fix it,” he said. “You can’t cook the poop out of it.”
FDA officials couldn’t provide an estimate of the number of reconditioning requests received from food firms each year. But in 2009, the agency started a new Reportable Food Registry, which requires notification of hazards to human health. At least 2,240 reports were logged in the registry’s first year, including the salmonella-tainted vegetable protein.
Many producers faced with faulty food simply want to minimize their losses without harming public health, said Peter Quinter and Jennifer Diaz, lawyers with the Florida firm Becker & Poliakoff, which represents importers of foreign food.
Such firms want to avoid having product refused, so they go to great expense to salvage products such as insect-infested rice for future consumption, Diaz said. Grain products can be sifted, re-inspected, repackaged – and sent on to grocery stores.
“Taking the ick factor away is that the product is no longer contaminated,” she added.
Related stories:
FDA: Moldy applesauce repackaged by school lunch supplier
Chicken livers sicken 179 with salmonella
Six new E. coli strains banned from beef supply
Leave a Comment:
i LOVE eating chemicals! oh my how i miss you mono and diglycerides and sodium bisulfite! come to me monosodium glutamate!
I totally agree with your sentiment. But I'd like to share that MSG is safe (despite its chemical sounding name). See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate (or a zillion other articles)
It has a bad rap.
I remember my stepmom used to have a big shaker container of MSG, just like salt, that you could use to sprinkle it on anything. Just the raw MSG tastes great! I could easily see having something like MSG snack chips. Like anything though it's probably not so good in overindulgence.
MSG is not safe to many, ask any migraine sufferer.. it is a major trigger for those horrible headaches. Aspartame is another "safe" poison that is slowly killing off the people with government cover up and approval.
This is why we switched to farmers markets and to growing some of our own vegetables.
And stopped buying canned/boxed stuff that is little more than a packaged toxic-waste dump.
.
What's the problem with a little penicillin with your applesauce? (sarc.) Maybe we should feed moldy applesauce to officials saying it is ok to eat.
Old computer dude, wikipedia is not a necessarily reliable source of information. In taking a research class in grad school several summers ago, we were warned to stay away from wikipedia.
As to what food companies are doing in the name of profits, it is just sickening.
OK, now I really do want to barf.
I miss the old days when family farms grew the food and drove it to market. Any processing was done at home by the consumer.
Support family farming.
Take freshly prepared food in your kitchen, for example. Prepare it & put it in the fridge for 2 or 3 days. Would you still feel safe eating it?
Take a sample from the freshly prepared food & put it in a Petri dish & incubator for the same couple days... You'd be amazed and disgusted with your freshly prepared meals & what grows in them.
We ingest small amounts of bacteria & poop & rodent hairs all the time. This story isn't earth-shattering news!
Julia the problem with that, and the reason such things aren't as common any more is because unfortunately people are very lazy. They are not interested in processing their food or any more prep than Mac and Cheese out of a box takes.
Of course for some it may not necessarily be laziness, but location (inner city) or time constraints (many people work several jobs, are a single parent, or like me, have to clean up after their roomates all day and don't have time for all the prep that fresh food requires).
Another factor is that family farms are to humongous ag companies as "mom and pop" stores are to wal-mart. They're driven out of business by not being able to compete with the resources of these huge companies, or by more devious means from these companies. I grew up in a small town, detassled in my young youth, did a few random jobs on farms, and had many friends that had farm-related work, so I know all too well the kinds of tactic these companies use.
The FDA is bought and paid for by a few wealthy individuals and does not give a damn if we are all poisoned, other than the fact that we would no longer pay taxes. cronewinter-1656821, you mentioned aspartame. Did you know it's being renamed? Now they call it "AminoSweet". Stylish, don't you think?
http://healthfreedoms.org/2010/02/15/aspartame-has-been-renamed-and-is-now-being-marketed-as-a-natural-sweetener/
At the same time they're poisoning us, they're arresting people for the crime of selling natural foods such as raw milk. In fact, the US Food ad Drug Administration has a long history of conducting armed, SWAT-style raids on farmers, cancer treatment pioneers and dietary supplement manufacturers. This list, compiled by the editors of NaturalNews, reveals only some of the hundreds of armed FDA raids that have been conducted in the last twenty-five years. Is this what we pay taxes for?
http://www.naturalnews.com/033280_FDA_raids_timeline.html
They claims are empty, such as the one about raw milk. But when you press them about it, it's just a lie.
http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/11/17/government-forced-to-admit-no-one-has-died-from-raw-milk/
They are trying to poison us folks. You can theorize as to why yourselves, but it's happening. I am seeing my friends coming down with cancer at an alarming rate, and it's not from smoking. Now we can't even eat chocolate ice cream anymore. They ought to at least mention on the label that it's been recycled.
Ben,
If everybody produced raw milk, we'd all be dead from pathogens. Think about it. How many food recalls have there been in the past 5 years? Big companies don't clean their equipment and don't conduct themselves in a sanitary way.
Why are you people discussing MSG? Don't you understand the difference between food additives and POOP, Bugs, and Mold?
LOL If you don't eat some of these things you might be eating live bacteria from feces or other sources. I think these additives taste pretty good considering the results from other options.
If you can't read it don't eat it.
A Messenger - YOU have been eating this type of stuff all your life. This isn't new, and you are not dead!
The more sanitary we make our environment, the less likely our bodies can fight bacteria / infections after exposure. It is a good thing to be exposed in a controled way to these things that would normally kill us! It helps you to live longer & healthier.
I know it sounds gross, but it is a fact.
Prag,
Do you work for the FDA? That's what they would like for us to believe. Man has safely consumed raw milk for more than a few years, prior to the FDA's arrival, with no side effects. I drink raw goat milk every day. It's awesome. I have no problems with pathogens, and my blood pressure even came down.
Pasteurization may kill the bad stuff in milk, but it also kills the good stuff. 60 Minutes did a story a while back showing five different places on the planet where almost everyone lives to be over 100 years old. None of them had the benefit of having the FDA's advice. None of them consume aspartame. One in particular was an island off of Greece. They have no hospital, but they all had goats and drank raw milk.
I just lost my best friend to prostate cancer. He was 63. Normally, prostate cancer is "cureable" with traditional medicine. They found his too late. They treated him with experimental drugs and then chemo. His last two years have been pure hell. We're seeing too much of this and other forms of cancer for it to just be coincidence. I have another friend who is just 35 and he has been diagnosed with skin cancer which has now spread to his lymph nodes. He wants to fight it with a natural diet including raw milk. I think he's pretty brave to go against the crowd, but I think he's probably right. Time will tell. I'm not sure, but didn't Lance Armstrong use nutrition in his fight?
My point is, the more we screw with the food, the more it's processed, and the more crap that's added, the worse it is. We are literally dropping like flies. It's time to stop listening to the "experts" in the government and go back to natural foods.
What's the big deal? I mean it goes milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, chunk cheese, block of stinky rancid cheese. Apple juice, apple sauce, apple sauce with fuzz, apple sauce with chunks, apple compost. All this stuff sounds "All Natural" to me. Do they charge more for the fuzzy kind?
Ben, there's no need to theorize as to why they poison us on purpose, it is because it means, later in life, once these poisons have built up enough over time to start effecting our health, we will then be required to purchase the "medications" from the big pharma companies. Of course, the truth is these "medications" usually have a longer list of side effects than the actual symptoms we are treating, the FDA wouldn't want you to think about that...
The FDA has been a sham for a long time, along with most of the "big government" agencies like the EPA, who don't actually do anything when catching companies polluting, they just give the company a fine, then move on, so the company pays the fine, and continues polluting, until the next time the EPA comes around, years down the road.
That's one reason I am voting for Ron Paul, he's tired of "sham government agencies"
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2011/05/a-raw-political-fight-ron-paul-battles-the-fda-over-allowing-americans-to-drink-raw-milk/
Hey the Government said its okay so it must be okay.....right.
The man who puts his faith in the government to protect him is doomed to live a unprotected life. My family and I make most things from scratch using ingredients we get from local providers and boutique shops. When we eat out we choose restaurant that also use local goods as much as possible.
I live under no illusions that I am not consuming stuff that I would prefer not too. Bugs exist and they do get into stuff, but on a whole I believe that I am consuming less crap than if I was to buy the more commercially acceptable food stuffs.
I just looked it up, theres a place about 20 minutes away from my work, that sells raw milk, going there and getting some today!
BAD FOOD IS BAD FOOD PERIOD !!!!!!!!
You gotta love these people . First they try to poison our air , water and ground and say it's ok . Then they try to steel our money and say it's ok . Now they say tainted food is ok . If the don't like us the 99%ers just say so . Why are you trying to kill us off ?????
And still they wounder why we are mad as hell at them and call them lyers , cheaters , and thiefs .
bob
My grandparents and their grandparents were farmers in Wisconsin. I grew up on milk drawn into a bucket from my uncle milking. It was great tasting, very rich and warm. Just lovely and I'm still alive. They were family farmers though, and the entire farm was immaculate and extremely sanitary. We also ate spinach from the garden, after washing it in the hand pump, and never got ecoli either.
Ben 1671313: You are obviously an uninformed idot. I doubt you have any credentials behind your name and probably no scientific background whatsoever. Pasteurization kills harmful bacteria period! Scientific evidence (not just that supported by the FDA) has supported this for years, yet you with your paranoia and 'internet resources' would have us to know otherwise! Wow! Let me tell you; I have a strong background in science with a degree in Medical Technology and have worked in the private sector for many years at the forefront of this science and it is clear; numbers do not lie. That is just the way it is. Now, you might drink unpasteurized milk your entire life and be fine. You might even thrive; our forefathers often did. However, you stand a greater chance of getting sick or even dying simply because you have not employed any method of destroying the bacteria such as Listeria or Salmonella that oportunistically survive under the right conditions.
lundy name calling only hurts your case just fyi, our bodies were designed to heal themselves Ben is correct, when you pasteurize something it not only kills off the bad things it kills off the good, just like when you take antibiotics it gets rid of the bad things in our bodies but also kills off the good bacteria, which is why a lot of people get yeast infections while on antibiotics. There are so many natural things we can put in our bodies to combat harmful bacteria, without killing off the good, silver is a natural antibiotic that kills harmful bacteria but leaves the good alone, hence the reason dentists use it for fillings. Oh and I also have a Bachelors in biomedical science.
Ben,
I was asking you to think about how our raw foods from big companies are being contaminated. Milk is an ideal environment for pathogens to grow. What with how big companies handle raw foods, raw milk would kill us all.
Don't talk to me about cancer. I've actually done cancer research. I wish your friend all of the luck. He's going to need it.
It's why you shouldn't buy it from big companies Pragmatic, shop local! Obviously I understand that people in big cities probably don't have that luxury (I don't know where you live) I have a friend in Chicago who drives hours to go to a little town in Iowa to buy her produce/eggs/milk it's one of the things I miss about being stationed there, that little "vegetable stand" was amazing. Heck even being back in my beloved Texas I still drive the 2 hours to Fredericksburg to buy my milk and vegetables.
1SGFitzsWife4ID,
So as a biomedical scientist, you probably know that silver when used as an antibiotic, is broad spectrum and kills the good as well. You should also know that there is no evidence that colloidal silver kills bacteria in vivo.
I live in a semi-rural area. Lots of veggies, no cows. We get our milk from a local farm, but local in this case means "within 3 counties". Fundamentally, people will do what they want. I personally choose not to take my chances with milk.
prohibition "That's one reason I am voting for Ron Paul, he's tired of "sham government agencies"
while I agree, I too am tired of the sham agencies...I dont exactly think having NOTHING solves the problems.
I would venture to guess, most of these big businesses would poison us worse if it were left up to them...not because they would gain by selling us drugs (as you theorize), but because it's a fallacy to believe that business would self-regulate in a way that benefits us (their customers) over them (short or long term).
If some are willing to mix moldy applesauce in with another product and risk poisoning (and killing) many of their customers and facing a horrific negative media blitz on them, effectively destroying their business...to ward of short term losses, then I struggle to believe that NO OVERSIGHT would help us at all. We'd be DOOMED.
The problem with these agencies as I see it - is that each new president gets to make them or break them as he/she see's fit. When you couple that power with lobbyist money - you can begin to see how the priorities of the people takes a huge backseat, and other priorities take the forefront.
Did industry leaders donate heavily to this presidents campaign - how about they people trying to become the next president? Who do they owe?
As for a theory as to why our govt would want to posion us to death?
well, I believe both parties have made that abundantly clear.
the ablatross around america's neck?
welfare, social security & medicare/medicaid
granted...our laziness and desire for cheap, easy and fast...hasnt helped either.
Concerndone is correct. This is overblown. If you guys were forced to live off your own farms, you would eat worse or go without food at times. Especially at the end of your storage. People have eaten bread with weevils living in them and even eating the weevils on purpose. Winter apples tend to be rather icky by the time they are all eaten. And the ones that aren't eatable are made into cider. We eat cheese with blue mold in it. We eat cheese that was cured in manure patches. We prefer the taste of our meat "aged" which actually means somewhat rotted.
In fact everything we eat is tainted with bacteria, mold spores and growing mold, insect parts and poop, bird droppings, rodent droppings and animal droppings. It would still be the same if you grew it all yourself. Birds still crap on your garden. Your dog still leaves his land mines in your garden. You may use cow manure for fertilizer. I used to till tons (literally) of it into my parents garden. Insects still live and die in your garden.
It may even be worse if you grow your own because you don't have to go through what food packagers have to go through to make sure their food is safe. Bad home canning practices kill or sicken a lot of people. The trick is to clean it enough to make it safe. You can't clean it 100%. You cook it well enough to take care of what's left. It hasn't been that long ago since you could even really eat your meat bloody. Oh people did, but they sometimes regretted doing it after. Scrub your vegetables clean. Don't just rinse them. Cook your food well and scrub thoroughly what you eat raw. Then it matter less what's on them or in them. Granted mold can still be a nasty problem because what it can leave behind is just plain poisonous. But in general you'll be fine.
People today just do not understand what it takes to get food from the farms into your mouth. Everyone expects their food to be spotless. Well it isn't. It never has been and probably never will be. Enjoy your food. Just take the precautions you should be taking no matter where your food comes from.
@ Pragmatic -
What makes you think you are not taking chances with your milk? You may not be taking the chance people do who buy it in the store but you are taking different chances. In fact, you may be taking on a higher risk. Granted fresh milk tastes tons better and I like it too. But just remember all your doing is trading risks by going local. Even when local means growing it yourself.
Prag,
When I was a kid we had a "certified" dairy here in Atlanta, called Mathis Dairy. It was one of only two in the country that could sell raw milk. The other was in Pasadena, CA, I believe. Being certified, they had to adhere to very strict cleanliness guidelines that dairies today do not. Raw milk was outlawed eventually because (Borden, I believe) wanted to expand into the Atlanta market and Mathis was getting too popular. Political donations were made, and voila, no more raw milk. Crony capitalism at work.
The reason other dairies today do not have to adhere to the strict certified standards is that if they screw up, anything bad that gets by will be killed when the product is cooked in pasteurization. But as 1SGFitzsWife4IDpointed out, this also kills the good probiotics in the milk. Pasteurization also changes milk in a way that lets it leach through the stomach wall, and over time causes hardening of the arteries. We can go on and discuss bovine growth hormone's connection to 11 year old girls' early development if anyone would like, but I think most here agree we are heading in the wrong direction.
Getting back to you Prag, I'll let you in on a little secret. Raw goat milk starts to go bad after about three days refrigerated. But if you store it in a vacuum, 3-4 weeks. No preservatives, no chemicals, just vacuum sealed and refrigerated under 39 degrees. I did not read about this on the Internet or look it up in the library. I discovered it myself. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Lundy,
I probably shouldn't respond to your comments because I've found that usually when people start namecalling it means they have nothing good to add to a discussion. However;
Wrong. It also kills good bacteria called probiotics.
If you did then you would know about probiotics.
Bull@!$%#. The FDA tried to tell us that lie for years and even they just had to admit that it wasn't true. Show us where someone died from drinking raw milk.
But nice try. Next.
Ben-1671313, view the dvd or read the book Death By Medicine, which is not really far off of the topic.
I found it in PDF format fgh.
http://www.webdc.com/pdfs/deathbymedicine.pdf
looks interesting!
Anyone who thinks they are any safer because they buy their produce, milk, cheese, etc. at a local farmers market are deluding themselves. There have been a number of articles recently that expose this fallacy (sorry I can not find a link). The local growers are no more likely to maintain proper sanitary conditions, and in many cases less likely, than major growers. This is because small local farms are subject to far less inspection and scrutiny than the large operations. Also, many so called natural organic growers use things as natural fertilizers such as raw manure or compost that are far more likely to result in contamination of their product than commercial fertilizers. In addition, improperly composted material can contain dangerous pathogens and diseases.
Haha, OldComputerDude quoted wikipedia to claim that MSG is safe. You can't get any dumber than that seriously.
Even though he called me an idiot, we should not collapse Lundy's comments. That would be censorship, and everyone's comments should be left alone as long as they're not profane.
FGH and Prohibition, that's an interesting book. I thought doctors in this country only killed 300,000 Americans every year. I had no idea it was over twice as many. Everyone should read it. I'll post the link again;
http://www.webdc.com/pdfs/deathbymedicine.pdf
JS, we're more likely to know the local growers and therefore we would be more familiar with their habits. Don't count on anything being inspected anywhere.
lundyp66, you are suspended for a day for violating rule # 1 of the Code of Honor.
Be prepared to be disgusted. I may never eat burgers again, unless I have some way of knowing they aren't using this stuff!
http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/nutrition/pink-slime.php
@ Prohibition - Several years ago Maxim Magazine ran an article where they taste tested hamburgers from several chains. Part of the test was hamburger samples were sent to a lab for analysis. I don't remember the exact findings from the lab but only one (IIRC it was McDonald's) was completely clean of anything you wouldn't expect to find there. Some of them had bug parts in them. Some of them had other stuff that wasn't food in them. They all met health standards. So if you're really squeamish, that should stop you from eating hamburgers at any chain right there.
I woud actually trust meat that has a very small number of bug parts in it, if it's been processed freshly right after a kill, then promptly put into proper refridgeration/freezing right away, rather than something which has been slaughtered then chemically altered. Chemicals will kill you, a few bugs every now and then won't.
Man you guys are making me hungry. Yum!
I've eaten every part of every animal out there minus the oink of a pig. Bugs in my food don't bother me. I do this awesome thing called cooking that kills the ick in what I eat. Toxic chemicals on the other hand I'm not down with. If it can't be mediated by cooking, then it is no good. But next time I'm served a plate of eyes, or a dish with brains, or a bowl of tripe, I will dig right in. One of my favorite meals is a mixture of gizzards, heart, liver, and every other organ meat you can find all fried up into a delicious bits and pieces mixture of goodness.
Most people that live on farms today would not blink an eye about all this because they harvest produce all the time with bugs, sticks, foliage, etc. Heck, I just pick out the worms that get in my corn. Bugs, do not bother me at all. Anybody that has picked apples, which I have when I had a sizable orchard, knows how imperfect apples can be. In a basket one can ruin it for the others stored. This is true of tomatoes as well.
I thought the article did a good job of explaining the issue to the public that is squeamish about such issues. However, what is amazingly hilarious is that most people today live in filth from my POV. If they knew what they are growing in their very own refrigerators they would horrified. Equally the filth in bathrooms today is enough to turn my stomach. I recently had to tour housing for students and what I saw was unbelievable, and yet these slobs would be the first to protest. On the stoves were old pans filled with rancid water, mouse traps all over the kitchens, and bathrooms piled high with wet, stinky towels. Please.....no lectures. The reconditioning looks good compared to what I saw in those apartments.
The FDA needs to track and PUBLISH the names of the companies which apply for reconditioning foods. If it is made public which companies recondition their foods, their reputations will be damaged and people will choose another producer, one without reconditioning practices. This will allow the public to choose companies who choose to eliminate waste through better quality and process control rather than reconditioning the waste.
LOL, I wouldn't go as far as you two but pickled heart and tongue is awesome.
That is true to some extent, cooking food to an internal temperature of 165 degrees for a minimum of 15 seconds will kill bacteria and living organisms. However, It will not render harmless any waste products the bacteria have already left behind (ie: their fecal matter) - that stuff can still make you sick....
On the other side of the coin, I think people are too worried about germs. You're immune system is the same as your body, if you want it to be in tip top shape, it needs a workout every now and then. Stop using hand sanitizers every time you touch a door knob. I each burgers rare, steak tartar with a raw egg, and have yet to have any type of food poisoning. The simple trick is to know where your food comes from - buy local, and know what you're buying, and you'll probably never get food poisoning.
The FDA another corrupt business. They allow Frankenfoods in our foods. Great friend to Monsanto. No friend to us in guarding our well being.
Let's see... Manufacturers....shrink the container food comes in.. (just a little bit, so its not so noticable), then "recondition" food, and 'recycle' it in new food... and our federal government agency the FDA (that is supposed to 'PROTECT') the American people... says it's okay. ALL for profit..
Hey FDA....and Greedy manufacturers - We have decided to 'recondition' your paycheck, you get nothing..
We can't breathe the air.
We can't drink the water.
We can't eat the food.
We can't sleep in most hotel beds.
We can't trust drug companies.
We can't trust products from certain other countries.
We can only imagine what's next.
Insurance companies love this stuff because it is another excuse to raise those premiums.. I wonder what percentage of the cost of products goes to the business suit protection racket?? The medical industry prices reflect what the worst case can be.. I see those bug parts and mold costing even more in the future..
There are two types of reconditioning the article talks about here, and I think some people are confusing the two.
Cosmetic reconditioning, such as grinding misshapen pasta for use elsewhere, or mixing flavors of ice cream, is not something to get worked up over. Heck, if you've EVER mixed together leftovers, or mixed mini pasta shells with your macaroni, guess what, you are "reconditioning".
Contamination, however, is an entirely different matter, and needs to be strictly regulated and enforced. Any company that mixes contaminated product in with untainted product needs to be severely fined, shut down, and/or boycotted.
I disagree with you, Stephen. So if buy chocolate ice cream because I am allergic to strawberries or blueberries or whatever other flavoring and I have a serious allergic reaction do you think that is not something to get worked up over? What about banana ice cream? I really am allergic to bananas, and if I ate chocolate ice cream with bananas in it I would be in the ER. Are they cross-reconditioning? If my child can eat fish but NOT shrimp but they add reconditioned shrimp to my fish sticks do they have to label that or those bananas that make my throat swell up? If they didn't and we ate them we could die. We should be at the least informed to so we can have choices and be safe.
At the very least they should be required to label when they mix in something...that is just wrong to sell it as one flavor and have one or more other ones in it. Perhaps to you it is fine if things are mixed, but the large numbers of people with allergies might not agree, and add those who might choose not to eat certain foods and they are mixed in with those they do choose to eat with no labeling aren't informed either. That is my issue with it.
I don't think this is acceptable to the majority of Americans. Our government should be forcing the food companies to provide better and safer food for the population, not repackaged moldy food.
@ ram - We are talking trace amounts here. If you're that allergic to a food stuff you had better not buy anything prepared for you. Even if they don't intentionally put blueberries in chocolate ice cream it may still be in there in trace amounts because they use the same machines to make the two.
We are not talking about a quart of blueberry ice cream mixed in with your gallon of chocolate ice cream. If it's larger an a certain small amount it MUST be listed in the ingredients.
It's the same with any other food packaging.
I think I would rather eat the bugs in local grown foods or preferably organic grown, than the chemicals they use on the food... They use some very powerful chemicals to kill the bugs on crops, especially the genetically altered variety... The plants absorb these chemicals... Then you eat them... After all the chemicals they use in the food-processing plants... Do you really think that they rinse with water? Then the cattle and other forms of meat... They are dosed with hormones and drugs to make them grow fast and not get sick... The animal absorbs the drugs and hormones, they are not passed though the animals system... Then you eat it... Organic and Non GMO is the way to go... You don't have to worry about all those chemicals and hormones...
Guess what?? Now you have all kinds of that bad stuff in your body and you don't pass it though your system either... Now you know why your system doesn't fight off infections too well... It is a problem we all have to face, our food is really why diseases, cancers and weird food allergies are so rampant...
When I was living on a food a long time ago, We were hardly ever sick... We worked hard and were very healthy... And for those of you who have never eaten fresh food out of the garden, I feel sorry for you... Everything we ate was delicious... We washed the vegetables, never used any chemicals on them... I have never had the urge for hormones and chemicals... Just seems nasty to me...
P.S. I spent 27 continuous years on farms from the time I was born and didn't start having health problems til I was in my late 30s...
Rick Perry should have added the FDA to his cut list.
Yeah, because that would fix the problem, right?
Exactly Nola. If these corporations are getting away with this stuff while there IS an agency that is supposed to be regulating them, imagine what they'd do if they didn't have ANY regulations...
I'm not really sure, but it seems to me that there were budget cuts that left the FDA pretty well gutted. Some agency's need to be protected from cuts and even enlarged for the public safety. We all know that most any businessman will cheat us even at the risk of our health..we need protection from them.
Brokinarrow
There is no need to imagine what would happen. All you need to do is look at what was done before the FDA came into being.
nutgrape,
One doesn't even need to look. One has to simply read "The Jungle."
We shouldn't blame the FDA; we should blames all the corporations that have lobbied Congress to relax food inspections.
Gotta love the republican take on these agencies. System is broken. Then just get rid of it.
If you have a broken windshield or bad seat belt do you just remove them from your car? Oh, I forgot. If you had your way we wouldn't have safety glass or seat belts and it wouldn't be a issue.
Like Congress the FDA is owned by big business. There should be no letter telling a company to stop, they should go into the plants and shut them down until the problem is solved.
The FDA IS on Ron Paul's list of cuts.
RealityChck,
I don't think the answer is no regulation. Big business has lost its moral compass for doing the right thing. Doing the right thing can be expensive, and businesses exist to make money, not do moral good. What we see from incidents such as this is testing the water, seeing what they can get away with. Without regulations, there are two concerns: 1) Make money, 2) Try not to kill enough people in such a way that you get blamed for it.
Closing the FDA would be the best thing possible. You're all worried about no regulations but regulations are the problem, because who creates the regulations??? Former employees from the big corporations that now work at the FDA taking bribes from their former employer. Then the FDA does all it can to eliminate any competition for the big corporations. They attack and harass every start up company that competes against major corporations until these small companies go broke. You all have to stop blindly assuming the FDA answers to YOU the American people. They don't. They answer to the very companies they're suppose to regulate and they do it with out tax dollars. Close the FDA and allow good companies to compete against the big boys by providing us better food.
keith,
Might want to check the tightness of the tin foil hat you're wearing. Most of the media coverage of major recalls in the past 5 years have been big corporations. It's because the problem is potentially so widespread effecting millions of customers.
keith - I'm sorry, but i WORK for a corporation, and every day I see them find little loopholes they can use to screw over the employees and make the upper echelon more money for bigger bonuses. If we remove all regulations, corporations will simply make middle and lower class citizens into slaves for the rich. Go read your history book, the section on the industrial revolution should prove most enlightening in regards to the attitudes of unchecked corporations.
The solution is not to "quite the game", it's to fix the system.
This article is mildly disturbing, but not shocking.
Sorry, wmozd87+, I find it more than mildly disturbing.
I knew about this sort of thing before the article, but it seems a little worse than what I previously thought.
No surprises here. But everybody ought to know better than to reprocess contaminated foods. There's a very simple test. If you wouldn't do it for food you feed to your family, you shouldn't do it in the workplace. For example: I wouldn't cut the moldy parts off of a chicken and eat the rest.
I can understand a company trying to salvage a potential loss, but when it comes to some food products, like moldy applesauce, why didn't Snokist make a deal with some pork farm rather than repackage the product for human consumption? I swear-- some American companies are just as bad as the Chinese companies that have made the news for their tainted products. Anything for a buck, I guess--consumers be damned.
Charle7834, I supprise to see you rike poke chops an apple sauce too. :-D
Charle, feeding tainted food to another food is NOT the answer.
Oh look another shockingly corrupt federal agency. The DEA, FDA, ATF etc...
Where does it end?
That's capitalism for ya.
Disgusting and outright appalling.
I am certain there have been absolutely no cases of food contamination in socialist, communist, or otherwise "non capitalist" countries (sarc). If you don't like capitalism move out now.
Think about this every time you choose to eat processed food - and that includes most restaurant meals. Another good reason to buy organic - at least they have to follow regulations.
Most organic regulations concern marketing. It can be labelled "organic" and be made with 95% organic ingredients. "Made with organic ingredients" means that 70% of the ingredients are organic. And finally, there is no scientific evidence that organic food is safer, both from the standpoint of the chemical additives, and also from the standpoint of contamination. Natural toxins pose a bigger threat to you than chemical additives.
Just what in the world makes you think just because it is marked organic that it is safe to eat? Actually all food is organic even that which contains bacteria and mold. All of these things are organic. What you need to ask is is it safe? The only way that you can be sure is if you grow and process the food yourself. If others do the work then how do you know? You don't!!
Interesting, and so "legally" safe. If someon with a blueberry allergy dies after eating chocolate icecream, no one can prove it, therefore no lawsuit. Kudos to the food industry and the FDA for protecting themselves over consumers!
You bring up a really really good point that I hadn't thought about before. Usually there are warnings about "may contain yadda yadda yadda" but I had no clue before reading this article that foods were mixed to such an extent. I'm glad I don't have any food allergies!
You assume that blueberry ice cream has any part of a blueberry in it!
You are right, and this is my fear. I am very allergic to bananas and if they mixed that in...well, it wouldn't be pretty. My daughter is very allergic to dairy and shellfish, and if that got reconditioned into a food that didn't have it labelled she would die. My sister is allergic to strawberries, and many are allergic to peanuts. They need to label it and label it clearly. How is that protecting us to allow companies to mix in ingredients they don't have to label? That is just wrong:(
ram,
If you go to the FDA website, a large portion of the recalls listed are over mislabeling potential allergens.
How about this: force manufacturers to properly label "reconditioned" food as such. Then we'll see how long this practice continues as they lose far more money in sales than they ever would from "botched processing".
you could just try buying local and save yourself the trouble... Just look at most national products and whats in the ingredients on the box and then look at the consumer reports... most of the crap thats out there has been out there as readily available information for years and no one cares to look.
If they aren't willing to look to see if juice is made from US fruits and put together in the US so you know the arsenic levels are much lower, chances are they aren't going to look to see if the food is reconditioned or not.
The people that care about their food and whats in it and care about it enough are already the ones doing things correctly to prevent this from effecting themselves and their family.
This is a great reason why you should avoid processed foods as much as possible. Seek out your local farmers markets and check their credibility. Buy fresh, buy local and invest time into what you put into your body!
Yup. Grow it yourself or get it from a local farmer's market. Then learn how to can like your grandmother did. The food will last you all winter and you will know exactly where it came from and how it was processed. People think that home canning is quaint, but there is a reason that grandma went to all of that trouble.
We have been doing this for years as well as taking a couple of days each summer to make up some simple healing ointments and oils to keep our money and our health out of the hands of the businessmen. It works well, gives a great deal of satisfaction and we know what is in those jars and bottles.
Rob: Thanks for encouraging people to go to the local farmers markets. and to buy local.
We butcher our own meat, put out a huge garden, can and freeze the extra produce and have chickens for eggs, and my husband and children fish. Once you start eating that way, there really is no going back. A lot of times my children will take their lunch to school because they don't like the way the school lunch taste( it's not fresh)
I realize that not everyone can do this, even if they can get to a butcher shop for meat, that is so much better that Walmart. (pre-packaged meat has a lot of additives that help to keep the meat looking pink) Fresh is better. We have done Herbs on the window sills in the winter also.
Just stinks for the people who don't have a lot of land. I live in a condo and consider myself lucky to have about 12 square feet to grow veggies on. No farmer's markets around here, but plenty of local farms.
Corporate Profit!, all hail Corporate Profit!
Brings to mind the age old recipe for home made "rotten" fruit cake! Old home canned fruit that has become unpalatable is made into a tasty treat. (waste not, want not) My parents lived in a one room shack for the first year after their marriage.
And we wonder why we are facing constant threats of contaminated foods and deadly disease outbreaks in our vegetables. We have, as a people, moved too far from the earth and become too dependent on others to supply our food. I don't know what the answer for the many who live in cities will be, but for me and mine we will and do buy only from local farms, eggs, meat and vegetables. Canning is not hard and can be done in any kitchen if you buy the supplies. We need to take back our food and make it safe, we cannot trust the owners of the food companies to put the human above the dollar..they never do. We cannot trust the government to do it for us as they are in bed with the companies. We must take our basic safety and survival into our own hands if we want to survive in any type of health.
Well - if this article intended to scare the hell out of American consumers - it hit the mark. Is the reconditioning of spoiled food supposed to reassure us that we are eating poison approved by the illustrious FDA, or that the FDA is doing its job to keep food safe for all? The question doesn't seem to be definitively answered in this article. Meanwhile, I'm on the way to clean out my refrigerator - perhaps like everyone else reading this. That ought to make today "waste food day" across America.
The FDA's job is to ensure profits for agribusinesses, pharmaceutical companies, and the manufacturers of 'edible food-like products'.
This is why I try to eat a diet consisting of mostly fresh plants that I cook myself.
W. Thompson,
If you read carefully, reconditioning doesn't apply to spoiled food. That's why the applesauce manufacturer got in trouble. The article was mostly talking about how manufacturers will grind up misshapen pasta or mix funny tasting ice cream into chocolate ice cream.
This is pretty messed up. The FDA is ok with BAD food being "reconditioned" and put in with good food. Isn't their JOB suppose to stop this sort of thing. But I think its even worse that they come right out and say, "Yeah, there might be some mold or the food is a little contaminated. But it's only a little bit. It's not like it will kill you. Eat up, it's safe. I won't eat it, but you can. Trust me". They don't deny that contaminated food is being served to us. It's common practice to them.
tron,
Unsafe food is still unsafe. The applesauce manufacturer got in trouble for reconditioning their moldy food.
IT is messed up. but if you think you know what their job is you are mistaken. The US govt is owned by the corporations. They want to irradiate food so they do not have to pay to clean their processing plants. You would eat poop on your meats, bu the the coli would hopefully be dead from the radiation. The Housing crash was manufactured by the gubmint being in bed with financiers and developers. Fannie and Freddie and laws forbidding loan qualifications being their instruments. The protection of the airlines after 9-11 so they would not be sued for letting the security lapses allow the 9-11 in the first place. The 2008 and 2009 Wall street bailouts. The current talk of bailing t out the banks again because of Europe. The corporations pushing for pizza to be a vegetable. Don't be a sap and talk about how the gubmint is supposed to lok after the interests of "the people". Such simple ways of thinking alLow the situation to worsen. You better start realising you have been sold out economically. I hear the shackles of slavery nearby.
FDA = Fraud And Death Administration
re: organic must follow regulations
I wouldn't be so sure about that. Just who regulates them? Up until a few years ago, anyone could grow a crop and say it was organic. I'm not sure how strong the regulations are now, but I know there is little money for the gov't to inspect and enforce all the so-called organic farmers. There is little money to inspect and enforce those of us who aren't farming organically. But, then again, what do we need gov't for? The rich will make sure our food is properly inspected--lol!
re: organic must follow regulations
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Just who regulates them?" Probably the FDA, doh!
"The rich will make sure our food is properly inspected--lol!" Yeah, so they know which food not to eat, LOL!
Midwest Grandma: I agree, not very many regulations. ( I think they are getting more strict now)
We are hog and grain farmers in Southern IL. We are not organic. However, we only use pesticides when absolutely needed. No growth hormones on our hogs either.
I have always said, that it is not the farmers you have to worry about. It is where your food goes after it is sold. this article just proved that!! I do encourage everyone to buy from your local farmers market, farmer, or town butcher.
WHAT THE 5UCK IS WRONG WITH THE FDA?
This is such crap.
Wait until several 10'S of thousands die./
What's wrong with the corps. trying to ignore the FDA and serve up S^!T pies anyway.
How about we start to publish the results of their inspections. Better yet put them on the label so we can see the results as we're buying that jar of peanut butter."contains less the 10 bug parts per oz." But mom this one only has 3 bug parts per oz. I know son but those six black skulls means that many people died last year from eating it.
ImRightnotyou: The corporations control gubmint. The Gubmint employees have a paycheck for life no matter what. People can be healthy, well educated contributors to society or they can be poisoned by their foods and meds, enslaved by their bosses, or unemployed. None of it matters to the Gubmint employees because they have no accountability and no skin in the game. Do 30 years, retire at 54 and have somebody send you checks and provide medical for the next 35 years in retirement no matter what. They are not about to tell a corporate contributor to their bosses that what they are doing has got to stop. So the kids will get seriously sick one day, perhaps many will die and your gubmint will make it happen.
All of you seem to have forgotten the hungry homeless. If you have more than you need consider donating it to them. It's for darn sure that the people who foreclosed won't.
That's right, poison the poor..the food is not good enough for me and mine but we can feed the trash to the homeless and donate it to the food banks? Real compassion there Da-Judge..real human kindness.
cronewinter-1656821
See my post #22 below. The rich get it as well; more often than not when they dine out.
Just think about what the 1% are being served in restaurants right now! If your boss invites you to lunch you might want to think twice about it.
Again, Corporation in this country will do ANYTHING to make a buck. No you can't cook the S^!T out of food. But that's not going to stop them from trying.
But why do we need the FDA or any of these other regulatory agencies when they are all so willing to do the right thing.
Wake up republicans! Your the ones who think we should let corporations govern themselves!
If people actually saw how food was prepared at most restaurants; yes even high class restaurants and bakeries, they probably wouldn't eat it. I once saw a chef remove a mouse from the mixing bowl while he was preparing bread dough. He just threw the mouse, which probably urinated in the dough, in the garbage but insisted that the dough was still good. He made dinner rolls for his high class patrons with the dough. On another occasion I picked up a friend who worked in at a bakery just as he was closing up for the day. He invited me in while he finished what he needed to do before leaving. I noticed he had several sheets of napoleon crust spread out on his work tables. I asked him if they needed to be put into the refrigerator; he said no, they would be fine until the next morning. So, the next morning I dropped him off, his car was in the repair shop. I noticed the sheets of napoleon crust had rat droppings on them and more than likely have been urinated on as well; they were also nibbled on by the rats. He just wiped the rat feces onto the floor, spread the napoleon cream on them and put them out for sale. Yummy, yummy.
It takes time to find out about restaurants. I have eaten at many various places around L.A. for years. Although I still have a fair range of favorites, I can swear, that at this time, the place that prepares the best food ever is near skid row. True. Also their prices are great. It's just that they could use a better atmosphere.
I see your rats and raise you the plastic gloves ! Was in a fastfood restaurant where all the staff wear plastic gloves all the time. Now you and I may want to believe these people are trying to keep the food clean when they handle it. But I don't think that is what is going on in their heads. They wear gloves because they were told to. That's it. They have no clue why and they aren't about to find out. No curiosity at all. Once the gloves are on, they handle money - then food, they retrieve supplies and packages from the store room - then handle food, they grab the broom and sweep- then handle food, they will put their hands down on the counter and then handle food. Pick somehting off the floor - then handle food. Saw this week, yet another article from a hospital nurse about you need to remind your Doctor to wash their hands because they still don't do it between seeing patients. As long as Americans go through their daily lives with their heads up their keisters we will have plenty to write about.
The Greed is not stopping and endangering the population. Soon they will tell us that Nuclear wast is safe and pollution has no effect on us. Who are these guys in the FDA? They should be fired asap.
Again, this article is not about the FDA. We all know there are limits in place for the amount of crap that is allowed in food. You may not agree with it. But the real story is how all the corporation try to skirt even these limits to make a buck.
This is about greedy corporation who will do anything to make a buck. If you kill a couple of customers a year... well that's just the cost of doing business but what the hell are you doing throwing away that moldy, rat nibbled vat of cheese!
Who are they is a good question. These department's do not staff by popular vote and their names or photos are never published.
US gubmint employment is the best "no cut" deal on the planet. You can actually get people killed and vast amounts of property damaged and still get a paycheck for life. IF by some odd chance the fiasco you're involved with should get bad press - they transfer you somewhere else in the bureacracy, and declare on camera that it'll never happen again. The reporters then go do another Linsey Lohan bit and the cycle repeats.
brian,
isn't there an old saying about the fox and the hen house?
the public fails to realize that downsizing government will lead to more and more of this kind of misbehavior.
would anyone here permit jerry sandusky babysit their son?
would you let your daughter go out with a ted bundy type?
would they let bernie madoff handle their money.
why the hell then do we allow these companies to police themselves when it comes to the quality of their product?
gotta run. my corvair just got outta of the shop and i have to pick it up. sure am glad i didn't get injured in that pinto i had.
It depends on how good their marketers and lobbyist are!
Nice, a corvair reference. Kudos.
If you think this is bad in the USA, you must have no clue what goes on elsewhere in the world. Anybody that eats food from China or any other country with a lack of control and regulation you might as well eat bug poison. Simply put I'd eat worms before I ate food that came from China. In the USA people do go to jail for stuff like like this look into SK Foods and adulterated tomato products.
I saw a special on China where on a scenic cruise they had a kitchen on the boat, they served the fish they were able to catch from the polluted river they were on. The river looked so bad that it made muddy water looked clean. Not very appetizing. And we all know what happens to you when you drink the local water in Mexico. I made that mistake not thinking about it and regretted it for the rest of the night.