Processed Foods - Melamine and Listeria

The recent weeks have yet again highlighted to me how our society needs to get back to basics.  This time the subject is how individual families need to take back control of what they eat and, therefore, responsibility for what they ingest.

Here in Canada we have had a large number of food items recalled due to listeria bacteria being found.  While not all of of the strains of listeria found were from the same source, the one that has been getting the most attention originated at a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto, Ontario.  The belief is that the bacteria was "deep inside" some of the slicing machines in that plant.  Maple Leaf Foods makes, among other things, sandwich meats that are used by a number of other vendors in prepared sandwiches, for example.  The result was a pretty wide recall.

In China we've heard about the scandal around the use of melamine in milk products.  Now various countries are testing products to see whether milk products from China were used in their manufacture.  The centre of that scandal has been on the Sanlu Group and its products, especially the baby formula it produces.  Melamine is one of the ingredients used to manufacturer plastics, cleaners and fertilizers.  Apparently it also conveniently, and erroneously, causes the protein levels in milk products to appear higher than they are.  So one can add water to milk and still attain the expected protein levels in tests conducted.

So what do I mean by taking back control and responsibility?  One of the themes in my blog has been how consumers have gotten lazy.  We want things to be done for us, for as little money as possible, so that we can spend time doing other activities.  Well....my point is that there are few activities more important than eating.  Eating healthy foods.  Knowing what we are ingesting.  So I am asking all consumers out there to reprioritise their activities.  Take the time to buy the ingredients to make your own sandwich.  To make your own spaghetti sauce.  To make your own salad dressing.  Buy foods that have gone through the least amount of processing in "plants" (a better term would be a factory).  By fresh fruits and vegetables....not those that have been canned, pre-washed, etc.  This way you will know what you are eating and you will diminish your chances of being infected by some bacteria that is lingering deep down in a tool in the factory.  You will diminish your chances of being contaminated by a chemical that is used to increase the bottom line of an unethical company.

Words like manufacturing, tools and plants (in the sense of factories) should not be used when discussing food.  Rather words like simmer, bake, blend.  Words like kitchen, stove, pot and pan should be.

Take control and take responsibility.  Prioritise preparing the food you eat above sitting on your behinds watching television.