July 9, 2008

Now it's personal

Picante, pero sabroso: "Even dusted with ashes, red-hot serrano peppers seem to glow in the eerie light of the Day Fire." Photo by Les Dublin from The Ojai Garden [2006].

Torn from today's headlines:
July 9, 2008 -- The CDC today warned that people at high risk of severe cases of salmonella infection -- infants, the elderly, and people with weak immune systems -- should not eat raw jalapeno peppers or raw serrano peppers [!!!] because of the ongoing salmonella outbreak.
"Most serranos rate between 10,000 and 20,000 Scoville units," says Wikipedia. We do indeed.

Peppers may be bad for you, but high fructose corn syrup is filled with natural goodness. The Ethicurean fills us in:
Conveniently timed with the Corn Refiners Association’s multimillion-dollar campaign to sweeten consumers’ appetite for high fructose corn syrup, the FDA has reversed its position on whether HFCS an be labeled “natural,” reports Food Navigator yesterday. “HFCS, like table sugar and honey, is natural. It is made from corn, a natural grain product,” says Corn Refiners President Audrae Erickson in the association’s statement gloating about welcoming the government approval.
It's a "quality" sweetner! Right. Oh, what the hey — it not as if 57 million Americans have pre-diabetes or anything. Thanks to The Ethicurean for great reporting and valuable info, and ditto to Christie and Gina at Pet Connection for their ongoing coverage of our tax dollars at work.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What has stood out glaringly to me in all the salmonella furor was a complete and utter lack of reporting on SIMPLE GOOD HYGIENE. In passing I saw just a bit of 'reporting' on the issue on one of those pointless am infotainment shows. The 'expert' interviewed went out of his way to avoid mention of simple things like the importance of washing fresh produce and how proper cooking kills bacteria.

Cripes, now they're even suggesting that people should not to buy salsa. Hello! Pretty much all the salsa you buy in a store is from washed, COOKED tomatoes and peppers. Where's the hazard?

-- Oh that's right. Some of that salsa contains HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!