Yes, this is post numero due for today. Don't freak out, I've done it before. I wrote the other because I wanted it to be know that I know...y'know? But I'm writing this entry for three reasons: 1) I actually do have better things to do than waste time on a man who is clearly devoid of any and all integrity (although I'm not ruling out the possibility of posting a letter I'm writing that I want him to read); 2) because of an FB post about rainwater capture; and 3) because of a comment about non-moldy bread.

 

As you know, I've posted a couple times about the atrocious state of the world's food supply. Well, after the last post I just started bookmarking all the articles that were cropping up, almost daily, about the vile nastiness we're consuming; and I've now amassed so many that it's high time I clear out my bookmark menu! Because of that, we're going to work through my list backwards.

 

Before we begin, I suggest getting some snacks and pulling up a comfy chair, cuz this is going to take a while (and I'm not even going to get to number 2 in this post).

 

I was talking with my mother last night and she mentioned that, after talking with me and other family members about all the food-related creepy grossness, she started noticing that the bread wasn't getting moldy any more, or at least, not like it should. I told her about the people who have bought fast food burgers and left them out, some for a decade or more, and what has, or hasn't, happened to them. Surely you've all seen the pictures floating around Facebook? If not, the basic story is, the burgers aren't degrading...at all. Why should that freak you out? Think about it.

 

But what else is going on with our food? Well, milk in Germany has turned up with cancer-causing fungus that is suspected to be from contaminated cow feed from Serbia.

 

In France, a restaurant just outside of Paris was shut down when inspectors discovered a pot of boiling caterpillars on the stove, and meat with no veterinary certificates showing origin.

 

In Denmark, the world famous Noma restaurant was given a formal warning for being the source of a Roskilde Sickness outbreak in 63 guests over a 5 day period of service. Roskilde Sickness is a norovirus (food poisoning) that causes vomiting and diarrhea. The warning came after complaints of food poisoning prompted a visit by inspectors who discovered that there had been illness among employees who couldn't properly wash their hands because there was no hot water in the staff hand-washing taps.

 

In the US, Whole Foods Market, Inc, will require all products sold in it's US and Canadian stores to be labels as either GMO or organic by 2018. At present, the US doesn't require any kind of safety testing for GMO's before they go to market as the food industry claims they're safe, despite an almost total lack of independent research verifying their claims.

 

In Switzerland, IKEA's restaurants sold 720 chocolate almond cakes containing coliform bacteria (which includes E. coli). Chinese authorities reportedly destroyed almost 1900 kg of the same cakes because of excessive levels of coliform bacteria. The presence of coliform bacteria is used as an indicator of sanitary quality of foods and water.

 

Also in Switzerland, a Swiss laboratory found traces of pork in seven out of twenty tests conducted on kebabs sold in several Swiss cities. Although the tests show low proportion, Jewish and Muslim tradition forbids the eating of pork.

 

As if messing with our food isn't bad enough, two Swiss retailers have removed various shoe models from their stores after tests found they contained a cancer-causing chemical. The chemical, Chromium 6, is a toxic byproduct of chromium, widely used to tan leather.

 

In Sweden, grocery chain ICA ordered a recall of two meat products over concerns they may contain horsemeat. After the first lasagne horsemeat scandal, ICA began testing it's own meat products labeled as beef. Preliminary tests show at least two products are positive for horsemeat.

 

In February, fears of additional horsemeat contamination caused IKEA to halt the sale of additional meat products after tests by a meatball supplier showed positive results.

 

In Norway, pork contaminated "halal" meat was discovered in kebab meat and pizza toppings. The contaminated meat was found in both grocery stores and fast food eateries.

 

Even pets aren't safe; in March, Natura Pet recalled several pet foods due to salmonella contamination. During random sampling by the FDA, salmonella was found to be present in at least one of Natura Pet's products.

 

In Sweden, one of the few bright sides to the horsemeat scandal is that contaminated frozen lasagne being pulled from store shelves was going to be made available for the homeless of Stockholm. (Do I need to remind people that the issue with the horsemeat contamination was never that it contained horsemeat, but that it was labeled as being 100% beef?)

 

In the UK, a Health Protection Agency investigation linked pre-packaged salads to around 300 Cryptosporidium infections in England and Scotland. Cryptosporidium causes the diarrhea illness Cryptosporidiosis, and is closely related to Plasmodia (malaria parasite) and Toxoplasma (toxoplasmosis parasite).

 

In Sweden, more trouble for IKEA. The company halted sales of elkmeat lasagne when it tested positive for pork in a Belgian lab.

 

Still in Sweden, Sweden's National Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket), asked prosecutors to investigate a company believed to have labeled Polish horsemeat as Swedish beef tenderloin. Apparently, they can't even be sure where this mystery meat came from because the documentation is so sketchy.

 

In the US, the food industry has such control over the FDA that at least 13 substances, banned in other countries because of their health risks, are legal in the US.

 

Again in Sweden, the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control (Smittskyddinstitutet) has warned that frozen berries may have been responsible for 22 cases of Hepatitis A in Sweden, and appears to be linked to a 30-person outbreak in Denmark.

 

In Germany, apparently more than 100 German food retailers have been buying misrepresented meat for at least two years. A Dutch abattoir was selling the meat, horse, as beef and has sold some 50,000 tons of the stuff to at least 124 German butchers.

 

In Spain, more than 4% of all meat being sold as beef actually contains horse. Four areas of Spain have reported that their "beef" contains horse.

 

Once again Sweden! In April, IKEA looked to sell or give away it's horsemeat contaminated meatballs. If that wasn't possible, they hoped to use them as biogas.

 

In the US, biotech company Ventria Bioscience is making GMO rice with human DNA. They are splicing human liver genes into rice DNA with the intent of using this "Frankenrice" in the production of pharmaceuticals.

 

And finally (for now)...

 

In Spain, health authorities in Navarre have discovered E. coli in spaghetti meals, and at least one plate of lasagne containing listeria, prepared for Navarre's hospitals by a private company. Apparently the company, Mediterránea de Catering, has a history of poor hygiene, food handling, and workplace accidents.

 

 

BELOW: Originally captioned on Facebook by Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company as: Even the squirrels know.