Comment by neilv
2 years ago
> For instance, on June 10, an inspector entered the "pickle vat pump room" and noted "heavy meat buildup" on the walls, which were also crawling with flies and gnats.
I haven't seen much upside from going vegetarian, but at least I don't have to worry about accidentally eating food from a place like the above.
> According to the CDC, one significant outbreak in 2020 was linked to onions, resulting in around 1,127 reported cases of Salmonella across 48 states.
Vegetables can also be contaminated with bad bacteria and they do get contaminated in practice.
There are plenty outbreaks caused by contaminated salads and other vegetables.
Indeed, there was a recent e coli outbreak on salad in the UK and one person died[1]
1 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd1xl518w8do
Yeah, I've gotten food poisoning a few times from leafy green salads.
But at least, when I'm slumped over porcelain, and praying for death, I don't have the horror film image of "heavy meat buildup" on the walls.
Can’t get hepatitis from pepperoni.
But can get legionella from simple tap water. Microbes are everywhere.
I'm not excusing the horrible sanitary practices some businesses have, and the complicity of their employees, but being vegetarian is not a recipe to become free of dangerous diseases caused by microbes.
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The consistency of widespread foodborne illnesses coming from vegetables is unmatched
Your horror is an artifact of the industrialization of food production not the fact of meat at a food
These insane practices aren’t happening with pastoral nomadic herders or even pasture raised farms in the US
There are some nasty parasites that can get onto your vegetarian produce. For example, Rat-Lung Worm disease parasite, can get onto produce from slugs and slug mucus. If you eat this parasite it can go into your brain and mess you up bad (permanently).
I would rather eat a piece of meat (cooked) than a piece of lettuce that is grown in an area that is affected by this parasite.
What a strange name for something in slugs.
I believe it's angiostrongyloides. The OP's description is accurate. It's actually a known problem in Hawaii, though elsewhere too, but with inadequate recognition.
They do live in rat lungs.
The most dangerous product in a typical kitchen is lettuce. Bon appetit.
> The most dangerous product in a typical kitchen is lettuce. Bon appetit.
What is the quantitative definition of "dangerous?"
The chances of dying from food poisoning after eating it, if it's used in a normal fashion.
Lettuce is usually eaten raw and uncooked, and it can't really be washed thoroughly. It's also a leafy green that grows directly out of the ground, so it has the greatest chance to be contaminated by ...erm... organic fertilizers, rodent poop, and other sources of bacteria.
Raw spinach too, a very close second.
What if you grew it yourself?
It's fine if you wash it well, which restaurants and salad bars almost never do. Same for raw spinach. Also, ensure that surfaces and hands are sanitary.
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Do you like potatoes and strawberries? Welp. One of the pesticides California's green lit is also used to stimulate tumor growth in animals. Presumably not much is left on the food itself (although strawberries make great chemical sponges), but Dichloropropene is definitely a problem in the communities surrounding the farms.
Like cheap wine? Things haven't gotten much better from Chavez's days especially if you look at the cheaper brands like Charles Shaw. Plenty of young, dead, farm workers because safety standards are barely enforced.
Are you just worried about pathogens? Cantaloupes were the main vector in the 2011 listeria outbreak in the US and 2018 listeria outbreak in Australia, and a salmonella outbreak this year in the US. The 2008 salmonella outbreak in the US was the largest since the 80s, and that was spread by cilantro and peppers.
2009 saw a big salmonella outbreak in the US spread by peanut products. If you're worried about unsanitary factory conditions, you probably don't want to read up on that.
Big ag is gross whether it's plant or animal.
What pesticide is this?
Dichloropropene?
They also do cheese (vegetarian, no animal rennet), various sauces, pickles...
They scrape the floors at places like this to make blood meal (i.e. organic fertlizer).
The meat buildup I can deal with, but the flies are such a nuisance.