Reusable shopping bags will kill you

A recent study by some guys in white coats at the University of Arizona warns that those nifty reusable shopping bags (like the 20 or so I have in my trunk) are teaming with bacteria.

The researchers tested 84 bags collected from shoppers in Tucson, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area and found that just over half were contaminated with potentially harmful bacteria. Twelve percent of the bags contained E. coli, which indicates possible fecal matter and more dangerous pathogens.

According to the study co-author Charles Gerba, using a reusable bag is on a par with having your family play Russian Roulette (how do those Russian casinos keep attracting customers anyway?):

Well, it's sort of a random chance," he said. "Sometimes, there may be enough. Sometimes, there may be not. You're really always gambling with germs."

The biggest problems arise from people stuffing dripping hunks of raw meat into their bags and then leaving them in the trunk for a while.

Unacceptable alternatives include chopping down forests to create paper bags, and despoiling our pristine wetlands with offshore oil drilling to make toxic plastic bags. The study authors (who, incidentally, got $30k from the American Chemistry Council to conduct their research), recommend soaking bags overnight in Purell, or just skipping the bags entirely and stealing the store's shopping carts.

Nestle Cookie-Gate Cover Up

The Nestle cookie dough recall that has so far sickened 69 people and put 34 into the hospital --9 with kidney failure-- has taken an unexpected twist.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Nestle had denied access to FDA inspectors to its files of consumer complaints, pest-control records, and other information.

According to the full article (you have to have a subscription to access this), inspectors found "dirty equipment" and 3 "ant-like" creatures during a previous visit to the plant, but did not see fit to close the plant or require further action.

The FDA does not currently have the authority to force companies to provide such records except when they can prove that there is a grave immediate threat to public health. Congress is currently considering legislation to give the FDA this authority.

Forbes has more info here.

Nestle has recalled all raw cookie dough products that came from the suspect plant, but still continues to make pasta sauce and other non-cookie related products there.

Nestle Toll House Cookie Recall: C is for e. Coli

There are two disturbing elements to the recall of Nestle Toll House Refrigerated Cookie Dough.

* Usually the danger of raw cookie dough is salmonella from contaminated raw eggs. The contaminant here was E. coli 0157. According to Wikipedia,

E. coli O157:H7 infection often causes severe, acute bloody diarrhoea (although non-bloody diarrhoea is also possible) and abdominal cramps. Usually little or no fever is present, and the illness resolves in 5 to 10 days. It can also be asymptomatic.

In some people, particularly children under 5 years of age and the elderly, the infection can cause haemolytic uremic syndrome, in which the red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail. About 2%–7% of infections lead to this complication. In the United States, haemolytic uremic syndrome is the principal cause of acute kidney failure in children, and most cases of haemolytic uremic syndrome are caused by E. coli O157:H7.



Basically, some cow poop got on the raw cookie dough. Is Nestle making a regular habit of mixing in cow poop with the chocolate chips? Do we really want to know the answer to that?

* Pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough?!! Mix flour and baking soda and set aside. Beat eggs, butter, brown and white sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the flower and baking soda. Mix with spoon. Add chocolate chips. Spoon out onto ungreased cookie sheet, eating approximately 1/3 of the batter in the process. Bake. 10 minutes of prep. Fifteen if you include washing up. It is fun. It is easy. It builds character. No cow poop. If you can't handle this, then just buy a bag of Chips Ahoy.

Danger Lurks At Home

As bankrolls slim down and the unemployment rolls swell (hi Mike!), more people are likely to be spending time at home.

According to the people in white coats at WebMD, however, this is a bad idea. How bad? Let them count the ways.

Okay, they stopped counting at six.

1. Sponges will kill you. Throw your sponge into a centrifuge (or whatever it is scientists throw things into) and you'll likely discover E Coli, salmonella, and poop.

Most people clean their countertops and table after a meal with the one tool found in almost all kitchens: the sponge. In addition to sopping up liquids and other messes, the kitchen sponge commonly carries E. coli and fecal bacteria, as well as many other microbes. "It's the single dirtiest thing in your kitchen, along with a dishrag," says Tierno.

Ironically, the more you attempt to clean your countertops with a sponge, the more germs you're spreading around. "People leave [the sponge] growing and it becomes teaming with [millions of] bacteria, and that can make you sick and become a reservoir of other organisms that you cross-contaminate your countertops with, your refrigerator, and other appliances in the kitchen," Tierno explains.

Their recommendation: Bleach. Which is, of course, highly toxic.

My recommendation: Only eat at other people's houses, leaving your kitchen spotless.

2. Vacuuming. Regular vacuuming releases a storm cloud of dust and other fine particles into the air, triggering asthma attacks, soil erosion, and crop failure.

Their recommendation: Buy some fancy spancy vacuum for a gazillion dollars.

My recommendation: Stop vacuuming. Duh.

3. Sleeping with pillows and a mattress.

The average person sheds about 1.5 million skin cells per hour and perspires one quart every day even while doing nothing, says Tierno. The skin cells accumulate in our pillows and mattresses and dust mites grow and settle.

If that's not gross enough for you, Tierno explains that a mattress doubles in weight every 10 years because of the accumulation of human hair, bodily secretions, animal hair and dander, fungal mold and spores, bacteria, chemicals, dust, lint, fibers, dust mites, insect parts, and a variety of particulates, including dust mite feces. After five years, 10% of the weight of a pillow is dust mites. This is what you're inhaling while you sleep.

"What you're sleeping on can exacerbate your allergies or your asthma," says Tierno.

Their recommendation: Put some giant bags over your bed. And wash your sheets once a week (seriously).

My recommendation: Sleep on the couch or in your car.

4. Grilling meats. Okay, they must have read my post from April. Basically, the fat drips down causing cancer to spray all over your burger.

Their recommendation:

"Limiting your outdoor cooking, using tin foil, or microwaving the meat first is a sensible precaution," says Michael Thun, MD. He is emeritus vice president for epidemiology and surveillance research with the American Cancer Society.

My recommendation: Don't ever invite Michael Thun, MD, to your barbecue.

5. Opening your windows. Outside air pollution will kill you. Inside air pollution will kill you even faster.

Their recommendation: Run the air conditioner and keep the windows shut. The a/c will filter out the cancer dust, although the really deadly stuff will sneak in and kill you anyway.

My recommendation: Start smoking. Cigarette smoke will kill off the dust mites.

6. Watching TV. Americans are fat and lazy. It is the fault of the tv.

Their recommendation: Turn off the tv, put down the junk food, and go for a walk.

My recommendation: Get an old tv that uses an antenna. The US is switching to digital tvs on Friday. Without a converter box, your old tv won't get any reception.

Meat Will Murder You

With the weather here in the Boston area having finally turned the corner, a carnivore's thoughts naturally turn to the backyard grill (please stay away from the flowers though).

Now we ponder the eternal question: How do you like your burger? If you said "rare" (and we likes 'em rare around here) then you are going to get sick from E. Coli, make the bathroom stinky, and possibly die.

So, just grill all the bad stuff out of it, right? Sure, unless you want to die of cancer. Turns out, people in white coats at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health have discovered that high consumption of carcinogens from overcooked meat is correlated to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Basically, you up your risk of getting cancer by 60% if you eat all the blackened stuff on your burgers.

A Straight Dope column from a few years back goes into a lot of the gory details, but it was written before the latest studies came out.