Food Conspiracy Theory....

[Guest guest]

The Big Pfood Industry is pushing for irradiation of virtually all food. This

will take direct sales completely out of the market, enable food to be shipped

from faraway countries, enable vast food factories to continue as they are, and

more. How to get people to want it? FEAR. First of all, plant the seeds of an

E. coli epidemic, then hold up the " silver bullet " . Of course you call it

ionizing radiation, or, worse, " cold pasteurization " ... It's coming, folks.

Here's the words from an industry hack....

Want safe food? Technology offers a solution

Greg , Editor, Associate Publisher | Updated: July 13, 2011

At least 35 people died in Germany this spring and more than 3,300 fell ill from

an E. coli outbreak that left health officials scrambling to identify and

isolate the source. By mid-June it was announced the source of the contamination

was determined to be sprouts from a farm in northern Germany. Health officials

tracked the bacteria's path from hospital patients struggling with diarrhea and

kidney failure, to restaurants where they had dined, to specific meals and

ingredients they ate, and finally back to that single farm.

What contaminated the sprouts in the first place is still under investigation.

Investigators claim it was little surprise that sprouts were the culprit. They

have been blamed in at least 30 food-poisoning cases over the past 15 years in

the United States and a large outbreak in Japan in 1996 that killed 11 people

and sickened more than 9,000. Growing conditions for sprouts and the fact they

are eaten mostly raw make them ideal transmitters of disease. Cultivated in

water, they require heat and humidity — precisely the same conditionsE. coli

needs to thrive.

Scientists say E. col ican stick tightly to the surface of seeds used to grow

sprouts and can lay dormant for months. Once water is added to make the seeds

grow, the bacteria can reproduce up to 100,000 times.

Soon after the E. coli outbreak was announced, some pundits were quick to

condemn livestock production as the true villain. For instance, Katz, MD,

director, Yale Prevention Research Center, wrote an opinion published by The

Huffington Post in early June claiming that " the entire plant kingdom " is

innocent in this case.

Katz seized the opportunity of the E. coli outbreak to, once again, vilify

food-animal production. An example from Katz: " Large-volume meat production

means large farms, large herds, and large, centralized, highly efficient

processing plants. At best, this all translates into relative neglect of any

individual steer, and a relative inability to inspect the quality of every

steak. At worst, it offers reminders of the `jungle' to which Upton Sinclair

introduced us all at the turn of the 20th century. "

If that passage from Katz' column was a subtle condemnation of meat, the

following makes quite clear the doctor's opinion of your livelihood: " In the

end, we must concede it is an appetite for large quantities of meat derived from

abused, drugged, mass-produced, mass-slaughtered cannibalistic cows that is

responsible for E. coli O157:H7, mad cow disease and probably the new germ

sailing on sprouts (or whatever) into unsuspecting households. "

While many pundits seem eager to vilify livestock production, they don't seem

nearly as interested in telling the American public that technology has a

solution for food contaminations. It's called irradiation, and it's currently

underused.

Irradiation is the process of exposing food to ionizing radiation to kill

bacteria such as E. coli It also destroys a host of other contaminants such as

viruses and insects.

Irradiation is approved for use on food products in 40 countries, and since its

approval in the United States in 2000, more than 150 million pounds of

irradiated ground beef have been sold to American consumers. Omaha Steaks and

Schwan's irradiate every hamburger they sell.

However, some consumer organizations, environmental groups and a few producers

fear " ionizing radiation " used in the process that destroys the bacteria. In

fact, consumer fears — fueled by critics with little evidence — have prevented

widespread use of irradiation. Apparently, the fear of extremely low levels of

radiation is of greater concern than our fear of E. coli and a host of other

contaminants. It shouldn't be.

Our fears of irradiation are similar to those exhibited a century ago when

pasteurized milk first came into use. That seemed to work out pretty well.

Scientists from around the globe, however, believe irradiation is a silver

bullet that can drastically reduce food contamination and human illness from

tainted food. It is not, they believe, a replacement for sanitation and other

regulated food-safety practices already in place, but it is a tool that can

greatly increase food safety and minimize human suffering. What's not to like

about that?

The European E. coli outbreak of the past few weeks should serve to spur the

implementation of irradiation. Let's stop pointing fingers and start irradiating

our food.