That's Fit

Anyone who was scared off greens after the massive spinach recall two years ago might find themselves eating a big spinach salad soon. The FDA is allowing spinach and lettuce manufacturers to irradiate their products before they hit grocery store shelves. Irradiation, which is the process of exposing an object to radiation, kills dangerous bacteria like E. coli, salmonella, and listeria.

Irradiation won't sterilize the greens, but the FDA is hoping it will drastically reduce the risk of outbreaks like the one that killed four people in 2006. But critics wonder if irradiation is the answer. I worry that steps like this one will lull consumers into believing that the problems with our food safety have been fixed, and that it takes the focus away from farming and manufacturing processes that put us at risk in the first place.

It's not clear from the article whether irradiated spinach and greens will be labeled. Some people worry about the long-term health effects of eating irradiated foods, but the FDA assures consumers that there is no radiation left behind, nor does the process affect taste, texture, or nutritional value. What do you think?

We planted our first vegetable garden this past spring and enjoyed it so much that we just spent the weekend doubling its size for next year. With a very small financial investment and a little bit of physical labor, we've been able to contribute fresh, healthy, organic foods to our menu and teach our kids some lessons about food production as well.

Rising food costs, food safety concerns, and an increased awareness about environmental issues have lead to an increase in backyard gardening. And some food activists are hoping to encourage that trend by putting an organic garden on one of the most well-known lawns in Amercia ... The White House.

When OnDayOne.org asked citizens to share their ideas for a better world, Eat the View shot quickly to the top. Eat the View is a program that advocates the placement of edible landscapes in high visibility places. You don't get much more visible than the White House! Activists hope that by promoting these kinds of gardens, backyard gardeners will again be encouraged to pull out their seeds and hoes. The idea is, if people start growing more of their own food, there will be less pollution created by food miles, pesticides, and waste.

So will the next President grow a garden at the White House? Time will tell. Sustainable practices aren't a new idea at the Presidential home; in 1917, President Wilson replaced power lawn mowers with a herd of sheep.

When my daughter bit into a red, ripe, juicy tomato tonight, I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing it came from our own backyard garden. The seemingly relentless string of food recalls over the last couple of years have left many Americans, myself included, feeling less than secure in the safety of our nation's food supply.

When many people worry about food safety, they worry about meat, a fact that Forbes recently identified as one of the most commonly held food safety misconceptions. In fact, fresh produce is one of the largest sources of food-borne illnesses in the U.S., mainly because it's a raw product.

So what are the other misconceptions? Check out this Forbes gallery to learn more about them, but they include:

• that bacteria can be washed off
• that local always means food is safe
• that cooking can eliminate all bacteria
• that food-borne illnesses are rare
• that you don't need a food thermometer
• that cooked food is safe sitting out

Fruit and vegetables should make up a large chunk of your diet, so it's important to make sure that they are safe. To reduce your risk, follow these safe handling tips from the FDA, but also keep an eye out for food recalls so that you can eliminate any affected food you may have in your home.

After all but taking down the tomato industry with their recent recall, the FDA has yet to find the culprit of the current salmonella outbreak. Now they're turning their attention to foods like hot peppers and cilantro, noting that it might not be tomatoes themselves, but a food that is commonly eaten with tomatoes.

With the number of people who have fallen ill quickly approaching 1,000, it's clear that an answer needs to be found soon. The FDA has been focusing on tomatoes coming from Mexico, but they've yet to pinpoint a source.

For more on this outbreak, and for information on what specific foods to avoid, visit the FDA's website.

As fabulous as we at That's Fit think this blog is, the truth is there are hundreds of wonderful blogs on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. So in this feature, Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.

Over the weekend, a reader (Hi Liz!) asked us to look into expiration dates on cereal -- are they still safe to eat after the expiration date? Will they lose taste or texture? I decided to see what other bloggers had to say on the issue.

LifeHacker tackled the issue of food expiration dates a while back, and there are some interesting comments that might be helpful. Nancy over at GovGab explains the difference between "sell by," "best if used before," and "expiration date." And the homecooking section at About.com has some tips for understanding when foods are still safe to eat, and when they should be tossed.

And finally, to answer Liz's question: CJC says that dry cereals are in the "best if used by" category. If the box is unopened, then the food inside should still be safe to eat up to six months after the date (sometimes even years), though there's no guarantee that it will be at its top quality. However, those dates only apply to unopened packaging. Once a box is opened, it starts to deteriorate in flavor, taste, and texture.

Got a blog you'd like to see featured on Fit Links? Leave us a note in comments!

Every morning, I pack my son's lunch for school (or day camp during the summer). For a while, I bought him those coolers in fun shapes like soccer balls and so forth. But after he lost three or four of them, I gave up on the concept. I also tried using a strong plastic baggie and freezing a thin layer of water in it. I didn't care if those got lost, but my son certainly cared when the baggies got a hole and spilled thawed water all over the rest of his lunch.

The best solution I've found is using edible ice packs. Take a look at your child's lunch and see what could be frozen. The frozen foods will keep your child's lunch cold and, by lunchtime, they should be thawed and ready to eat. Some perfect items for freezing include:

• Yogurt tubes
• Cans of fruit (individual serving sizes)
• Pudding cups
• Grapes
  
• Juice box
• Homemade cookies or muffins.
  

A report released by the health advocacy organization, Trust for America's Health, finds that the US food safety system is lacking. Problems include out-of-date laws, inconsistencies within the system, and inadequate use of resources.

The report implies that the US food safety system is disjointed -- with more than 15 federal agencies playing some role in food safety. In addition, the report suggests that food safety needs to be more preventative than reactionary. For example, though the possibility of terrorist action infecting our food supply is known, very little has been done to prevent such a threat.

Suggestions for improvements include:

• Inspect foods through the entire production process.
• Update inspection procedures as changes occur.
• Establish standard practices of authority for recall and penalties.
• Improve inspection of imported foods.
• Increase FDA funding.

For weeks, my family drooled over the four, perfect, green Granny Smith apples in the fruit bowl.

"Don't touch them," I admonished, "I'm going to make apple burgers with them."

Now, my family had other apples to eat, so don't go feeling sorry for them. But they really wanted those tart, crisp apples in the fruit bowl.

Three weeks later, those apples ended up out under the pine tree -- squirrel food. I'd waited too long and they were brown and mushy on the bottom. I felt bad then that I didn't let them get eaten when they had the chance.

Do you waste produce? According this article, we all do. Food waste takes up a large chunk of landfill real estate and creates methane gas that leads to global warming.

Fruits and veggies are good for you, so it's tempting to buy a lot. But produce is highly perishable, so reduce waste by only buying what you need. Diet-Blog has a few tips for buying and preserving all the fruits and vegetables you can eat, without the waste.

Malt-O-Meal has recalled two of its cereals after 23 people have fallen ill with salmonella. The Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat cereals are sold under several different brand names: Malt-O-Meal, Acme, America's Choice, Food Club, Giant, Hannford, Jewel, Laura Lynn, Pathmark, Shaw's, ShopRite, Tops, and Weis Quality. (See actual packaging here.)

The cereals are stamped with "use by" dates of April 8, 2008 (APR0808) to March 18, 2009 (MAR1809). If you have them in your cupboards, the FDA recommends that you throw them out.

Salmonella can cause nausea, cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. It can be serious in young children, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems.

My very, very favorite fruit of summer is the cantaloupe. It's sweet, juicy heaven. The only problem is, in my neck of the woods, cantaloupes are only in season for a few weeks every year. The rest of the year, they are imported from some far off country, which is why I only eat them in the summertime.

If you've had a cantaloupe recently and it's too cold outside for it to have been grown locally, you might want to take a look at the label before you eat it. Cantaloupes grown by a Honduras manufacturer have been recalled because they may be contaminated with salmonella. If your cantaloupe was grown in Honduras, you should throw it away.

Cantaloupes aren't very acidic, so they can be prone to contamination. To protect yourself, make sure you choose melons that are firm and unbruised. Scrub the melon under cool water with a brush before cutting, and refrigerate any leftover cut portions within two hours.

Food-borne illnesses that can be linked to leafy green vegetables are on the rise. Experts once thought that the increase was due simply to the fact that we're all eating more greens, but a recent study found that that answer isn't entirely correct. Over the last decade, consumption of leafy greens increased by about 9%, but food-borne illnesses associated with those greens shot up 39%. Obviously, something else is going wrong.

Food-borne illnesses can be the fault of the consumer, especially if raw foods aren't handled safely. But these numbers are too high to blame on user error alone, and several outbreaks over the last few years were linked to processing plants.

The risk isn't big enough to give up greens for good, especially since greens are so incredibly nutritious. But it is a good idea to have good food safety practices at home. Discard the outer leaves of the plant, then wash your greens well, including any visible dirt, and store unused portions in the refrigerator. Check out this NPR article for tips on keeping your greens and the rest of your fresh produce safe.

I am a worrier who comes from a long line of worriers, and so therefore worry is a part of my daily life. Because I know that stress can negatively affect my health, I work very hard to keep anxiety in check. I try to balance the amount of risk with the amount that I worry. So, for instance, when I started allergy shots a few months ago, I was very worried I'd have an allergic reaction. But once I talked to my doctor and learned that the risk is real, but small, I tried to reduce the amount of energy I put into worrying about it accordingly.

If you are a worrier, you understand completely. If you aren't, you probably think I'm a little bit nuts.

In any case, worriers everywhere will be relieved to know that Real Simple has taken 10 things off our "must worry about" list. For instance, if you accidentally use your own shampoo on your dog, he'll likely be ok. And you can probably eat that cracked egg in the egg carton, especially if it only became cracked once you brought it home from the store. And really, as long as the items you sneak into a movie aren't bothering anyone, the usher will probably leave you alone.

What? Those aren't the kinds of things you worry about? Yeah, me either.

If you think that you suffer from an abnormal amount of anxiety, check out AOL Body's anxiety guide for more information. What kinds of things do you worry about and how do you control it?

As fabulous as we at That's Fit think this blog is, the truth is there are hundreds of wonderful blogs on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. So in this feature, Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.

Did you know that, according to estimates, nearly 70% of the food on supermarket shelves contain ingredients from genetically modified foods. Despite that figure, the majority of Americans not only report that they've never eaten genetically modified foods, nearly half also say they'd rather not. Why, then, do we plant them? They're banned in many countries, and many of those who do plant them label them so that consumers can decide for themselves. Not so in America.

There are a lot of concerns over the practice of growing GM crops. Allergies, for one. Superweeds for another, and while we're at it...superbugs. Oh, and there's that whole "death of biodiversity" thing, too.

There are plenty of other bloggers talking about GM foods on the 'net, including Mark at Mark's Daily Apple who covers the potential problems involved with genetically modified foods. Expat Chef talks about the USDA's recent approval of Round-Up ready sugar beets. Finally, Grist will educate you on why GM foods, which were created to reduce resistance to pests, actually increase the need for pesticides in Attack of the Superweeds.

Genetically modified foods, cloned cows...yeesh. What do you make of this new trend in our food supply?

Last month, we heard about a Southern California slaughterhouse's terrible abuse of "downer" cows, or cows that were too sick to walk. Today, the USDA reported that they have evidence that Westland/Hallmark Meat Company -- the slaughterhouse in question -- did not consult with veterinarians on a regular basis when cows became sick. Because of that, the USDA is recalling all affected meat, 143 million pounds worth.

One hundred forty three million pounds. The AP has already done the math for us. Not only is it the biggest beef recall in U.S. history, it's also enough beef for every man, woman, and child to have two hamburgers. All I can think of right now is that, in this era of "green" living, what a massive waste of resources, energy, and animal life it is to raise and feed that much cattle and then to screw up at the slaughterhouse and have to throw it all away.

Food safety is clearly an issue that's not going away in the U.S. I hope that the video that caused so much outcry and the recall that followed is a loud-and-clear message that Americans want food that's humanely and safely produced.

The United States Olympic Committee isn't taking any chances at the Olympics this year. To ensure that their athletes are eating the most nutritious meals possible, and to avoid food issues like steroid-heavy chicken breasts and tainted meats, they'll be shipping in 25,000 pounds of lean protein ahead of the games.

This year, for the first time ever, American athletes will have their own center where they can eat three meals a day. Much of the meat in their meals will come from America, while fish will be imported from Japan and fruit from Australia. The USOC wants to make sure that athletes have access to balanced nutrition to improve their performance and also avoid any doping questions if athletes eat an animal that's been pumped full of steroids.

On the one hand, it's kind of a shame. Part of the beauty of traveling to new places is enjoying the local cuisine and learning about local customs. But the USOC says that once they are finished competing, American Olympic athletes are encouraged to go and search out local meals.