Some people claim that they purchase organic produce because it’s safer than conventional food. They don’t want all that pesticide residue getting into their systems and poisoning them. (I debunked this and other organic myths starting in Part 1 of Debunking the Organic Myth). Or they’re afraid the GMOs are going to doing something freaky to them (again, never been any science supporting anything bad about GMOs).
So, if you don’t like eating pesticides and GMOs, how about eating salmonella?
Sunland Inc., the largest producer of organic peanut butter was shut down this week because their plant was literally dripping with salmonella. Under the FSMA rules, the federal government was able to go into the plant and stop all production until the problem is fixed. So far 21 people, mostly small children, in 40 states have gotten sick by the products.
By the way, Sunland is a huge supplier for Whole Foods (and Safeway and Target).
Obviously this can happen with conventional food too. But proponents of organic food try to paint a rosy picture of the stuff being healthier (its not), safer (its not), and better for you (its not).
No one has ever gotten sick because they’ve eaten a food containing GMOs. People have gotten sick from eating organic. So what makes more sense?
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
