Five Foods You Shouldn't Eat Raw

I have eaten all of the items multiple times with no known ill effects so far. Why don't you give us some percentages so we can calculate the risk and make an informed decision?
For example, when is the last time someone in the US contracted that pork neuro thing?

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Salmon is not a fresh water fish, but spends the majority of its life in the ocean.

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Who the hell wrote this piece anyway? Look, I've eaten sprouts on my sandwiches for forty years now, and never had a problem. In addition, I had a Czech roommate for almost two years, and two of his favorites were raw bacon, and sausage from the roll (like Jimmy Dean, Smithfield, or something). He would cut a slit in the end, and squeeze it out of the roll into his mouth like from a toothpaste tube or similar. I found it repulsive, being a southerner & always taught pork should be cooked well done, but he never suffered any ill effects, and claimed he had done it all his life. Then I did a bit of research on trichinosis, and found many of my previous fears unfounded. Perhaps there's merit to this article, but I remain skeptical. BTW, my friend is still healthy back in the Czech Republic a decade later now.

We are taught to fear the 'sell by' dates, and consequently much food in this country gets wasted, when the 'consume by' time is far more important. People are ignorant pansies, and many in the US just don't comprehend when they throw out completely edible & safe food they are probably causing someone thousands of miles away to starve...to death.

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I'm sure he can do a lot of fear mongering among a populace that consumes rats, cats, dogs, monkeys, and snakes, but will they listen to him after their dietary habits for thousands of years? If the Chinese had all died off he might make a point, but how many Chinese people are there in this world now again? Hmmm. The new pup trying to teach old dogs new tricks is very tricky, isn't it?

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Come on people - the article is pure satire! It's supposed to be a joke. It's a sad state of affairs when fear-mongering is so mainstream that the joke is missed.

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The point of the article is to bring awareness of the potential danger one could be facing by ingesting these food items. I could be wrong, but I believe the doctor was using humor with the "hysteria" of his list, but sprinkled with truth. I am surprised that so many people are upset by this list. I have a weakened immune system and have been told all of this many times before. The dangers may be less for those without a weakened immune system, but with all the improper handling of food, added chemicals and growth hormones in livestock- why would you want to take the chance of making yourself sick? If you do and you never have a problem then that's just great. I would hope that everyone, skeptical or not, would heed the advice of #5's ingredient with infants. Honey isn't crucial for the development of an infant, and having worked with babies you never know what their system can tolerate.

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If anyone is really worried about store-bought sprouts, they're easy to sprout at home.

For instance seed catalogs sell sprouters for $9.99 or so that are perfect for this purpose. Or you just need a set-up where the seeds are soaked from above (daily) and the water collects below. It only takes a few days.

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Ayurvedic medicine (traditional East Indian medicine) also teaches that one should never consume honey that has been cooked or heated in any way. Cooked honey is poisonous to the system.

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I never give money to Alternet. If it's not the cockamamie vegan blather, it's the cockamamie food safety blather. There's a thing called common sense, and apparently it's vacated the brain of Alternet food writers. I know Doc has only our health and safety in mind, but this is maddening. I'll bet he never rides his bike without a helmet or drinks water from the garden hose, either.

Somehow Americans have come to believe that the only acceptable level of risk in life is no risk at all. It's statistical B.S. and freaking boring as hell. We're becoming a nation of risk-averse pussies- unless, of course, we're illegally invading a country for their oil.

As for me, I'll keep growing my own sprouts and eating the occasional, stunningly fabulous beef carpaccio. And drinking from the garden hose.

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Either ignore it or pay attention to it. From everything I've read, the most important thing to do is be aware. Not be frightened of everything, but aware. It's smart to eat organic and locally grown food when possible - and to make an effort to do so.
If the stuff in the supermarkets was actually food, which most of it is not, American hospitals would not be sporting "double-wide" wheelchairs, there wouldn't be such a market for SUVs with "captain's chairs" (since we have so many people who can't fit in smaller cars now!) and and it wouldn't be common to see women with rear ends that look like shelves made of 40 pounds of encased jello, or men who can't see their private parts, or even their feet.
Practically the only actual "food" - meaning nutritious stuff to be consumed - is in the produce section (and if you are a carnivore, the meat/fish/dairy section) of your grocery store.
There is nothing but toxic stuff in the soda isle. Ditto the chips and cookies isle. Virtually nothing in the cereal isle, with the exception of a small handful of grain products that are not loaded with high fructose corn syrup and a bunch of chemicals. If there is an organic/natural section, you can find some foods that won't hurt you in one way or another. Most preservatives are bad for you, most food coloring is bad for you. This, alone, wipes out the frozen section and most of the dairy section, ditto the donuts and pastries section. (If you don't make it at home and know what is in it, it's probably not good to ingest too much of it - anything with a shelf-life of who-knows how many months/years is probably not a good "food" source. In fact, a good rule of thumb is that if it doesn't rot, it's not food, so you shouldn't want to challenge your immune or digestive systems with trying to cope with it.)
The quantity of caffeine and sugar being consumed is killing people. The mercury in fish is damaging peoples' brains (and the brains of unborn and nursing children). The antibiotics in meat are at such high levels because with the exception of grazing cattle, the giant meat industry keeps their poor cows in feed lots where the animals stand in feces up to their bellies or necks, and their bodies are covered with suppurating sores that would kill them if not for the high levels of antibiotics coursing through their sick systems - who wants to eat sick or dying animals, but that's what's in your cold cut meats and every other cheap meat - buy one burger for a dollar, get the second one free!
People can get angry when someone posts a notice that the food is bad, but it doesn't make sense to me. Look around, America - people are dying from all of this toxic stuff they are tossing down their throats. When I was a kid it was rare - RARE - to see obese people. Now it's the norm. It's not because obese people are eating gluttonous proportions of food, it's because the food they are eating is not nourishing (sustaining life). It is poisoning. And they eat more and more, trying to get nutrients that are not there.
So, with ample evidence surrounding us that people are unhealthy in the extreme, why do so many people who read a list of five foods that might be wise to avoid, or at least consider, become so enraged?
Why are we defending a food-production system that has been turned into a profit-regardless-of-risks system?
If your grandmother never heard of something, it's probably not food. If you can't pronounce an ingredient, it's probably not good for you, and it could be very bad for you.
It is naive in the extreme to believe that the federal government is watching out for your best interests. They are in the pocket of the major food industry, which is designed to make money, not feed you nutritious food. The government is also governed by the best interests of the pharmaceutical and "health care" industries, both of which make billions off of sick and dying people.

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WHERE ARE ALL THE DEAD JAPANESE WHO HAVE BEEN EATING SUSHI FOREVER? I LIKE SUSHI AND EAT AT
ONLY THE FRESHEST SUSHI PLACES WHERE THE CHEF IS
JAPANESE. I KNEW ABOUT THE HONEY. USED TO GROWN MY OWN SPROUTS. AND I DO NOT EAT ANY MEAT.

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Jeeeeez . . .
A simple reminder on basic food safety and everybody goes running to the hills screaming!
I thought Alternet readers were just a tad more . . . . savvy.

None of you would survive for one second in Japan. Raw fish, eggs and sprouts are staples. They're simply smart enough to know how to handle and prepare them.

I guess some just feel safer eating that over-cooked, greasy Western food. Yuk.

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While I don't make a habit of eating raw eggs or meat (I do like a rare steak from time to time & I'll eat professionally prepared sushi/sashimi) raw vegetables certainly can provide nutrients that are lost in cooking.

For those who think the article is intended as satire: perhaps, but don't feed raw honey to your baby. Read about the risks of doing so at http://www.bizzybeehoney.com/inandrawho.html - the National Honey Board's page on infants and raw honey.

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He writes like he'll never see the sunny side of ninety again.

Actually, the advice he's giving is probably good advice for feeding children, who are more susceptible to food parasites and toxins than adults are, but he forgot to say so.

In a time when peanut paste from a giant food warehouse, which, it turns out, was in an astonishing percentage of peanut-butter-related commercial food, killed and sickened people across the country, I think this very outdated listing doesn't hit the mark.

If we're going to pay attention to something, it should be how our commercially produced food is handled, and where the main ingredients come from.

It does come down to eating locally, and getting away from processed food.

You know, even ten or fifteen years ago a salmonella outbreak was so rare it made national news without sickening people in all fifty states. Is it me, or are contaminated food ingredients becoming a constant problem? What's the difference between the way things were done just a few years ago, and the way they're done now.

Is it only overseas ingredients being used more frequently now? I don't think so. The spinach contaminated with e-coli was grown in California.

The Nestle's Toll House Cookie Dough with e-coli was from a plant in Virginia. That one ended up being a mystery, because they said they were going to change the suppliers of the main ingredients of their product. That earned a giant WTF from me, because there wasn't any information about the suppliers, whether or not they routinely sell e-coli contaminated "main ingredients" all over the country, and whether or not any action was taken to follow up and clean them up, if they were indeed the cause of that outbreak.

Never mind the sushi--odds are it's quite safe. It's what we don't know about our food that will make us sick.

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No ill effects. However, all the raw food consumed I handled myself before eating. Nothing was factory prepared or prepped.

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There was a time when raw foods were good for people. Now very little is safe to eat raw because of the way it is produced and handled. Raw foods are no longer safe to eat because of e coli and other bacterial parasites caused by poor handling of produce and factory farms. Cook your food -this should be a no brainer.

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All I can say to the above article is "utter bollocks". With one qualification - if the author is actually commenting on the state of American (and Canadian) food safety, then yes, he's probably right. These two countries have left food safety to private corporations with very little to no government oversight, with the result that we don't HAVE food safety, we just have accountants checking to make sure that the costs of lawsuits from contaminated food don't exceed the profits from not needing to do it right in the first place. This is made easier by lax labelling standards so that we don't actually know where our food comes from, making it difficult to pin down the culprits if we get ill.

In countries that actually HAVE food safety and strict government regulations all of the above can safely be eaten raw. Look at Japan and France for some examples of how to do it right. In both countries, all of the above are regularly eaten raw with no ill effects on anyone.

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It's the only food we know of that does not spoil over time. It's been found buried with Egyptian mummies. It become solid, but as soon as it melts back to its liquid form, it's good as new. I didn't know about babies and honey. So thanks, Anna

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Tempeh.
While most of you probably wouldn't eat it at all,
those that do need to be reminded that Tempeh must be cooked before being eaten.
While many companies steam it before packaging, others prefer to sell it live.
Check the package so you know.

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I welcome the article listing all the different foods which could make us and our children sick. If the detractors want to take a chance, I'd let them! Go ahead and have a steak tartare, mad cow disease is lurking; it's also called Alzheimer's.
I believe the reason Moslems do not eat pork is that originally it made lots of people sick.
The danger of honey for babies is news to me. I'll definitely warn my friends and relatives. Better be safe than sorry. I knew that sprouts could sometimes be a problem so yes, grow your own.
Bon appetit, bonne sante sans viande ni poisson!

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Warm humid environments don't grow salmonella, e.coli OR bacillus bacteria- cross contamination does! A well inspected, properly sanitized sprout grower should have zero problems with contamination. It's only when seed, water or the growing environment itself is contaminated that there is a problem and it's not difficult to prevent.

I'm wondering- do you have some kind of vendetta against the sprout producers in this country that you'd spread such unsubstantiated drivel?

Oh, and as far as eating raw cookie dough? If you're concerned about raw eggs wreaking havoc in your digestive system, use pasteurized eggs when you make your dough.

I've spent the past 6 years of my life preventing foodborne illness (successfully, I might add)in populations of elderly people and I hold both ServSafe and CDM,CFPP certifications.

I promise not to practice emergency medicine if you'll quit making up lies about the food industry in this country.

... I'm wondering... did mommy force you to eat all your sprouts as a child?

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The hazards that exist from these foods is almost entirely due to our industrial ag system. Eggs did not used to be known primarily as salmonella vectors until corporate ag started putting three hens into a cage too small for one, and the bacteria got into their ovaries.

USDA and state ag agencies use scare tactics like these to put small farmers, who provide healthy food, out of business, all the while ignoring the dangerous output of agribusiness. (They might need a job from them someday.)

You don't seem to know what you're talking about, nor do you understand the context of the food debate. Respectfully, until you educate yourself a little bit you should STFU.

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If cookie dough is wrong, I don't wanna be right.

dboy

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That's weird. My favorite kind of sushi is tapeworm too...especially in a roll with spicy fish roe.

The trouble with giving kids honey is that today's parents are giving it to them straight. Back before cough medicine was invented, our parents used to mix it with bourbon and a twist of lemon. A few shots will kill any pathogens, but more importantly, guarantee your infant a peaceful night's sleep.

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IS cooked, chemically by the citrus in the marinade...

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Like most alarmist articles, this picks out potential risks and parades them around as 100% guarantee. Yes, you could contract broad fish tapeworms (D. latum) from eating sushi, but encysted tapeworms are something that are inspected for when any meat, fish, pork, or beef, is given the once over. Of course, these parasites are both small and very good at propagating their lifecycle, so it is very possible to overlook them and they enter the food chain.

What makes this a sad attempt at parody, if it even was one, is that there's too much truth in it. All of those 5 were ostensibly risks we assume when consuming (or in the case of honey, feeding) these products. You can get worms from eating raw meat. You can get serious bacterial illness due to to cross contamination of uncooked vegetables. And you can indeed kill your infant children by feeding botulism-containing honey to them. So if this was satire, it ill serves readers because they laugh off these very real risks. If it wasn't satire, then it misses a very real chance to inform the readers meaningfully about the risks inherent in food choices.

Either way, this article was drivel, and took far less time to write than my comments.

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Read this guy's bio and you will probably understand the gist of his article... sounds like he is as sick of the fear-mongering as everyone else and this may be his reason for going to China. That or he is really a Chinese undercover reporter "doctor" trying to find out what scares Americans. He can cross that list off his list now.

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Please do some research and understand the source of contaminants before you put this rubbish on alternet. To start with, eggs do not inherently have salmonella. It typically comes from the shell being contaminated. Clean the shell. I eat raw dough every time I make cookies, cake, muffins . . . I can't help myself:-) I've never gotten sick from it.
Getting parasites from fish is EXTREMELY rare these days. And even more rare if the source of the fish is farmed, which is where a lot of commercial fish is coming from now. Most food poisoning from fish is either because it was not handled properly and was contaminated, or people that eat to much fish tend to accumulate mercury. The vinegar used in sushi tends to have antimicrobial properties.
To say that the sprouts have e coli due to the weather is just ignorant. It comes from animals shitting on the crops. The same reason people got sick from spinach, tomatoes, peppers, etc. Eat at your own risk.
I can't really argue with the raw meat thing, but I will say this . . . our paranoia of germs and bacteria is why our immune systems are not working properly. Lack of exposure has made us lazy. Use it or lose it.
And on the back of every honey container it states that you should not feed raw honey to children under 1. So anyone who does is an idiot.

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... kills all the bugs that could contaminate your food. It leaves behind zero radioactive residue and has minimal negative effect on nutritional value of the food and substantially extends shelf life. Those who oppose irradiation are either ignorant or have some kind of goofy agenda that results in a lower quality and quantity supply of nutritional food stuffs.

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i ate raw fish in asia once. I'm not doing that again i tell you.
TopBug @ stayfitbug.com

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I'm eating raw fish and honey. Luckily, haven't experienced any stomach problem up to now.

Just curious, about the raw eggs. In some places, people believe that eating raw eggs can energize a person. So, do you think it isn't advisable for them to follow that belief?

Eric

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Low risk of any problem, and the classic case occurred a few years back when parents thought they'd give a young girl a healthy spinach salad from a bag of spinach greens. She wound up with severe lifetime kidney problems from e. coli because while most of the spinach field was fine, wild animal(s) had dropped dung on a small portion, but once the greens went into the factory and were all mixed together a lot of the clean greens become contaminated.

Since then measures may have been taken to make this less possible but is the convenience and variety really worth the risk?

I know I never eat bagged greens because when we have so many other choices my answer to the above question is a resounding "No?"

Now let's talk about the apple juice from China (40% of the U.S. supply) . . . .

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It typically comes from the shell being contaminated. Clean the shell. I eat raw dough every time I make cookies, cake, links of london tiffany muffins . . . I can't help myself:-) I've never gotten sick from it.

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It typically comes from the shell being contaminated. Clean the shell. I eat raw dough every time I make cookies, cake, links of london tiffany muffins . . . I can't help myself:-) I've never gotten sick from it.

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i agree with the first four,but why honey can not eat raw.



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