A mix of bacteria-killing viruses can be safely sprayed on cold cuts, hot dogs and sausages to combat common microbes that kill hundreds of people a year, federal health officials said Friday in granting the first-ever approval of viruses as a food additive.

The thought grosses me out so much, I may have to avoid any foods that may have been sprayed with this stuff. You may be saying to yourself, “shouldn’t we do everything we can to make our foods as safe as possible?” Of course, but I draw the line at using bacteria-eating viruses as a “food additive,” especially when we are talking about a bacteria that infects as few as 2500 people in the USA a year and kills as few as 500. Listeria isn’t exactly an epidemic, and it isn’t even a threat to most healthy people … yet all of us are going to end up eating foods treated with this bacteriophage “food additive.” I guess no one paid any attention at all to the study that came out a month ago which showed that living in a pristine, perfectly clean environment and not having exposure to bacteria leads to weakened immune systems … and, of course, minor illnesses becoming major ones. If your immune system doesn’t encounter anything to fight, it doesn’t know how or what to fight when it finally does.

It would be easier for people who are at risk for serious Listeria infections to avoid foods that may make them ill than it will be for me to avoid anything that’s been sprayed with this virus. It’s going to end up being used on lots of things, but the worst thing about its use is this:

Consumers won’t be aware that meat and poultry products have been treated with the spray, Zajac added.

I want to be aware of whether something I am eating has been treated with this stuff. I want it advertised right on the packaging … a big “Listeria Safe” sticker or something similar. At the very least, I’d like it to be mentioned in the ever-shrinking fine-print on the back of the package. Consumers should be aware on anything added to the food they are purchasing whether it’s been declared safe or not. Otherwise, people like myself who would prefer to eat things that haven’t been treated with a virus can do so. I’m opposed to any additives or treatments being done to food products without consumer knowledge, but then I do my best to avoid anything that would be described as “processed.”

Is this new food additive safe? Probably, but who knows what’s going to happen ten years down the road. It’s a virus, and while it may be perfectly safe now, or at least appear to be so, viruses do some weird things … like mutate in the wild. I’d rather not test this stuff’s safety by eating foods sprayed with it for the rest of my life only to discover in my 60’s that it wasn’t safe at all. There are plenty of food additives from the past that are now considered entirely unsafe that once upon a time were the latest and greatest things to come along. Just something to keep in mind as you chow down that virus-laden cold cut sandwich or hot dog. Me? I’d rather take my chances with Listeria, thank you very much.