The company doesn’t sell directly to consumers but, instead, produces whey protein, milk powder, gums, and fruit stabilizers for sale to food makers across the United States. The cooperative also produces fluid milk products, but these are not affected by the recall. Plainview customers who have issued recalls so far include:

· CPI Foods, which is recalling 15,000 packets of non-fat dry milk distributed to various community service companies in Arizona, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia.

· NOW Foods, a nationwide producer of dietary supplements and natural foods, has recalled 12 of its whey protein products.

· Stop & Shop Supermarkets, a New England chain, has recalled Stop & Shop Nonfat Dried Milk, which is sold in 5 and 10 packs of 16-ounce and 32-ounce packets, respectively.

· Traditions, which has recalled ILS Meals Home Delivery Meal Service prepackaged meal kits, and Traditions Meal Solutions prepackaged meal kits. These were distributed nationwide and were made between January 28, 2008, and June 5, 2009. Tradition’s products were distributed to food distributors and regional nutrition service providers.

So far there haven’t been any illnesses connected with the recall, but the sorts of products the company makes are the sorts of things found in all manner of foods sitting on your local grocery shelves, so this one could turn out to be a big recall.

Aside from the above mentioned products and companies, Malt-o-Meal is recalling some instant oatmeal (sold under a variety of brand names). I have some instant oatmeal in my cupboard. The next time I hobble to the kitchen, I will be checking which brand it is, though I suspect I will end up just throwing it away anyway, as my will to eat it (now that it is a suspicious food) has diminished.

Most elected officials who decide they don’t wish to seek re-election to their current office, wait until their current term is over before throwing in the towel and calling it quits, but not Sarah Palin!

That’s ’cause she’s a maverick!

A construction worker in Texas is three times more likely to die on the job than a construction worker in any other state. Texas is ranked number one for deaths of construction workers, with California coming in second (with twice as many actual construction workers). This has been some pretty big news locally the last few weeks, owing to some recent construction worker deaths in downtown Austin, and it finally got the attention of the federal government. They are sending in more inspectors and getting a little fussy about the situation.

What was Governor Perry’s response?

“Let free enterprise reign, and be wary of over-regulation.”

“I think by and large we have the appropriate oversight to keep our citizens safe.”

“I probably put that [more construction worker deaths than any other state] to the cause of we build more things than anybody else. It’s like saying Texas has more cars than anybody else, because we’ve got a lot of people.”

And his response to the Labor Department sending in more inspectors specifically?

“Great. I hope they’ll send more assistance to secure our border as well. The federal government has been an abject failure in supporting Texas in places it needs to be spending dollars.”

As a wife of someone who works in a construction-related field, all I have to say to Perry is kiss my ass. I’m sure it is no skin off his nose that construction workers in Texas are dying when they needn’t. The fact that Texas is #1 in construction worker deaths doesn’t worry him at all. I doubt he even knows anyone who works in the field, though I bet he knows plenty of people like Mike Stearns who had this to say about it:

“All that regulation adds to your overhead and you can’t operate at a profit.”

Yes, yes … the almighty need for profit! Who needs safety regulations? What does it matter if some people die, because companies don’t want to follow existing safety regulations? It’s not anyone they know, so it doesn’t matter. All that matters is getting to do what you want, when you want, and how you want in the process of making as much money as possible. If a few people die, well, that’s just the cost of business, isn’t it?

So to Governor Perry and all the construction big-wigs who think having oversight and safety regulations that are followed and keep people safe are bad for their business … human life is more important than making a few extra bucks on your projects.

And KISS MY ASS!!!

I first heard about the beef recall by JBS Swift a few months ago, but at the time, I was lead to believe it was a limited recall in a very specific area (not anywhere near here). Since it’s now been expanded (again), and I know a lot of people buy these kinds of products ahead of time for July 4th BBQ, I thought it prudent to pass this along. There hasn’t really been much of anything about this is the national news. In fact, I’d totally forgotten about the beef recall.

In connection with the voluntary national recall by JBS Swift Beef Company for possible E-coli 0157:H7 in some of its products, H-E-B is notifying its customers and advising them to check their freezers for the beef products listed below.

* Raw Beef Briskets with plant inspection #969 (EST #969) with sell-by dates between 5/12 and 6/20
* Raw Beef Inside skirt steaks in a Styrofoam tray with sell-by dates between 5/4 and 6/20
* Hill Country Fare Beef for fajitas with a sell-by date of 5/23
* Any fresh ground beef in a Styrofoam tray with sell-by dates between 5/9 and 6/20

Currently, H-E-B does not have any of the impacted JBS Swift Beef products in its stores or in its supply chain. H-E-B has no reported illnesses, and there have been no reports of illnesses in Texas due to this recall.

H-E-B is issuing this recall in an abundance of caution to ensure the safety of our customers. Please return products impacted by this recall to the nearest H-E-B store for a refund or replacement.

Customers with any concerns or questions can contact H-E-B Customer Relations at 1-800 432-3113.

Additionally, while out looking for the information about the recall by JBS Swift, I found this quote in a June 30 news story to be interesting:

“It is important for consumers to note that the recalled product from the date in question was sold by JBS as whole muscle cuts, not as ground beef,” company spokesman Chandler Keys said Sunday. “The ground beef that might have been associated with illness was produced by other companies who often do not use the antimicrobial intervention steps we employ in our facility to reduce the risk of the beef products.”

Well, in light of the newest information –the recalling of ground beef by JBS Swift– it sure seems to me that the above statement is an outright lie. If they didn’t have to recall their ground beef, they wouldn’t be, and yet now they are. Odd, yes?

Anyway, check your freezers for potentially tainted brisket, fajitas, and hamburger!

It’s short. Just watch it. Explore the insanity that is the modern conservative mind.

It’s finally been confirmed that there was E. coli in Nestlé Toll House refrigerated cookie dough. It was the chocolate cookie dough.

But wait! It gets better!

Health officials still do not know how E. coli 0157, a bacterium that lives in cattle intestines, ended up in a product that seems so unlikely to contain it. The risk usually associated with cookie dough is salmonella, a bacterium that can be found in raw eggs. None of the ingredients in the dough — eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter — is known to host E. coli 0157.

Federal investigators spent more than a week at the Danville plant and did not detect contamination in the equipment or among workers, Acheson said. “It raises the likelihood that it was an ingredient,” he said. “And it really means that industry has to be constantly vigilant, because foods we think of as low risk could be contaminated with a deadly pathogen.”

I would say that “eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter” possibly being contaminated with E. coli is disturbing. I find it especially disturbing seeing as I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow, and all those things are at the top of my grocery list. Where does Nestlé source these ingredients? How do I know the eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, and butter isn’t from the same sources? Factory food is shipped around and mixed together, and factories sell the same products under different brand names, so their is the potential there might very well be something in my local store with so little risk of killing me as to be negligible … which might actually kill me.

And now, step into my mind as I contemplate tomorrow’s shopping trip:

The eggs I buy are regional, from somewhere in Texas. I doubt they send eggs from Texas to Virginia for making raw cooking dough. I especially doubt they send free range, yard nesting chicken eggs from Texas to Virginia for any reason at all. These are special eggs, which is why I pay three times more for them per dozen. These eggs are not the sort used in mass produced refrigerator cookie dough. So, my eggs are most likely safe to buy and eat.

The milk I buy is also regionally produced. Now milk is one of those things that does get shipped around and mixed together before packaging and selling, but once again, I get special milk –free range, no added hormones, no antibiotics. This is not milk used in mass produced refrigerator cookie dough. So, my milk is safe to buy and drink.

The butter I buy is yet again regionally produced. But in this case, they were bought by a large creamery, and there’s no way to be sure they don’t also produced wholesale product as well as retail brands. I am suspicious enough of the butter to put off buying butter. We’ll make do with the two sticks I already have. Olive oil is healthier anyway.

The flour I buy comes from Vermont. It’s a better flour and a well-loved and respected flour among bakers. I would say I trust my flour supply to be safe. I hope so, because I have to buy flour, and the only other options at my store are far more suspicious. The flour they make is very nice, and I hope it’s too nice to use in mass produced refrigerator cookie dough. So, I guess I buy the flour and have faith in a brand I like.

But let’s talk about the chocolate, shall we? I know that Nestlé sources its chocolate for its refrigerated cookie dough from itself. Says so on the package. I need to get chocolate chips for cookies. I usually buy Nestlé. Nothing could compel me to buy any chocolate of any kind branded with the Nestlé name tomorrow. The added problem is that Nestlé is such a large producer of chocolate, there is no way to tell which chocolate or chocolate chips aren’t in some way connected to them without a whole lot of research I don’t want to do. Therefore, no chocolate of any kind. Not even candy. No matter the brand. It’ll suck, but getting sick would suck worse.

Does all this sound crazy and paranoid to you? I’m not overly obsessive about this stuff, but I do try to keep up with who is making the food I eat, and which big company is putting out some secondary brand without overtly mentioning they do … or who large companies sell ingredients or product to for reuse or repackaging. The pet food recall brought home loud and clear the facts that one small company can have far-ranging and devastating effects across multiples of brands at multiples of companies, and that large companies put out crappy store brand and generic products at the same plants using some of the same ingredients. These things are true for the human food supply just as they are true for the pet and animal feed supply.

It may sound crazy and paranoid to think this much about what groceries to buy, but to me, it’s modern age common sense, considering all the recalls there are every year on all manner of edibles and the disgusting crap being shipped in from elsewhere … and just how awful most of the food production process really is. Sure, it’s not The Jungle anymore, but it’s really not that much better, at least not for the animals and plants (or the consumers). I shouldn’t have to wonder what thing in the grocery store may next be recalled for making people sick. I should be able to walk into the grocery store and buy anything at all with no concern about it being safely edible.

We don’t live in that world. We live in a world where corporations are willing to cut corners, lie, cheat, and ignore problems, all in the name of that almighty dollar. That puts the burden on the consumer to stay vigilant and be knowledgeable about how their food is made and where their food comes from. I could write posts all day every day trying to convince people to eat more locally and regionally, preach about following the corporate trails to determine who is making what and who they do business with, but I am not an evangelist. It’s a decision every consumer has to make for themselves.

A few years ago, I didn’t give a damn about where my food came from. I bought whatever was on sale or brands I recognized as “big” and pressed on with the eating. Then there was one recall too many and too close together, and I decided to try something different: eating locally and regionally grown foods. Yes, we pay more for our food, and yes, sometimes eating locally also means eating seasonally and so the diet can get monotonous at times, and yes, it means I sometimes have to do some research before buying something at a grocery store, and yes, sometimes it means we don’t get to eat something we want to eat, but I’m fairly confident our food won’t make us sick. If it does, I know exactly who to go to to complain … and they don’t live in China. It seems a small price to pay –being thought of as a little crazy or paranoid– for not having to wonder if something I ate will be recalled tomorrow (or just make a few of us sick and never gets recalled at all).

So, I’m not going to tell anyone “you should eat like we do,” but I do think everyone should think about it and decide if they can make a few changes to their buying and eating habits and become more aware of the source of their food, or decide they don’t give a damn and trust luck and statistics to be on their side. I never trust luck or statistics when health and life are on the line. Do you?

The makers of Tylenol, Excedrin and other medications are trying to dissuade regulators from placing new restrictions on their popular painkillers, including possibly removing some of them from store shelves.

Despite years of educational campaigns and other federal actions, acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S., sending 56,000 people to the emergency room annually, according to the FDA.

The agency today asked its experts to consider a range of options: adding a “black box” warning label to the products, lowering the drug dosage in some products, or pulling certain types of medications off the market.

The drugs that could be pulled off shelves are combination medications, such as Procter & Gamble’s NyQuil or Novartis’ Theraflu, which combine acetaminophen with other ingredients that treat cough and runny nose.

Oh yes, how typical. Due to some people not being capable of following the directions on OTC drugs and injuring or killing themselves, let’s just take things that work really well off the market. First they took away the only OTC allergy medications that ever worked for me, because people were using them to make other drugs, and now I am expected to live without NyQuil and Theraflu? I guess they’ll be after my current favorite sinus OTC sinus medication too, because it’s a combination medication as well, containing acetaminophen.

Screw you FDA! Sure, stupid people shouldn’t be stupid, but why do the rest of us have to suffer without properly working medications because of them?! It’s so hard for me to find drugs that work as intended without awful side effects I can’t abide, if I lose NyQuil and Theraflu, I am not going to be happy. If they take away my OTC sinus medications, well … I don’t even want to think about it. My quality of life will suffer greatly.

Curly cucumbers and knobbly carrots are to return to shop shelves in a move that promises to cut the price of some fresh produce by up to 40per cent.

An EU ban on the sale of wonky fruit and veg which did not meet the ‘beauty pageant’ standards set by Brussels is to be axed.

This is the first I have heard that the EU banned the sale of veggies that aren’t perfect in appearance. How completely stupid! Anyone who has ever grown anything to eat, especially the older heirloom, open-pollinated plants, knows that vegetables rarely look like the ones in the grocery store, sometimes they look quite “wonky”, and yet they are completely edible and have all the same vitamins and nutrients. To throw them away, just because they don’t conform to appearance standards is ridiculous!

So while the EU has been tossing odd veggies, we have been eating my own fresh produce which has included beans curled in on themselves, lumpy tomatoes, malformed squash, and two-legged carrots. Why, we even eat tomatoes that have been pecked on by birds. I just cut that part off and enjoy the rest of the tasty red goodness. The day I throw out a veggie just because it isn’t perfect, someone needs to knock me on the head. What a waste of food and resources.

More can be read about the silly EU rules at the BBC.

I haven’t had time to watch the video or read any transcript of Obama’s recent health care townhall meeting. I need to do so, since that seems to be where my mother (or Fox News and others) have gotten the idea that Obama thinks we should put our old people on ice floes and send them to see with no health care. From the bits and pieces I have read, this is a terrible twisting of what was actually said.

As it turns out, he did, in fact, mention hip replacement surgery:

But the president questioned whether his now-deceased grandmother should have received her hip replacement while suffering a terminal illness.

Recounting the dilemma, Obama said, “(T)he question was, does she get hip replacement surgery even though she was fragile enough that they weren’t sure how long she would last (or) whether she could get through the surgery.”

“I think families all across America are going through decisions like that all the time,” Obama said.

“That’s where you get into some very difficult moral issues,” Obama said – specifically considering whether “in the aggregate, society making those decisions to give my grandmother, or everybody else’s aging grandparents or parents, a hip replacement when they’re terminally ill is a sustainable model, is a very difficult question.”

So, in addition to suggesting (as I posted earlier) that the elderly (and anyone else) who may not be a good candidate for some radical surgery perhaps not get said surgery due to age and/or unsuitability for it, he also questioned the wisdom of terminal patients already well into the process of dying should have massive surgeries not intended as life-saving measures. To me, this sounds intelligent. To my mother and others, it sounds like he wants to kill off old people. I still assume my mom got this idea from Fox News, since she doesn’t read news or blogs on the internet.

Just as I said before that I would be unwilling to undergo a radical surgery in my old age (or even younger) that wasn’t going to dramatically improve my quality of life for an extended period of time, if I am already dying from something else and my death is just over the horizon –no matter my age– I would not want to undergo a surgery for some other problem as I lay there trying to die with grace and in comfort.

But then, I am very matter-of-fact about such things, and quality of life has always been more important to me than the quantity of it. That likely comes from being the carrier of genes from one family who lives into very old age rather healthily until everything falls apart and death comes and one family who all died very young from various conditions. I might have 50+ years of good life left, or I may have a mere 20 or less. I have considered these kinds of medical thoughts at length, because I want to have a plan for what to do in the event I find myself needing to make tough decisions (or my family having to do so for me). More people should consider these things long before they find themselves in the position of having to think about them.

I need to find the time today to track down a transcript of the townhall meeting (it was on ABC, I think) and read it. Right now, I am getting all my information from news sources, and all of them seem to be skewed and biased. I’d rather read or hear what was said and come to my own conclusions.

Yesterday, my mother was going off about Obama and health care (again). Here’s a direct quote from the ranting:

“They are going to stop doing hip replacements for people over 80! Obama thinks old people shouldn’t have surgeries and should just take pain pills and wait to die!”

I asked her where she’d heard that, and her answer was “my news channel” … meaning Fox News, the only channel she ever watches (and at the moment the only source she gets any news at all from). I quite rightfully suspected she’d either misunderstood something or Fox News had some talking heads saying stupid stuff again, so I went in search of what she’d heard about to refute it with some kind of authority and facts. I looked and looked and couldn’t find anything at all about it in the news.

Turns out, I hadn’t used the right search terms, because I did run across something by accident that she could have misunderstood or which could have been twisted and spun by Fox News to make it sound like that was said. Well, it wasn’t at all what was said. Here’s the relevant bit, and knowing Fox News as I do, I have little doubt the part I emphasized was twisted and spun and taken entirely out of context.

At one point in the town hall, broadcast from the East Room by ABC news, a woman named Jane Sturm told the story of her 105-year-old mother, who, at 100, was told by an arrhythmia specialist that she was too old for a pacemaker. She ended up getting a second option, and the operation, for which Ms. Sturm credits her survival.

“Look, the first thing for all of us to understand that is we actually have some — some choices to make about how we want to deal with our own end-of-life care,” Mr. Obama replied. After discussing ways “we as a culture and as a society [can start] to make better decisions within our own families and for ourselves,” he continued that in general “at least we can let doctors know and your mom know that, you know what? Maybe this isn’t going to help. Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.“

Personally, I would like a doctor that is honest enough to tell me something isn’t really going to make a problem better (or even significantly better). What I don’t want is a doctor eager to jump into surgery first or with the idea that surgery is the only or very best way to deal with something, particularly as I grow older. Taken in the context of the entire story that proceeded Obama’s comment about painkillers, yes … sometimes surgery (on the elderly or anyone) isn’t the right answer and other things do a better job of making life comfortable and livable (or extending it). I don’t have a problem with a doctor telling me I am not a good candidate for some procedure, that other options might make a better choice. I would hope to have a doctor who puts enough thought into my problem and lifestyle to be able to help me determine such things, rather than telling me to have surgery and then jumping into doing it without considering all options.

When I am 100 years old, if someone informed me I wasn’t a good candidate for getting a pacemaker, I would completely agree with them and ask them what other options are available to make my . In fact, I would say my cut-off point for many radical surgeries would be much, much lower than 100 years of age. Surgeries can and do often cause more problems than they fix (particularly in the elderly).

So no one said anything about not giving hip replacements to people over 80 or that old people should just pop pills instead of getting treatments. That particular spin on the above quote is either her own ignorance or propaganda being fed to her from the television, possibly a combination of both. I’m not going to bother refuting her or trying to explain it to her. I have given up doing so. She insists quite firmly and loudly that I don’t know anything, because I don’t watch Fox News and get my news and information from the internet, and as we all know, everything on the internet is lies and propoganda put out by the socialist-communists who want to turn the USA into Nazi Germany^†.

1. † Seriously, she thinks I don’t know anything, no matter what source my statistics and facts come from, because the internet is nothing but lies. I could probably find the information in library books and show it to her, and she’d still not believe a word I say, because it doesn’t come from Fox News. It’s sad, and there’s no arguing with that sort of closed mind. Thus, I no longer bother. [↩]

Framed by a circle of clouds, this is a stunning illustration of Nature’s powerful force. A plume of smoke, ash and steam soars five miles into the sky from an erupting volcano. The extraordinary image was captured by the crew of the International Space Station 220 miles above a remote Russian island in the North Pacific.

You have to see these photos taken by the crew if the ISS. Just … wow! Beautiful and awe inspiring.

“I have been unfaithful to my wife, I have developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina… it began very innocently as I suspect these things do… just a casual email back and forth…”

Told you there was more to the story, and that I thought the more was going to end up being something that might be displeasing to a wife, like say … her husband running off to Argentina to hook up with someone (and said wife already knew he had hooked up with that person before).

Interestingly absent from the press conference was the usual clenched-jaw wife standing behind him trying to act like her husband isn’t announcing to the world that he had an affair. I always wonder why those wives go through that, sometimes even bringing along the kids. If I were in that situation, the rat bastard would be standing up there all alone … so good on Jenny Sanford for NOT being there.

What’s really ridiculous is this: how in the world did he think he would not be caught?! I have been cheated on by some very clever men, and even the most ignorant of them blows this guy away on setting up plausible deniability and alibis! High school kids are better at it! I seriously don’t know what he was thinking. Well, I guess he wasn’t thinking, at least not with his brain.

So … it is indeed a career ending event. I don’t see him running for President in 2012, and I’m not even sure he’s going to manage to be governor for too much longer.

What is up with the “family values” party? They can’t seem to keep their dicks in their pants!

I’m sure just about everyone in America has heard the governor of South Carolina disappeared last week leaving his staff, security detail, and family unsure of exactly where he was. It’s been pretty big news, because it’s weird for someone in a position of power and authority to just take off without word to anyone. I don’t begrudge anyone a vacation or some time away for themselves when they need to unwind, but imagine if Lin or his boss just took off without telling anyone where they are going. They only run a small company, but I can tell you there would be some mayhem at some point. Imagine your own boss just leaving for a week without putting anyone in charge while s/he was gone. It would probably cause some problems. A governor is responsible for so much more than a business owner or boss, and I have to think it’s unwise for one to just leave without putting things in order first.

The initial story was that no one knew where he was. Then he was supposedly hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Now it turns out he had actually flown to Argentina. Taking off without word? Stupid. Hiking the Appalachian Trail without telling anyone that’s where he was going? Incredibly stupid. Leaving the country without doing the necessary paperwork to put the Lt. Governor in charge? Hope it isn’t true he was thinking of running for President, because what he did was beyond incredibly stupid. It was completely irresponsible, and I suspect it might be a career killer.

I don’t get to just take off to some location without making sure things are in order and people know where I am going. Lin can’t just walk away from his job whenever he likes, even during the slow season, without letting someone know and having some method of contacting him. I don’t really know anyone in any position in which people depend on them who can just wander off for some “me time” without putting things in order before leaving. I would hope the governor of a state could show themselves to be as responsible as every other boss in the country, seeing as they really have far more responsibilities than the rest of us.

I still can’t help but think there is much more to this story. While neither Lin nor I would just take off without word to the other about where we were going, and call at least once while we were gone, I won’t judge them for that. Maybe it’s the way they run their relationship. But when I hear the wife of a public figure saying things like “I am being a mom today. I have not heard from my husband. I am taking care of my children” … well, in woman-speak that comes across to me as a somewhat angry statement. So yes, I suspect there is much, much more to this story and that Governor Sanford might be in a little hot water not just at the office but at home too.

Big huge recall of Nestle raw cookie dough products due to E. coli. I know these products are popular (we used to have them in the house all the time), so I thought I’d pass along the link to the information on the recall, which includes ALL Nestle cookie dough products (though not ice cream products containing raw cookie dough — yet, anyway).

E. Coli is somewhat unexpected from raw cookie dough. Salmonella, yes. Raw eggs can give you a nasty case of food poisoning, but E. coli in raw cookie dough? Pretty damn unusual.

Epidemiologists are puzzled as to how it could have gotten there in the first place.

“It would be easier to explain salmonella getting into cookie dough,” said Keene.

The E. coli is predominantly found in the digestive tracks of ruminant animals such as cattle, goats and sheep.

“Past cases have been linked to raw produce, ground beef, venison, raw milk, juices and many other things, but this comes a bit out of left field,” Keene said.

He said it was possible though not probable that an infected Nestle worker was the source of contamination.

Well, then … if an infected worker isn’t probable, than why are 66 people very sick after eating Nestle raw cookie dough? Came from somewhere, didn’t it?

Oh, and Nestle says we should never ever eat raw cookie dough. Ever! Which is why their raw cookie dough can be found in all manner of ice cream products, right? I’ve been eating raw cookie dough my entire life. But then … mine was made at home, and I wash my hands (and eggs) before mixing up a batch of cookies. I suggest everyone start making their own cookie dough. It’s not hard, and homemade cookies are so much better than the instant stuff (and apparently safer as well).