(no subject)

[teddywolf]

On the odd side: today I got an email from change.org about a petition somebody started to ensure that Trader Joe's sells only meats raised without anti-biotics. In and of itself, that's laudable. The person who launched the campaign says her daughter got sick from salmonella from eating ground turkey. OK, troublesome.

She then goes on to mention that the meat she fed her daughter, the meat that got her sick, did not come from Trader Joe's. However, because they are known for their progressive policies, she wants Trader Joe's to make this promise. The quote:

Trader Joe's is a progressive grocery store with high standards for the food they sell (and is not where the meat came from that made Ruby sick). But in my community, many people shop at Trader Joe’s for products that are good for their health and good for the environment. Help me tell my story to Trader Joe’s, and encourage them to sell only meat raised without antibiotics.
emphasis added

The first thing that came to mind was, "Why are you not petitioning the store that actually sold you the bad meat, instead of Trader Joe's?"

Comments

[ron_newman]

Do antibiotics protect livestock against salmonella?

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Overuse of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic-resistant salmonella, which was apparently what her daughter got.

[moria923.livejournal.com]

My first thought too. Sounds like what she's really trying to do is recruit TJ's as an ally: the community needs a reasonably-priced place to buy safe meat, and TJ's, being a progressive business, would be more willing to do this than the (presumably) less-progressive store where she bought the bad stuff.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

You've heard the one about the guy who was looking for his keys under a street light? A passer-by stops to help, and finally gets frustrated enough to ask: "Where exactly were you standing when you dropped your keys?" The first gent points over toward the darkness down the street.

"But then why are you looking over here?"

"Because the light is so much better."

[gingicat]

Yup.

(Wolf - I had the same reaction to that email.)

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Ah, the fact that the daughter's salmonella was antibiotic-resistant is a crucial fact you didn't include in your essay.

However, non-antibiotic-resistant salmonella can get you damned sick also (it happened at a wedding I went to!), and much of the salmonella that gets into the food supply (as far as I can tell) is from lax handling during production (that is, turning animals into products). For that, the best fix would be tightening up the regulations on production techniques.

More depressingly, I note that if the woman's petition was successful, she wouldn't be paying the price for the improvement.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

non-antibiotic-resistant salmonella can get you damned sick also

Yeah, but antibiotic resistant salmonella is harder to treat.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*snerk* Well said.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Grin. Thank you, thank you ... I'm here all night!

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Hee - great minds ...