America's Growing Battle with E. coli: Are We Eating Poison?

What's the deal with all of the food born illness "mishaps" at restaurants across the country? The one that most remember hearing of a few weeks ago was the outbreak from Taco Bell. The investigation originally showed it to be the scallions, but now the FDA is pointer their finger at lettuce. So stop and think back a little further to the tainted spinach incident. Seems odd doesn't it? Well the most recent problem came from an Olive Garden. Over 160 people became ill initially and it is to say how many there are total over the span of a weekend. Could this have something to do with tainted lettuce or other vegetables as well? And if so, what is happening to our fresh produce in this country?

I cannot say for sure that the incident I had recently from a restaurant called "Mimi's Café", which is owned by Bob Evans, could be the same problem. I did however suffer from the same symptoms that the people in these cases had to deal with. Symptoms include, but are not limited to: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and severe stomach cramping/pain. In my case, I had eaten a salad which had lettuce as well as scallions. Nothing tasted out of the ordinary, so I was not aware that I would become sick from it in the early hours of following morning. How can I say for sure that it was this restaurant that caused my sickness? I cannot be 100% positive, but I can be 99.8% since this was the only place I ate and really all I ate for the day because I was so busy. I suppose I should say this was the only thing I ate out of the ordinary that day. But yet again, I cannot be completely 100% sure they were at fault since I am not a doctor or health inspector. Plus, I did not call to complain with the manager of the restaurant to see if anyone else had fallen ill. In all actuality it had not occurred to me that this could be a problem, until I saw the most recent story about the Olive Garden.

So, what are we to do about these problems that keep arising with tainted lettuce and other vegetables? Most people are looking the other way, thinking that it will just go away on its' own. But will that happen? Well, since this would be the 2^nd major restaurant outbreak in a month, and then when you add in the past incident with fresh spinach I don't think it will. Apparently there is something going horribly wrong with the way we harvest and/or clean the fresh produce we are using in our every day lives. Who ever thought that bagged triple-washed lettuce could kill someone? Did you know that it has? I have not heard of this happening recently, but a child did die from bagged lettuce, not spinach. So what should we do? Stop eating fresh vegetables? Eat only at home and make sure we wash everything diligently? Boycott the lettuce market and everything else that is fresh that comes from California? I don't have the answers. I have opinions, though, and in my opinion we need the FDA to take a closer look into who is harvesting and handling our produce (i.e. lettuce).

Apparently this is turning into somewhat of a taboo subject. Do you know why? Because a majority of workers that harvest the lettuce, spinach, etc from California are from Mexico. Supposedly they are all her legally and have documentation to prove this. Personally, I don't care how much "legal" documentation they have to show that they should be here. They need to focus on if the people working in these fields are handling things the correct way and that they fully understand how to be sanitary. Also, are the workers of good health? Even though the processing plants for the produce swear they "clean and sanitize" their products religiously, that doesn't mean that the workers are not harboring some sort of illness and are passing it onto consumers. I am not making these points to be racist or to scare people in America. I am stating my opinion of what is taking place and how we may need to be stricter on who handles our food and how it is handled. We are talking about our children and our own health as well. Food poisoning is nothing to take lightly, especially for children and the elderly. So until this problem is solved, as a country I feel we need to be a little more cautious of what we eat and where we are getting it. The least we can do is to make sure the workers in our restaurants are aware of sanitation steps and when we are at home, please use your head.