Dr. Oz, Apple Juice, Cantaloupe—Food Scares Continue...

Here we go again, another round of contaminated plant-based foods

But, once again, the news media never mentions the underlying cause of most of these contaminations. The latest big news is all about arsenic in apple juice and listeria in cantaloupes. Just now, I did a search for what causes listeria and found this information on the Mayo Clinic website:

Listeria bacteria can be found in soil, water and animal feces. Humans typically are infected by consuming:

• Raw vegetables that have been contaminated from the soil or from contaminated manure used as fertilizer
• Infected meat
• Unpasteurized milk or foods made with unpasteurized milk
• Certain processed foods—such as soft cheeses, hot dogs and deli meats that have been contaminated after processing

Well, how about that? Sounds to me like the real culprit here is our collective love affair with meat and dairy at every meal. Even those of us who consume none of those foods are placed at risk by those who do.

But when the news breaks, the average consumer is led to believe, by the incomplete reporting of our media, that the culprit is the plant-based foods themselves. The average unsuspecting consumer simply has no idea of the root cause of so many of our problems. Earlier this year, I devoted two blogs to this crucial topic. Click here to continue reading this article. 

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com