I Ate Radioactive Shrimp!
Will I become a xenomorph?
In late August, the news came out that some “Great Value” brand shrimp sold at Walmart was being recalled due to radioactivity. Yes, you read that right. Radioactive shrimp.
I didn’t really think much about it because I don’t shop at Walmart. Then the recall expanded to include “Sandbar” brand shrimp sold at Kroger. My ears perked up. I checked the freezer and found half a bag of the offending brand.
We had already eaten at least a pound of radioactive shrimp.
That sent me into concern and then anger. I started researching the news surrounding this recall and found this little gem. It is an actual news story, not satire. It’s hard to tell the difference nowadays.
Eating radioactive shrimp could turn you into an alien, US senator claims
I feel like I’m living in the worst possible version of a reality show.
This week alone, we’ve had recalls on ice cream, frozen vegetables, eggs, cheese, salad kits, potato salad, hand sanitizer, and of course, shrimp. That’s just what I could glean from the FDA website.
Note that this is not a list of recalls initiated by the FDA. The statement at the top of the website reads: “The list below provides information gathered from press releases and other public notices about certain recalls of FDA-regulated products. Not all recalls have press releases or are posted on this page.”
The Trump administration has officially eliminated several food safety committees, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) and the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI).
“The termination of these two important advisory committees is very alarming and should serve as a warning to consumers that food safety will not be a priority at USDA in the foreseeable future," Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, shared in a statement.
Excerpt from Food & Wine magazine. Link here.
Welcome to the Wild West of Food Safety!
Nobody is watching out for the safety of the food we eat, so we’re going to have to take extra steps to protect ourselves. Personally, I’m going to cook from scratch as much as I can and only eat fully cooked food. No salads, unless I grew the veggies.
I also signed up for email notifications from the Food Safety and Inspection Service through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Link here.
Everything I eat is going to be baked, boiled, broiled, or microwaved to lava-like temperatures to kill anything that might be lurking in there.
I wonder if the microwave would kill aliens.
If you found this information useful, please hit the heart and share it with your friends so they can know about it too!
Thank you stopping by. I appreciate your presence.
I second the sentiment. I have been having cancer treatment and follow up medications so I have to be extra careful. I used to get the FDA news notice of recalled or contaminated food. That list became sketchy about March 1. I would go on line to the US Co that maintain food safety and their web sites were disabled. So we are on our own. Yes I have started cooking things from scratch.
“The level of Cesium-137 detected in the frozen shrimp was about 68 becquerels per kilogram, a measure of radioactivity. That is far below the FDA’s level of 1,200 becquerels per kilogram that could trigger the need for health protections.” And the shrimp that was actually contaminated was never sold. The recall involved shrimp that was processed at the same facility in case there was any possibility they might have also been contaminated at roughly 5% of the level at which we would begin to have health concerns.