General Cooking (rec.food.cooking) For general food and cooking discussion. Foods of all kinds, food procurement, cooking methods and techniques, eating, etc.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dark Skies
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 16:42:43 GMT, "Vox Humana" >
wrote:

>
>Nov 30, 2004
>
>Rocket Fuel Chemical Found in Lettuce, Organic Milk
>The Associated Press
>
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) - The government has found traces of a rocket fuel chemical
>in organic milk in Maryland, green leaf lettuce grown in Arizona and bottled
>spring water from Texas and California.
>What's not clear is the significance of the data, collected by the Food and
>Drug Administration through Aug. 19.
>
>Sufficient amounts of perchlorate can affect the thyroid, potentially
>causing delayed development and other problems.
>
>But Environmental Protection Agency official Kevin Mayer called for calm,
>saying in an interview Tuesday: "Alarm is not warranted. That is clear."
>
>"I think that it is important that EPA and FDA and other agencies come to
>some resolution about the toxicity of this chemical," Mayer said. "That has
>been, frankly, a struggle for the last few years."
>
>The FDA found that of the various food items it tested, iceberg lettuce
>grown in Belle Glade, Fla., had the highest concentrations of perchlorate.
>The greens had 71.6 parts per billion of the compound, the primary
>ingredient in solid rocket propellent. Red leaf lettuce grown in El Centro,
>Calif., had 52 ppb of perchlorate. Most of the purified, distilled and
>spring bottled water tested around the nation tested had no detectable
>amount of perchlorate.
>
>Whole organic milk in Maryland, however, had 11.3 ppb of perchlorate.
>
>Asked whether that level of chemical in milk was worrisome, Mayer, the EPA's
>regional perchlorate coordinator for Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada,
>said, "The answer is, we don't know yet."
>
>The FDA said in a statement that consumers should not change their eating
>habits in response to the test results, posted on the agency's Web site
>Friday.
>
>The testing comes as federal agencies try find how much perchlorate people
>are exposed to from food so they can determine whether action is needed to
>protect the public health. Federal agencies have been trying since the early
>1990s to determine what level of perchlorate is safe.
>
>The state of California, meanwhile, set a standard of no more than 10 ppb of
>perchlorate in drinking water. That was lowered to 6 ppb in drinking water
>to account for the chemical also lacing food, Mayer said.
>
>A more conservative suggestion, in a draft from the EPA, would allow no more
>than 1 ppb of perchlorate in drinking water.
>
>The FDA tested lettuce samples collected at farms and packing sheds and
>bottled water from retail stores. Raw milk samples came from a research
>facility in Maryland and other milk samples were obtained from retail
>stores.
>
>"These data are exploratory and should not be understood to be a reflection
>of the distribution of perchlorate in the U.S. food supply," the agency said
>in a statement. "Until more is known about the health effects of perchlorate
>and its occurrence in foods, FDA continues to recommend that consumers eat a
>balanced diet, choosing a variety of foods that are low in trans fat and
>saturated fat, and rich in high-fiber grains, fruits and vegetables."
>
>---
>
>On the Net:
>
>FDA report on perchlorate: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/ 7/8dms/clo4data.html
>
>AP-ES-11-30-04 2009EST
>
>This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBJUC0T62E.html
>
>
>

What you didn't mention is that the chemical also occurs in nature so,
it may have always been there.

  #2 (permalink)   Report Post  
Vox Humana
 
Posts: n/a
Default Rocket fuel found in organic food


"Dark Skies" > wrote in message
news
> On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 16:42:43 GMT, "Vox Humana" >
> wrote:
>
> >
> >Nov 30, 2004
> >
> >Rocket Fuel Chemical Found in Lettuce, Organic Milk
> >The Associated Press
> >
> >
> >WASHINGTON (AP) - The government has found traces of a rocket fuel

chemical
> >in organic milk in Maryland, green leaf lettuce grown in Arizona and

bottled
> >spring water from Texas and California.
> >What's not clear is the significance of the data, collected by the Food

and
> >Drug Administration through Aug. 19.


> What you didn't mention is that the chemical also occurs in nature so,
> it may have always been there.


Actually I just posted the article. It did say the following:
">"These data are exploratory and should not be understood to be a
reflection
> >of the distribution of perchlorate in the U.S. food supply," the agency

said
> >in a statement. "



  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
rmg
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Vox Humana" > wrote in message
...
>
> Actually I just posted the article. It did say the following:
> ">"These data are exploratory and should not be understood to be a
> reflection
>> >of the distribution of perchlorate in the U.S. food supply," the agency

> said
>> >in a statement. "



No offense intended, but then why post the article at all?


  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
Vox Humana
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"rmg" > wrote in message
. com...
>
> "Vox Humana" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Actually I just posted the article. It did say the following:
> > ">"These data are exploratory and should not be understood to be a
> > reflection
> >> >of the distribution of perchlorate in the U.S. food supply," the

agency
> > said
> >> >in a statement. "

>
>
> No offense intended, but then why post the article at all?


I thought it was interesting and food related. Many people pay a premium
price for "organic" food thinking that it is free of unwanted chemicals.
The comment about the fact that the chemicals in question could be found in
nature was appropriate. I just wanted to point out that it wasn't ME who
wrote the article.


  #5 (permalink)   Report Post  
Alex Rast
 
Posts: n/a
Default

at Thu, 02 Dec 2004 19:50:56 GMT in
>, (Vox
Humana) wrote :

>
>"rmg" > wrote in message
.com...
>>
>> "Vox Humana" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> >
>> > Actually I just posted the article. It did say the following:
>> > ">"These data are exploratory and should not be understood to be a
>> > reflection
>> >> >of the distribution of perchlorate in the U.S. food supply," ...

>>
>> No offense intended, but then why post the article at all?

>
>I thought it was interesting and food related. Many people pay a
>premium price for "organic" food thinking that it is free of unwanted
>chemicals.


In the way the article is presented by the FDA, I see a subtle implication,
however. Now, organic food in and of itself doesn't guarantee that it is
entirely free of any so-called "chemicals" that a public of varying levels
of knowledge might consider to be worrisome. And a consumer who buys
organic in *that* expectation needs to learn a lot more about first what is
natural and second what is realistic. However, in the FDA article, there's
a bit of an implication that buying organic is a waste of time and money.

The point about organics, though, is not that they're guaranteed to be
chemical-free, but rather they're guaranteed not to have been subjected to
a process the farmer might reasonably be expected to have control over that
would *increase* the amount of chemicals present over that which would have
occurred had the farmer taken no intervention at all. Pesticides and
fertilisers carry the potential to increase the amount of possibly toxic
substances, and this is why there are strictly limited and controlled under
organic production.

In a similar manner, they're not guaranteed to be completely free of GMO
genes, but there *is* the assurance that they weren't planted with
*deliberate* GMO genes inserted.

It's probably impossible to guarantee that any food is perfectly safe, but
consumers buying organic at least can know that they are making the best
effort available to them to minimise the exposure and certainly that in
their buying habits they aren't contributing to making the situation worse.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)
Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Found the Classico Organic pasta sauce Julie Bove Diabetic 0 01-07-2009 04:23 AM
source for organic cacao beans found - finally [email protected] Chocolate 0 12-04-2007 01:25 AM
Controlling Strawberry Rocket fuel Tom Winemaking 15 10-06-2004 04:27 PM
What to do with my rocket fuel... Paul E. Lehmann Winemaking 8 11-02-2004 02:11 AM
Blueberry Rocket Fuel glad heart Winemaking 0 04-11-2003 06:58 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:52 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 FoodBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Food and drink"