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Spinach kills, carrot juice paralyzes

by Kris ⋅ October 10, 2006 ⋅ Comment now ⋅ Subscribe RSS

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dreamlogic.net's ARTICLE . Spinach kills, carrot juice paralyzes What could be worse than e.coli in Salinas spinach/irrigation water? Bugs Bunny Botulism! Bolthouse Farms Carrot Juice* is widely distributed to many U.S. markets such as Whole Foods and Costco, and usually a tasty treat on the rocks for Chris. But it was in Canada a couple of weeks ago, when two Torontonians thought they were getting healthy and wound up paralyzed. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), foodborne botulism symptoms include double or blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, dry mouth, and muscle weakness that begins at the shoulders and moves down the body. Most patients eventually recover if the antitoxin is administered in the early stages, but some remain paralyzed.

I have to ask here, because apparently noone else in the news media realm is: where are the porta potties? Just drive through (or past rather) any large open farmland and you will not see a single porta potty in sight. So where is it going when they’re “going”? Are farmworkers encouraged to take a dump in our produce to cut costs? I know it’s harsh that you can’t spray your workers with DDT anymore, but you can at least give them adequate bathroom breaks. Or are the manufacturing companies to blame for under-enforcing healthy hygiene? Bolthouse’s graphic design and nifty tapered bottle sure had me fooled; they looked “clean”. Or is it something else more sinister liiiiiike.. a global contamination attack on vegans!

But seriously, these things are grown in dirt. Dirt is dirty. Sometimes dirt has a little chicken manure, sure. But really.. wash it off.

Anyway, just thought you’d wanna know that the first reported case of carrot juice paralysis was a Floridian woman in September. Three Georgians had respiratory failure last month from the orange stuff. The FDA cites that the victims probably didn’t refrigerate after opening, and brought on the bacteria themselves, but go on to warn consumers not to drink Bolthouse C.J. with an expiry date preceding 11/11. (Oh, I love saying “expiry” like I’m British or something.)

The botulinum toxin has scarcely seen headlines since 2001 and a dabbling in 2003-ish (at least that I can remember) when scientists raised suspicion of bioterrorism. Oh, and women love to inject it (Botox) into their craggy faces voluntarily.

*Earthbound Farm Organic Carrot Juice and President’s Choice Organics 100% Pure Carrot Juice are the other U.S. distributors on hold in Canada.