What is Safe?

[hairfixer35]

I think we live in a false sense of security. WE emets do all the right things to keep from getting sick, but then our food source is contaminated. We recently had to deal with e coli in spinich and outbreaks on cruise ships, now Taco Bell and Olive Garden.....what next? What is safe? I do everything in my power to make sure my food is clean and safe but no matter what, how can you be sure? My husband in a fire inspector and goes to resturants. He tells me how filthy the kitchens are, how people who prepare the food use less than sanitary means, Icould go on....but this is a crime. All it takes is one person to infect hundreds or innocent people. This really scares me because what more control do we have?


Barbara

[domino2006]

Okay, here is my new obsession for the day: Purell. I've been reading WAY too much about it online and recently figured out it DOES NOT KILL THE NORWALK VIRUS! I keep several bottles of it on my desk at school and am known among the students for spraying their hands with it regularly. So, now what? It was my lucky charm and now it's lost its magic. But then I realized: hey, in all this time, I haven't caught Norwalk even though I've been exposed to it. It can't be killed by any of the disinfectants I use at school, and many many of my students have v* since I started working there. Yet I haven't caught it. I've been pretty much unprotected yet I still haven't caught it. So, what is safe? What is clean?

I am reminded of a line from "Aviator": Howard Hughes looks down at some water and says, seeking reassurance,
"Does that look clean to you?" and his girlfriend says
"Nothing's clean. But we do the best we can, right?"

We do the best we can.

[cardinalgirl]

i just dont eat out often. i cook my own meals therfor i know what is fully cooked , clean ect. Of course, i have no sense of knowing who handled the food before me or if its not good meat or if something contaminated it, so you cant really avoid it. When a special occasion comes up and i eat out, sure i freak out a lil bit, but theres nothing you can do it avoid so just enjoy it while you can. Y ou cant let emet control EVERYTHING in your life, especially the one thing you really enjoy ( or at least i do), food.

[hairfixer35]

Your right Cardninalgirl,we cannot allow our fears to take control but I really look at food differently.

[christianne]

It really does seem like nothing is safe anymore, does it? Restaurants, cruise ships, produce and so forth.....I cannot imagine what's next!

But we have to remember that just because we hear about all this is does not happen everywhere and doesn't happen all the time. As far as cruises go, we are less likely to become ill on a cruise than on land, but the media never tells us that. Olive Garden was just one restaurant in one area, not everywhere. It may seem like alot of people getting ill to us, but in reality it's just a fraction of the people that ate there or went on that cruise and so on. We are just way more aware of these things than other people, and because v*ing is so frightening for us it all seems much worse than it really and truly is.

I completely understand what you are saying, and trust me, I'm sure even non-emets are becoming a bit wary of where they go and what they eat. I'll admit that I'm a bit paranoid about eating at Taco Bell again right this moment, but I know I will eventually. We're right on when we say we can't let this phobia ruin everything and stop us from living, but the hardest part is getting there.

I think back to my early twenties when I wasn't this phobic and wonder why I can't be like that again. I went out to clubs, out to dinner, shopping with friends and didn't really worry about getting ill, and I actually never did get s*ck (besides a cold here and there). I'd give anything to be that person again, and I'm getting there. [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]

Anyways, this post is really long and rambling---sorry!! I hope it at least makes a little sense!

[kasey]

Yeah, I know what you mean.


I literally NEVER eat out often...I just don't go out to dinner with people and if I do, I always have an excuse for not eating.


I do eat other peoples food but only if I know what they have been up to recently or if I really trust them.


I love cooking so that helps

[tree1211]

I find more and more that I don't like eating out. We use to eat out all the time and i would always eat something that i deemed safe, however you just never know. So far so good! But now I am so much more cautious because of everything going around.


But like Kasey said, I love to cook so it works out for me.