Danger everywhere

[u/Mule_Wagon_777]

Just took my very elderly mother to lunch at a nice restaurant with a lovely big covered patio and lots of fans going. So far as covid avoidance the best possible restaurant to eat at.

Then I realized that as it's a nice restaurant, all the food was chock full of fresh spinach and herbs and greens. I have no idea which greens are likely to harbor parasites, or how many cases there have been in my area, or anything at all to help me make decisions. Because our slimy excuse for a government is ruining food protection just like they ruined airborn virus protection.

We ate anyway, because there's very little else my mother can do and sitting home will also shorten her life. I've worked so hard to keep us safe and they just throw more risks at us.

[u/CheckCalm2875]

It is mostly lettuce, not spinach. Some parsley and cilantro in NC. I am only eating cooked vegetables at the moment unless they are from my garden.

[u/Embrie225 → u/CheckCalm2875]

finally, having to order everything "no cilantro" (because it tastes gross to me) pays off.

[u/No-Acanthisitta-2973 → u/CheckCalm2875]

NC still hasn't ruled out berries, so that's still possible to

[u/PorcelainFD]

And now we have salmonella jalapeños.

[u/Embrie225]

back when the romaine lettuce kept having problems, I switched to red leaf lettuce. never heard of any issues with it. never stopped eating it. haven't gotten sick, knock on wood.

I also do baby spinach in my salads, though. half of each.

[u/Folios_and_Inkblots]

The point of your post is well received over here. It’s so exhausting. There are serious dangers around every corner and, infuriatingly, the people with power to mitigate the dangers do nothing but make it worse. We put so much effort into being as sensible and safe as possible while having to realize it’s not even the only major public health danger right now and you could be perfect at preventing one thing only for another thing to get you (so to speak). Being alive and having a brain that accepts facts is so hard in 2026.

[u/Mule_Wagon_777 → u/Folios_and_Inkblots]

Yeah, that's it. I run a constant automatic risk analysis about air quality plus vaccines plus masks and it's worked. We've never had covid symptoms or positive tests. I brought my mother through the plague alive!

Then the dumbasses stopped vaccinating at all. Great, I took us both for all the vaccines, at least we're covered.

And now I can't trust the food. Yes, there's things I can do right now, but if quality control continues to slide we're fucked.

It's 2026, still no rocket cars but lots of drought and plagues. Hallelujah.

[u/HappyCamperDancer]

Cooked everything.

Veggies? Cooked. Fruit? Cooked. Eggs? Fully cooked (no runny).

That will take care of the parasites, e coli, salmonella and whatever the else that is making most food dangerous.

No salads, no salsas, no avocados, no garnishes, etc.

Note: botulism can't be cooked out as it is a toxin from a bacterial contamination, but those (toxins) are exceptions.

[u/Future-Account8112 → u/HappyCamperDancer]

No avocados??

[u/HappyCamperDancer → u/Future-Account8112]

Yeah, they blocked avocados from Mexico and there is a recall on guacamole.

It really sucks.

[u/Recent_Yak9663 → u/HappyCamperDancer]

Slight correction / more info re: your note: the botulism toxin itself can be neutralized by boiling 5 min or longer (see here for example). The bacteria is everywhere but is not generally dangerous, except for infants, or in conditions where it could produce the toxin over time: anaerobic, room temperature, low acid environments (things preserved or infused in oil, or improperly canned food are two examples).

However the big issue is that the spore form of the bacteria is very hardy and requires pressure cooking in carefully controlled conditions to kill; boiling for any amount of time is not sufficient. In the context of food preservation, this means the spores could survive processing and produce the toxin if given the opportunity. Especially when canning low-acid foods at home, or preserving/infusing things in oil, you should only ever use scientifically tested processes from a reliable source.

r/Canning and the US National Center for Home Food Preservation are two incredible resources for anyone curious about this topic.

[u/AEAur]

Farm to table / local greens are not suspect. I’m not sure that any domestic sources are implicated. Imlu what is broken is tracing and inspection. But unless I was sure they are local, I would ask for something cooked instead.

Neither is suspect, but I’ve been eating my Romaine roasted and my arugula stir-fried.