I threw away the peanut butter sandwich crackers in my cupboard today. Until the FDA clears it, peanut butter or peanut buttery type products are not safe to eat. This includes cookies, crackers, candy and ice cream. Why? Salmonella typhimerium contamination. In other words, Salmonella!
I've been following this outbreak for the past few weeks now. According to the article from the Centers for Disease Control (located in Maryland, btw), the outbreaks originated from peanut butter produced by the Peanut Corporation of America processing plant in Blakely, GA.
My question? You get Salmonella by eating foods contaminated with animal poop. HOW DID IT GET INTO THE PEANUT BUTTER?! o.O
In case you get hit by the Salmonella bug, or any other diarrheal bug for that matter, here's what you need to do:
1. Let it run baby, let it run!
Diarrhea and vomiting are GREAT ways for your body to get rid of the bugs that caused the problem. By taking medicines to stop the diarrhea, you are really prolonging the agony, so to speak.
2. Drink LOTS and LOTS of water, or preferrably, gatoraid, sodas or drinks with electrolytes.
Without getting into too much gory detail (although I could), your intestines are not absorbing the water that your body needs when you have diarrhea. It puts you at risk for severe dehydration and electrolytic imbalance. To make sure that you are getting enough liquids, keep drinking. What's more, keep drinking stuff that has sugar and salt. PEDIALYTE! AVOID milk and diet drinks. You don't need to worry about calorie counting right now!
3. KISS - Keep it simple, silly! Meaning, stick to a very simple, low fat, low milk diet.
I like the BRAT diet because it's easy to remember: Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast. -No reason you can't also throw in a bowl of low fat chicken soup, or Vietnamese pho, mind you...
4. Practice anti-socialism.
Wash your hands and stay home from work or school until you are no longer an infectious walking bag of germs. PLEASE.
Take it easy for a few days. If it's Salmonellosis, down time is about 5-7 days.
See a doctor if you don't improve in a few days, have a high fever, severe dehydration (can't drink or eat, faint...), cramping, bloody diarrhea or other underlying medical conditions.
Lastly, no peanut butter cookies for a while, okay?
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2 comments:
Your advisement has been received and will be obeyed starting now, dear friend, thanks. I have no clue how poo could have gotten into peanuts in bulk, although I could come up with a few theories. The first and most likely: there are a bunch of brain-damaged (or lazy, or maybe both) morons in Blakely, Georgia who aren't making sure the peanuts are up to snuff!
You're probably right, dear Charles! But regardless, the idea is rather terrifying. In order to infect over 474 people, that's a WHOLE lotta poop!
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