Stop bugging me
Reprinted with permission of VIVA! USA
Whether you eat to live, or live to eat, what you eat can determine how or
even if you live.
Foods can nourish us or kill us, if they are poisoned. And with an alarming
increase in frequency, food poisoning is on the rise in the United States
& worldwide. Foods are poisoned by microscopic germs that get into them:
viruses, bacteria, parasites & even worms (which can grow large enough to
see with the naked eye). Sometimes, it is the chemicals produced by these
germs which cause us harm. In the following pages, you will learn about the
major causes of food poisoning, what happens when you are poisoned & the
steps you can take to protect yourself & your family.
Almost all food poisoning today originates from animal agriculture &
foods. Even the relatively few recent outbreaks of food poisoning derived
from various fruits or vegetables have been traced to contamination &
runoff from animal manure. The danger has been worsened by intensive factory
farming methods used in animal agriculture. Thus, the simplest, most
effective step you can take to protect yourself & reduce the problem in
society as a whole, is to avoid eating or serving animal products.
Modern life in the United States has many advantages. We have the benefit of
technology making the most difficult tasks quick & easy. In one shopping
trip we can buy enough foods for a month before the expiration date gets
further & further away. Ready-made meals are becoming a part of everyday
life, people eat out on a regular basis & take out & fast foods are
readily available. However there is a price to pay for such "luxuries" &
I don't just mean money. Food produced on a big scale leads to food
poisoning on a big scale as there are many opportunities for bacterial &
other infections. Food processing plants centralize the manufacture of meals
so that one infected ingredient can spread to many products. What is food
You know what happens when you eat something that disagrees with you? Well,
food poisoning is more than a disagreement. It can feel like a full out
battle between your body & the food you have eaten. Between 12 & 24
hours after eating the contaminated food you feel abdominal pain which is
quite mild at first but it becomes stronger & stronger. The pain can be
excruciating & may lead to explosive diarrhea. Your temperature may rise
as high as 102ºF/39ºC. Vomiting may follow & dehydration (sunken eyes, a
dry mouth & a rising pulse rate) may result. Usually the illness lasts for
five to ten days, with a further one to two weeks before you feel well
again. The loss of salt & water from the body can lead to heart attacks
& strokes. Food poisoning occurs as a result of eating food that is
contaminated by metal, chemicals or micro-organisms, such as bacteria &
What are bacteria?
Bacteria are the main cause of food poisoning. They are micro-organisms that
exist everywhere; in the air we breathe, in the water we drink & in the
food we eat. Some bacteria live on our skin, in fact there are on average
one million per square inch. There are also bacteria which live in our guts
protecting us against infection. Too many bacteria in our system can lead to
illness &, because they can reproduce at a phenomenal rate, it is easy for
them to get out of control. If bacteria are allowed to incubate in the foods
we eat then problems will ensue. Sometimes people are not poisoned by the
bugs themselves, but by the chemicals which they release into food.
What are viruses?
Virus is the term applied to a group of infective agents. Viruses are
smaller & simpler than bacteria & cannot reproduce unless they are
inside a host cell. Some viruses infect cells & destroy them & some
co-exist with their host. The viruses that infect bacteria & destroy them
are called bacteriophages & they are among the most complex viral
particles known. They can cause infection by killing off healthy bacteria or
by causing toxic substances to be released into cells during the virus life
Who gets it?
Eating animal products can be a big risk in terms of food poisoning & is
making over a million people ill - some very seriously - every year.
Literature reports of the yearly incidence of foodborne illness range from
6.5 to 81 million people affected (1). Those most prone to food poisoning
are the elderly, pregnant women & children under 1 year old, but anyone
can get food poisoning. Ninety five percent of all food poisoning cases are
caused by eating animal products. Five percent are from plant foods however
much of this is from contamination by animal manure or from animal products.
Why does eating meat & animal products increase your chances of
Food poisoning is becoming bigger, more complex & harder to control. Meat
is a main culprit because bugs love it! Bacteria can multiply extremely
rapidly given the opportunity & meat, cheese, eggs & milk all provide
the ideal environment for bacterial growth. From cradle to grave, or should
I say from birth to plate, food poisoning bugs have six chances to infect
The conditions in which the animal lives:
Like us, animals are at their healthiest when they are happy. Those that are
placed under stress are more susceptible to infection & illness. As
farming has become more & more intensive, livestock are primarily selected
for growth rather than disease resistance. Factory farming is at the root of
the problem of food poisoning. Thousands of animals squeezed into cramped,
dirty & unnatural habitats leads to problems. The main aim of intensive or
factory farming is to have maximum output with minimum input or basically to
make a lot of money. It is well known that when people are forced to live in
camps, slums & other overcrowded & unsanitary places infection is
Intensive farming involves crowding as many animals as possible into a
limited space - making infection unavoidable. Bacteria & viruses thrive in
this environment & can infect large numbers of animals within a very short
time. Also, poor ventilation in buildings means that airborne bacteria
Intensive farming means that every waking hour of the animal is manipulated
to ensure a rapid & high yield. This is a strain on the animals involved
& has its consequences.
E. coli O157 inhabits cattle in two forms. In its normal state in their gut,
it is comparatively harmless. But when the animal is under pressure, like
when cattle are subjected to the stress of being herded through the mass
production process of a large modern industrial slaughterhouse, the
bacterium breaks out into the bloodstream. This induces diarrhea & the
potential for spreading the lethal infection becomes enormously greater (2).
Add to this the safety problems which are increased because of a lack of
testing, lack of controls & lack of care at each stage of the food chain,
& you have a recipe for disaster.
The food that animals eat:
In Britain, cows were fed the brains of other cows & sheep which led to a
fatal disease - BSE or mad cow disease. After years of government denial, it
was finally acknowledged in 1996 that this disease can pass to people via
infected meat, causing a lethal brain infection. This shows the dangers of
forcing herbivores to eat the remains of other animals - a practice that
happens in the US.
In intensive farming, the emphasis is placed on doing whatever it takes to
lower production costs. This has led to even feeding animals the manure
which they & other animals eliminate! The factories simply fill the feed
troughs with manure, by itself or mixed with litter & coat it with
molasses or the like. This way, nutrients that were not extracted by
animals' digestive systems the first time, go through again. From a medical
perspective, however, this unnatural process continually exposes the animals
to harmful germs.
At the slaughterhouse:
When an animal arrives at the slaughterhouse it may be covered in feces.
This is a major source of contaminated meat because potentially fatal
organisms such as E. coli O157 & salmonella can enter a meat processing
plant on the skins of infected animals. Many slaughterhouses do not have a
policy with regard to dirty stock.
For slaughterhouse costs to be kept to a minimum the animals are put through
the system as quickly as possible. Speed is of great importance in the
process & similar principles apply for the preparation of chickens,
cattle, sheep & pigs. Automated slaughter & processing on a factory
production line means that the bacteria & viruses can spread widely. The
same implements are used to slaughter one animal after another with little
washing in-between so the bacteria spread rapidly between carcasses. When
the animal is split open its insides fall out along with the contents of the
gut, which is often where the bacteria live. It is likely that the bacteria
will spill onto the rest of the animal & infect the meat. If a living
animal went into a slaughterhouse bug-free, there is a good chance that it
would emerge as a disease-ridden carcass. And don't count on the government
to stop contaminated carcasses from reaching the market: One investigation
determined that meat inspectors in chicken processing plants have an average
of two seconds per bird to check for signs of contamination (3).
Butchering & processing:
A lack of hygiene can cause food poisoning bacteria to be spread. Processed
meats tend to be more dangerous because cooked meats are the ideal breeding
ground for bacteria.
Restaurants/Food Service Industry:
A combination of poor food handling, inadequately trained staff &
insufficient legal controls creates an environment which is highly conducive
to outbreaks of food poisoning.
In the home:
Cross-contamination from raw to cooked meat can spread bugs. There is also a
chance of cross-contamination from raw meat to vegetables. Bad hygiene in
the kitchen is a common cause of food poisoning.
The Chicken & the Egg
Intensive farming reaches its peak with chickens so it is not surprising
that chicken meat & eggs are the most common source of food poisoning
bacteria. According to Time Magazine, bad chicken kills at least 1,000
people in the U.S. each year - & that's a conservative estimate (4)!
Broiler chickens (those reared for meat) are kept in appalling conditions
& reared like popcorn - to be puffy, fluffy & produced quickly.
Thousands of them are squeezed into a shed, fed constantly in artificial
light & not cleaned out once during their seven week lives. So not only
do they live in their own excreta, they also live on top of the chickens
that die in the process. Up to 20 per cent of broiler chickens don't survive
the ordeal (5).
There are 2,000 different types of salmonella bacteria & the intestines of
the chicken act like a reservoir & provide the potential for the spread of
bacteria. In recent years, the amount of chicken eaten in the United States
has risen dramatically, so it is not surprising that food poisoning is on
Battery/Layer hens are stacked in tiny cages in dim, stinking sheds. After
an egg is laid it rolls into a collecting gully. Food & water are supplied
automatically & lights are on for about 17 hours a day to promote egg
laying. Up to 100,000 birds are kept in each of these sheds. The combination
of a lack of fresh air, selective breeding & the caging of the birds in
overcrowded conditions so that they cannot even exercise, has led to the
spreading of disease & to distress & suffering.
Food poisoning bacteria can enter an egg by two methods.
- Ovarian infection - the infection is already in the egg when it's laid.
Bacteria get through the gut wall & into the internal organs including the
blood. Therefore the eggs become infected via the ovaries.
- Transovarian - bacteria get inside the egg when the egg is washed
Both broiler & battery/layer chickens are often fed the infected remains of
their own kind - allowing salmonella to spread like wildfire. You would not
be able to tell by simply looking at a chicken or an egg whether it contains
food poisoning bacteria. If you eat an infected egg that is not properly
cooked, the salmonella may grow in you! It has been known for years that
modern intensive methods of broiler & egg production are riddled with
Types of food poisoning
Salmonella infections are most common in chickens but do occur in cows &
pigs. An animal infected with salmonella excretes salmonella & therefore
will cross-infect any other healthy animal with which it comes into contact
- at the farm, to & from market & in the slaughterhouse. It would be
difficult to devise a better, more efficient system for recycling salmonella
than modern livestock farming. Its methods seem tailor-made to produce
disease & spread infection among animals destined for human consumption.
Salmonellosis is the infection of the intestinal tract. However, if the live
bacteria penetrate the intestinal tissue & enter the blood stream the
salmonella bacteria can colonize other tissues causing septicemia,
meningitis, osteomyelitis & even death. According to the Center for
Science in the Public Interest, infected chickens lay an estimated 2.3
million contaminated eggs each year & a "recent risk of assessment on
eggs conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said
that Salmonella enteriditis (SE) contaminated eggs have caused an average of
660,000 illnesses & 330 deaths annually." (7)
Campylobacter is the number one cause of food poisoning, with more than 2.5
million cases of Campylobacter diarrhea estimated to occur in the U.S.
annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control (8). According to the
U.S. Food & Drug Administration, one survey showed that 50% of
Campylobacter infections are associated with either eating inadequately
cooked or recontaminated chicken meat or handling chickens. It is the
leading bacterial cause of sporadic (non-cluster cases) diarrheal disease in
the U.S.(9) Infection is usually caused by eating chicken or turkey that is
undercooked, or from drinking unpasteurized milk. Campylobacter infection
occurs particularly in children & young adults often five to ten days
after eating infected food. This is because it takes five to ten days for
the bacteria to multiply to huge amounts in the gut & cause disease.
E. coli is a normal inhabitant of the gastro-intestinal tract of humans &
animals. However some strains have increased virulence & can cause
illness. Today, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that there are
20,000 cases of E. coli O157:H7 infection in the U.S. each year associated
with the consumption of contaminated beef, raw milk & water. (10)
Sub-groups of disease-causing E. coli are distinguished according to their
method of attacking the host:
- Sticking to the gut wall.
- Invading the lining of the gut.
- Producing toxins
The most serious form of E. coli is known as VTEC- verocytotoxin-producing
Esherichia coli; the verocytotoxin is a poison & potent inflammatory. This
toxin can cause severe hemorrhagic colitis (which usually presents as bloody
diarrhea) & damage to the kidneys. Another name for the
verotoxin-producing E. coli is E.coli O157. E. coli O157 has been of concern
since1983 when a discovery was made: Gastro-enteritis can lead to Hemolytic
Uremic Syndrome (HUS) which is a form of kidney failure. HUS is a
complication of a VTEC bacterial infection. The bacteria adhere to the gut
& release a chemical into the blood stream which causes kidney failure. It
is most likely to affect the young & the elderly. VTEC is now thought to
be the biggest cause of acute short term renal failure in children &
farmed animals; cattle in particular, are thought to be the reservoir of
infection. According to the CDC, "with intensive care, the death rate for
hemolytic uremic syndrome is 3%-5%. About one-third of persons with
hemolytic uremic syndrome have abnormal kidney function many years later,
& a few require long-term dialysis. Another 8% of persons with hemolytic
uremic syndrome have other lifelong complications, such as high blood
pressure, seizures, blindness, paralysis & the effects of having part of
their bowel removed." (11)
In 1993 there was an outbreak of E. coli O157 which began in the Pacific
Northwest in early January. Over 450 people were taken ill, 21 were put on
dialysis & 3 died. The bacteria were traced to contaminated frozen beef
patties served in a fast food shop in Washington State. One of the most
recent E. coli outbreaks was near Albany, NY, in September, 1999. There were
over 1000 people sickened & at least 122 confirmed cases including 65
hospitalized & 2 deaths (12). Health officials believe the source was cow
manure from a nearby barn which washed into ground water, contaminating
untreated well water used at a County Fair. E. coli food poisoning bacteria
can be found in raw milk & undercooked or raw hamburger meat. E. coli O157
has been around for 15 years & has provided a test for the whole system of
food production, showing up the weak spots. It has raised questions about
whether the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is putting the
interests of the food industry above those of the consumer.
These bacteria normally live in the human intestinal tract & generally do
no harm. But if they are allowed to incubate in warm foods, they can cause
problems. Infections due to Clostridium perfingens are most commonly
reported in connection with beef & meat products, particularly soups &
gravy. Outbreaks are linked to poor temperature control. Mass quantities of
food left unrefrigerated for prolonged periods before consumption pose a
risk. Clostridium perfingens bacteria are anaerobes, which means that they
can only live without air & therefore in foods that are vacuum packed.
They form spores, which multiply rapidly when food is cooling & heavy
contamination occurs. Once ingested, the bacteria in the food produce an
enterotoxin which leads to the food poisoning symptoms.
This is the infection of Listeriosis monocytogenes bacteria which has the
unusual quality of being able to flourish at very low temperatures, i.e.,
refrigerators (13). Listeria is commonly found in feta cheese, delicatessen
& other ready to eat foods, including hot dogs & sandwich slices (14).
Contracting listeriosis produces flu-like symptoms & is a big risk for
pregnant women as it can lead to blood poisoning, birth defects such as
miscarriages & stillbirths & can produce abscesses, meningitis,
septicemia & death (15). In the United States, an estimated 1,100 persons
become seriously ill with listeriosis each year; of these, 250 die,
according to the Center for Disease Control (16).
This illness is relatively rare & brought on by eating improperly canned
or preserved food contaminated with a toxin produced by the bacteria
Clostridium botulism which is naturally present in the intestines of some
animals & fish. The bacteria need certain conditions to thrive which are:
Of the infected victims, between 20% & 50% die.
- The absence of oxygen (e.g. vacuum packed food)
- Nutrients & moisture (e.g. meat)
- Absence of inhibitors
- A suitable temperature - botulism bacteria can survive as low as 26ºF/-3.3ºC.
Vibro vulnificus bacteria:
For those with more exotic tastes; according to the American Food & Drug
Administration up to 10% of oysters & other raw shellfish contain this
bacteria which can cause serious illness & has been known to kill people.
Viruses are also emerging as an increasing cause of some outbreaks of food
poisoning from shellfish (17). There is no way of sorting infected &
non-infected shellfish, so its pot luck for the shellfish eaters.
Bugs & Drugs
Antibiotics have been the wonder drug of the last fifty years. It appears,
however, that we have been taking them for granted. Most of today's doctors
are willing to prescribe the drugs for almost any sign of infection, be it a
sore throat, or a headache, or the virus-caused common cold, against which
antibiotics are ineffective. If we take antibiotics for such minor ailments
our body can forget how to defend itself against infection. Therefore our
body's ability to strengthen its own immune system is reduced & we are
more prone to illness. If the antibiotics used are broad spectrum (able to
kill a lot of different kinds of bacteria) it is possible that useful
bacteria will be wiped out along with the infectious bacteria. The body is
then open to infection from other bacterial species, molds, viruses &
other microbes which can colonize the bacterial wastelands.
The smaller & simpler a species, the faster it can evolve to survive
environmental change. Micro-organisms are small & simple & therefore
able to evolve rapidly to side-step our attempts at control. In fact
antibiotics put selective pressure on bacteria to develop defense mechanisms
& to become resistant. Thus the "super-bug" is born!
The National Academy of Sciences recently concluded that agricultural uses
of antibiotics pose a risk to the public health. (18) The British Medical
Association's chairman Dr. Sandy Macara has stated that "There is a real
prospect that the majority of our antibiotics could become impotent for the
purposes on which we have relied upon them for 40 years." This is a
Modern animal farming depends to a large extent on antibiotics to produce
cheap meat. Using antibiotics in animal feeds is a short term solution to
the various diseases that occur during intensive farming. Antibiotics are
used as a prophylactic - which means that they can prevent disease occurring
in the animals. The antibiotics are also used as feed additives to ensure
that the animals gain weight. For reasons no one fully understands,
antibiotics promote the growth of animals but in the process they foster the
growth of bacteria that can resist antibiotics.
Antibiotics in livestock feeds have given bacteria the upper hand in human
illness & hence they have been named Super-bugs. Antibiotic resistant
bacteria, or "super bugs", are passed on to meat-eaters when they eat
infected flesh. After all, you are what you eat & if you eat animals you
also ingest their diseases & the drugs they have been given. Because the
antibiotics given to animals are generally the same as those used for our
medicine, a super-bug in your body is likely to defeat any antibiotic that
your doctor can prescribe. According to Stuart Levy of Tufts University
School of Medicine, former president of the American Society for
Microbiology, estimates are that approximately half of the antibiotics
produced in the U.S. today are used in agriculture, citing a 1998 Institute
of Medicine report (19). As long as intensive farming continues with the
extensive use of antibiotics, coupled with the over-prescription of
antibiotics to humans, the problems can only get bigger (20).
The most recent example of this is salmonella DT104 which is resistant to
antibiotics. Experts have linked this strain of food poisoning to pork,
sausages, chicken & sick farm animals. 25% or more of human salmonella
infections are now resistant to drug therapy. If antibiotic-resistant
salmonella are eaten in food they can remain dormant in the gut while being
held in check by the normal intestinal bacteria. Then if antibiotics are
used to treat some other illness they will kill off the normal gut bacteria
& the salmonella can resist the antibiotic & overgrow. This leads to
serious illness. Many experts believe that this antibiotic-resistant form of
salmonella is a rising threat & that cases of salmonella typhimurium have
The problem is even worse than simply the antibiotic-resistant bacteria in
the food animals themselves. Bacteria have the capability of rapidly
transferring & spreading the antibiotic-resistance character to other
bacterial species, including those which cause human diseases. Therefore,
diseases which are not even related to food consumption may become resistant
to antibiotics & hence a much greater threat. The use of antibiotics in
animal feed, by selecting for the predominance of antibiotic-resistant
bacterial species, is thus a global threat to human health for every
individual on earth. This irresponsible misuse of antibiotics is
unilaterally disarming our species from our precious last line of defense,
& devastating epidemics may well be the legacy of the hunger for
The use of antibiotics has made intensive farming possible, but at what
price? The meat may be cheap enough, but what about disease control? What
about animal welfare? What about safety measures?
Prevention or Poisoning?
The choice is yours. Time & time again it has been proven that a
meat-ridden diet can lead to health problems & that a diet which is high
in vegetable intake can provide protection from such problems.
Will cooking kill the food poisoning bacteria?
Food which is left to sit for hours at room temperature provides the perfect
conditions for staphylococci to produce a chemical toxin. This poison is
called an enterotoxin & it is not destroyed by heat, so cooking the food
will not prevent illness. Staphylococci thrive in meat products, cold meats,
milk & egg products. Most bacteria can be destroyed by cooking food at a
constant high temperature for a long time. However, there is no simple way
for the consumer to tell if the bacteria & viruses have been killed.
What can I do to protect myself & my family from food poisoning?
The individual alone is limited in what he/she can do to insure that food is
safe to eat. Because of factory farming, slaughterhouses & processors, it
is effectively out of our hands to control food poisoning. But we can choose
what we eat & serve. And the best way to avoid contamination is by
declining the dubious honor of being at the top of the food