My Two Cents

[dan]

Well, here we go again, this time peanut butter, before that peppers, tomatoes and spinach. It seems that every month some packaged food creates a nationwide salmonella scare.

Maybe I am just of simplistic mind but thinking back on everything I've put in my mouth since childhood, I have never (thank goodness) had salmonella.

I wonder if it may be because as a child I was forced to play outside. No video or computers in my childhood and some of my earliest memories were mom or dad saying, "go outside and play!" Mom was a "stay at home" mom, that said, she kept a clean tidy house but that doesn't mean the cat wasn't on the counter, the chicken was laid out near the cookies, or she disinfected every surface in sight. She did however rinse all the vegetables and make sure the meat was cooked properly. She didn't make me wash my hands every hour, if I came in from playing in the dirt and wrestling with the dog, I would welcome the milk and cookies with dirty hands etc...

We had pets in the house, fish, and even the occasional turtle. Of course all those were handled, and I am even sure I probably ate cookies or whatever afterwards. Oh, I almost forgot, dad smoked in the house and car.

Throughout my life as a child and occasionally as an adult we have had gardens. I am guilty eating the veggies, tomatoes, onions, radishes, graphs, pears, etc.... right where I picked them. I never gave a second thought to what dog walked by or bird flew over. I've even eaten a few raw eggs, and once on a dare (a moment of insanity) I drank gutter water.

Back to my original statement:
Maybe I am just of simplistic mind but thinking back on everything I've put in my mouth since childhood I have never (thank goodness) had salmonella.

Could it just be, that because I played outside and mom wasn't disinfecting the world and she rinsed her veggies that I could have actually built up the natural immunities that the good Lord provided? I also find it intriguing that you don't see a lot of salmonella cases in the country.

Ok, thats my two cents.

[marylou627]

All I have to say Dan is a great big ole AMEN!! We also drank water out of the hose and never got sick from that either. We would eat a big dinner after coming home from church and actually leave the leftovers out on the counter and never got sick from that either.

Mary