Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Eat More Spinach? No Way Popeye!


For years, many kids grew up with the image of Popeye gulping a can of spinach and gaining the strength to beat Bluto and save Olive Oyl. It was an inspiring sight for parents in that they used the example of Popeye to promote the consumption of spinach with kids. As time passed, the familiarity of kids with characters such as Popeye declined and others took their place. I remember the rise in pizza consumption in my youth soon after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came into popularity. But it seems as though Popeye will be needed again if people are ever going to eat spinach after all that's happening. It's not fair to blame the entire spinach producing industry nor is it fair to stigmatize a veggie that is inherently good for you. Still, given the number of E.Coli illnesses spreading across the country it will be a while before spinach consumption returns to normal levels.

For those of you who may not know the whole story, a little more than a week ago, cases of E.Coli related illnesses began popping up and were quickly linked back to farms out in the Salinas Valley in California which provides fresh lettuce for grocery packs. The disturbing part of the case is the fact that so far there has been no real reason behind the outbreak. Although canned or frozen spinach is not yet affected, there is concern that it may be something that isn't readily apparent that is causing the illness to lay dormant. Needless to say, consumers and farmers who grow spinach are concerned about the ramifications.

It brings to mind similar cases that have been popping up around the world relating to bird flu disease. At one time there was grave concern tha tthe virus would be absorbed if contaminated chickens were consumed. Suddenly overnight the entire chicken industry seemed on the verge of collapse. In India, there was a sudden dearth of chicken; and with a population of over a billion people, you can imagine what that would mean for the chicken population. Costs for chicken dropped so dramatically that they were practically giving the birds away. With time people came to realize that the cooking of chicken effectively killed off the virus and made it safe for consumption.

So far there have been no such statements issued regarding the spinach. I'm sure that whatever the cause for this outbreak, it will soon come to light and will soon thereafter be corrected. It will be a while before the public in general will be feeling safe in their purchasing of spinach, much to the delight of kids everywhere I'm sure. Popeye will probably be brought out of retirement to help promote the cause. Or maybe we'll all finally realize that when he said, "I yam what I yam," he was actually saying, "A yam! What a yam!" Perhaps we should all go out and get some!

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