POPEYE!!! WAIT!!!

I keep hearing on the news about this E. coli infection that has now spread to twenty states in America. From spinach!

Spinach? E. coli? One person died and all kinds of people are sick.

I once had an E. coli infection and it was nasty. On one of my trips back to Canada, my Dad AH got sick and was hospitalized. Every once in awhile, instead of eating the hospital food, my mom and I would go across the street to MacDonald’s or Wendy’s…one of those fast food places and grab a hamburger.

It was erev Rosh HaShannah when I got back to Israel, and I felt awful. My kupat cholim (health center) was still open and I ran to see a doctor. He not only gave me something but sent me down to the lab for tests. To this day I bless that man. Three days later after yontiff I went back to get the results and screaming from the page was E.coli! E.coli!

I immediately got on antibiotics…for a month!...and then did more tests. Thank goodness I was fine. I think it was from the hamburgers…not cooked enough. But, I learned my lesson with chopped meat.

So when I started getting these news announcements about the outbreak of E.coli cases in the states, I sat up and paid attention.

Here is today’s headline from CNN. Online:

Shoppers shun spinach as E. coli cases top 100
POSTED: 10:54 p.m. EDT, September 16, 2006

• Investigators seek more sources of E. coli contamination of spinach
• FDA identifies Natural Selection Foods as origin of deadly E. coli outbreak
• Federal officials say 94 E. coli cases reported in 19 states, one fatal
• Washing does not help, consumers advised to throw spinach out

So, maybe someone can explain to me how you get E.coli from spinach? Raw spinach?

Now maybe I’ve been living in Israel for too long but the first thing I thought of was sabotage. I mean, somebody did something very wrong with those little leaves. Maybe, as my friend John suggested this morning when we spoke, the fields were irrigated with sewage water! EWWWWWWWWW. Now that can’t be good. Who would do something like that with plants that are to be eaten? I’ve heard of recycled sewage water ( actually I heard it this morning from John) being used to water flowers and plants you put in a pot, but not for foodstuffs.

Or…maybe someone had E.coli in a little tube and dropped it into the vat and walked away.

I saw those movies. You know the ones. Outbreak! Or something like that where a guy gets on a plane after being in some God forsaken African village and does something with a monkey and starts coughing on all the other passengers while over the Atlantic.

And the next thing you know, Dustin Hoffman is wearing a white coat and trying to save the world and the pretty lady who used to be his wife but now they aren’t talking comes to help him and when he may be sick from the infection because he was treating the guy who coughs she changes her mind and realizes that she can’t live without him so after they save the world they walk off together into the sunset!

Amen!

Okay. So you tell me how those little green leaves got filled with that bad E.coli. Because no one’s talking. And if no one has the answer, then how do we save Popeye? Cuz, he’s strong to the finach, cuz he eats his spinach.

Popeye! Listen to me. Go to your local deli and get a corned beef sandwich. Without the cole slaw…can’t take any chances. But the dill pickle is fine. Trust me. All that kosher salt will kill off any E.coli that dares come near the vat. Well, at least I hope so.

Shavuah tov and chag sameach. A sweet New Year to you all.

Have a great day…stay safe…and thanks for dropping in.

I