Wednesday 23 July 2014

I tell myself I can let go of the anxiety, and then....

...things like this happen:

Food Recall Warning - Sweet 2 Eat brand fresh, whole Peaches, Plums, Nectarines and Pluots, packed by Wawona Packing Company of Cutler, California, USA, recalled due to Listeria monocytogenes

(the recall also applies to the USA)

This is why it scares me.

I don't know for sure if we bought the Sweet 2 Eat brand,  but I sure as hell did eat peaches, nectarines and plums from our local grocery store between June 1th and last week. Quite a lot of them. Update: I know I DID eat at least the peaches because I found one of the fruit stickers that I stuck to the sink.

Our local grocery pulled their possibly affected fruit on Saturday Monday, but we still could have come into contact with it before that.  I wash my fruit thoroughly, so I hope this risk is low to non-existent, but it's still there. And wouldn't you know, I've become quite the hypochondriac since becoming pregnant. Oh, and symptoms of listeria infection can take up to 70 days to show up (as mild flu-like symptoms, most likely). Doesn't that do a lot for mental ruminations over 3rd trimester.

I'm really going to try not to stress out over this, since I can't see what else I can do about it.  But I wish this wasn't what was on my mind as I enter 3rd trimester. Can it be October already?

In other news, I feel very healthy and Ember is wiggling away.

Update: A little bit more on the food recall. Somewhat reassuringly, it sounds like it was very much a precautionary measure. I suppose to look on the positive side it is good that the USA has such strict laws in place and that the company is taking this measure. What's disturbing though is the huge range of time that fruit could have been consumed. And although there are no official reported cases of illness, internet is full of stories of people claiming to have gotten sick after eating it in the previous 6 weeks. Guess I'll go clean my kitchen with bleach now...

Should you worry? What you need to know about the Listeria fruit recall (Forbes Magazine)

FAQ (Wawona Packing Plant)

Quoted from FAQ:

On July 10, 2014, an Australian Importer notified Wawona Packing that it had detected trace amounts of listeria monocytogenes (LM) on three of the company’s peaches. The fruit was released to the public in Australia because the LM content was within the limits allowed by Australia. The United States has a zero tolerance for listeria monocytogenes (LM). Upon being notified by Australia, Wawona Packing immediately retained a private laboratory to test both the Wawona Packing physical plant as well as product.
On July 17, 2014, the laboratory informed Wawona Packing of three confirmed positive tests for LM on product (two peaches and one nectarine). However, other fruit from the same lot of fruit that tested positive, was in fact negative for listeria monocytogenes (LM), providing proof that not all fruit in the recall is potentially tainted with LM. 

From The Packer.com:

 Australia, like many other countries, allows for low levels of listeria because levels of less than 100 colony forming units per gram of food “do not present a public risk,” Wawona officials said in the July 21 statement. The peaches that tested positive in Australia had less than 10 units per gram, according to the Wawona statement. 

18 comments:

  1. I got severe food poisoning when I was 8 months pregnant with my first son. I was vomiting for about 12 hours and my amniotic fluids were closely monitored during that time.

    All was well and he's a very active 4 year old.

    We think of our babies as very fragile (and they are) but they also are capable of handling a lot in there.

    All will be well. :)

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    1. Thank you :-) I know a lot of the warnings are precautionary, but it's easy to get freaked out.

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  2. I am the consummate worrier, and it peaked when I was pregnant, so I know it'd hard not to stress...but try not to stress. You washed your fruit thoroughly. And, they pull way more than they actually need to in order to be thorough. The fruit in your store may well have been fine. And you washed it. Now, enjoy this last part of your pregnancy, before the chaos of parenting begins!

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    1. Thank you. I think I keep writing here for the sanity checks. :-)

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  3. Hi from ICLW! This would definitely freak me out as well. I think the idea of minimizing stress during pregnancy is a complete joke unless we lock ourselves in a bubble... and even then. Sometimes life just happens and life is generally stressful. I do like your mentality of not stressing over something that you can't do anything about.

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    1. Agreed! it's not possible to live in a bubble at all.

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  4. I wish I was able to eat local, organic food year round. I never worry about what I eat if I buy it from the Farmers market or even the organic market. I just can't afford to shop there for the bulk of my food!

    Worrying is just part of being a mom :)

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    1. Heh, that's for sure. I'm wondering now if we should do Farmer's Market at least for things that we eat regularly and a lot of (i.e. FRUIT). Not that there's a guarantee there, either. From what I understand of this recall, it was the packing plant that had the contamination, so all kinds of fruit was potentially infected, including organic fruit.

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  5. Ugh - I hate to hear that, but I hope you are safe from the sickness!!!!! Glad to hear you desire to take care of your body!

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    1. Oh, I try to be so careful these days! But I feel quite helpless in the face of things like this. There's so much we can't control. Sometimes I'm OK with that and sometimes it terrifies me.

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  6. I read about this earlier this week and totally panicked, too. Did you ever read "Expecting Better" (http://www.amazon.com/Expecting-Better-Conventional-Pregnancy-Wisdom/dp/1594204756)? She talks about how Listeria in particular is not something you can do much to prevent besides washing fruits and vegetables b/c the outbreak is never in the same food. The good news is that the risk is really low. Fingers crossed you don't get it but totally understand the worry... I'm there with you!

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    1. No I haven't read the book, thanks for the link. I really hope this scare amounts to not much, but the notion that I might have done anything, however unintentionally, to harm this so-wanted baby gives me the cold grue. Hoping for better vibes for both of us!!

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  7. Hi from ICLW. Wow that is scary.

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    1. I know, like there aren't enough scary things in the world, now peaches and plums are scary! *sigh* Just trying to be reassured that it seems to have been a precautionary measure, at least according to current reporting. Not fun to be in one of the "vulnerable populations" however!

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  8. For some reason listeria doesn't scare me. Everything else does, so who knows?! I hope no one gets sick.. Hope you're okay. Mentally, I mean. I'm confident you're fine physically!!

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    1. Thanks. I'm glad your'e not worried! I'm still freaked out about it, especially since I came down with some nasty GI bug on Friday. Called Dr. and she said that unless I had a fever, very unlikely to be infection, but I feel so drained by the whole business and I'm obsessed with my symptoms.

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  9. I freaked out over this as well. I have been eating peaches from our Costco nonstop. At least one a day, if not more. I've been obsessed. I can't believe that it can take that long for listeria to show up, though. I do tend to wash my fruit well, so hopefully no issues, but so scary.

    Especially since the smell of peaches is one of my favorite things. I feel like I've had my summer treats stolen away from me.

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    1. I know! I love fruit and now I look at it like it's something dangerous. With all the scary things in the world, why do peaches have to be one of them??

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