Welcome back. Let’s talk about food. Do you know who touched that?
Let me tell you it was a real eye opener to see the world of food from the other side. Some of your food like grains such as wheat, soybeans, etcetera, are mostly done with planters and harvesters and have very little human handling.
Produce like lettuce, beans, tomatoes onions may also be harvested by machine or they may be picked by hand. Field workers do not always have the best bathroom practices, and often have to use portable out houses with not enough supplies to wash up afterwards.
Then these same produce items are transported to sweat-shop-like processing centers where they are repeatedly touched sorted and inspected. They then get placed in large cooling rooms or chambers and some of the produce gets touched again to take its temperature with pulp thermometers. If you have ever seen an otherwise perfect piece of fruit or produce with a hole in it, that hole could be from a thermometer.
When your fruits and veggies are finished being sorted, cleaned, packed, chilled and they’re finally ready, they get loaded on the truck that will take them across country. Yes, there are truck drivers who will sometimes eat out of the food they are hauling. They’re usually travelling to a produce market or distribution center where produce once again gets pawed through, examined, and has its temperature taken to ensure it was transported at the correct temperature.
From the distribution center, it gets sent to your local store where it gets handled by the employees while they are putting it out for display. Then your neighbors arrive at the store before you do to pick up that piece of fruit or those vegetables as they decide whether they see better ones, or kids in the shopping carts lean over and touch many of them in curious wonder as they are wheeled by.
The point of all this rambling is to remind you that it is important to wash your produce with soap and water or a good fruit/vegetable wash when you get it home and before consuming it.
Another reason to thoroughly wash your food is that when it is produced in a country other than the United States, that pesticides no longer allowed to be used in our country may have been applied in the growing process. Other countries are allowed to use pesticides that are banned in our country on foods they export to the US. And believe me some of it is nasty stuff. There are reasons those pesticides are outlawed in the United States. Be careful of what you eat. Personally, I try not to buy things that are not grown in this country.
I also prefer to buy at local markets or better yet at farmer’s markets or roadside stands where the person selling the food was the person who grew it and can answer your questions about that apple, tomato, etc. Better yet, grown your own.
Food for thought. Literally. Try to eat wisely and stay safe.
Tony Siebert
As a teenager I worked in a couple of garages mainly as a gopher and tool washer, but also working on vehicles and building motorcycles new out of their crates. I joined the U.S. Navy, I learned electronics and traveled to exotic places. My family increased by two of the most amazing kids anyone could have. My lovely wife and I decided to open our own computer repair shop. Later I worked for the third largest computer company in the world...and then their competition.
A careless driver in a full-size Bronco rearranged my life when she ploughed into me...no more electronics. After 3 years of recovery, I rejoined the world. I wouldn’t trade my wife for anything. We took up truck driving and this career has lasted for decades. I've been a company driver as well as an owner operator. I now have time to invent, create, and experiment, and you'd be amazed the places a wide range of experiences can take you!
