It’s just not safe to eat anymore.

Scientist, nutritionists, politicians, school officials and my wife all elude to the fact that certain types of foods just aren’t good for us. Heck, even artery-clogging fast-food outlets have changed their ways to keep in line with the Health and Nutrition Police Fighting Obesity And Bad Eating Habits Everywhere, ever since trans-fats were blacklisted.
You see, it’s not just the types of food you eat or what’s inside them that’s bad, it’s also a matter of how they are cooked.
Microwaves have become a popular meal-making device in today’s kitchen. But the jury is out on whether they are safe or not. The World Health Organizations explains that microwaves are often safe when used according to manufacturer’s instructions, but it does warn about the dangers of “microwave leakage.”
If you have an e-mail account and friends who like to forward everything, then you may have received the latest scare-letter from John Hopkins Hospital. The subject line says CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHN HOPKINS HOSPITAL, US – PLEASE READ.

It begins with a three-step action plan:

1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

According to the e-mail, cancer causing toxins are released from plastics when they are heated or frozen. That makes sense. Those reforms I can live with.
However, kicking my favourite late-night snack habit might be harder, but I guess I should because it may be slowly killing me.

Last year an FDA study indicated that a chemical coating used in microwave popcorn bags is seeping into popcorn. That wasn’t good news for south of the border where Americans gobble up 17 billion quarts of the stuff each year.

The report states that a chemical has already contaminated the butter before it’s even nuked. Despite this fact, the FDA has determined that the popcorn is still safe. However, a separate study suggests that an acid extracted from the chemical causes cancer in animals – and is likely to cause cancer in humans
But wait it gets even worse.
Cases of Popcorn Worker’s Lung have been popping up (no pun intended) in employees at popcorn factories in the US. Workers at one ill-fated factory in Missouri (some of whom have successfully sued), suffered severe and irreversible lung damage from working with a chemical used in the butter flavouring, called diacetyl.

At least four of those workers required lung transplants.
The state of Missouri now sends a Occupational Lung Disease Bulletin to health care providers on a regular basis. In one of last year’s bulletin it advised that:

 workers in plants making food ranging from pastries and frozen food to nacho chips and candy may be exposed to the chemicals in food flavorings, and therefore may be at risk for bronchiolitis obliterans.

I’m not exactly sure what brocholiolitis obliterans are but it can’t be good.

Last but not least in this litany of food-related folly, and moving away from the kitchen and it’s microwave death machine and into the back yard, we have yet another potential killer: the barbecue.

You might want to think twice about hosting a backyard bash this summer.

According to a new study at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, grilling meat creates toxins called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Those AGEs are said to speed up the onset of heart disease and arthritis.

Boiled steak, anyone?

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