Happy Week after Independence Day! Let’s talk food poisons: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s “favorite” poisons, among others!

Pick Your Poisin. Before I go any further, I want to address some confusion about what constitutes food poisoning and what doesn’t. Food poisoning occurs when we ingest a food or beverage that is contaminated with a certain amount of toxic bacteria or fungus or a chemical toxin. Examples include the listeria bacteria found in some raw milk or cheese or the salmonella found in contaminated poultry or eggs; amanitin, the toxin found in amanita mushrooms; and mercury, found in some fish caught in contaminated waters. While everyone is susceptible to such poisons, some people–especially the very young, the very old, and those with weakened immune systems—are more susceptible. That’s why, for example, pregnant women are strongly advised to avoid raw, unpasteurized cheeses and deli meats. Some poisons act almost immediately (think salmonella or botulinum toxin), while some may take time to build up (think mercury or lead). Some poisons are acutely lethal to almost everyone, even in the most miniscule amounts: Think poisonous mushrooms or pufferfish or some strains of the bacteria, E. coli. Others, like salmonella, may cause a few days of misery. What are NOT poisons are things like lactose, eggs, wheat, dairy products, and strawberries. Yes, some people are unable to digest lactose, a small percentage of people have an autoimmune disease (celiac) that results in intestinal damage when they ingest gluten, a small percent of the population is allergic to dairy foods, or eggs, or shellfish, or peanuts, or soy beans, or tree nuts, or certain fruits, and can have deadly reactions to these foods; but this does not mean these foods are poisons. They’re highly nutritious for most people. So when you see some people demonizing certain foods, please tell them they’re spreading fake nutrition news!!!

The CDC’s Annual List of Favorite Food Poisons. Once a year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention likes to issue its list of the foods that cause the most cases of foodborne illnesses. Their list for 2016 includes listeria-laced prepackaged salad greens (you’d have to dig a bit on the FDA’s website to find out the brands), raw milk, and frozen vegetables (numerous brands); salmonella-contaminated meal replacements (think protein shakes); flour contaminated with shigella toxin (another reason not to eat raw cookie dough, besides the salmonella in the raw egg); chicken contaminated with salmonella; and raw sprouts (an increasing problem). Before you toss aside your commitment to eat more fruits and vegetables, you need to know that almost any foods can carry potentially unsafe levels of harmful bacteria or molds. The important point is to learn and practice some simple safe food handling and eating measures, especially if you’re pregnant, feeding infants or young children, elderly, or have an illness that can weaken your immune system. And food poisoning can occur any time of the year: The summer just has some heightened risks because more people are entertaining or doing other activities outdoors, and foods meant be kept cold may be subjected to higher temperatures for longer periods.

Just Say No to Supplements! The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains an online database that tracks adverse events (harms) reported for any food or drug. Just this past week, they issued a safety alert regarding a dietary supplement found to be contaminated with anabolic steroids (“roids,” also known as testosterone but also including the chemicals that are converted to testosterone in the body). Roids can cause liver and kidney damage, heart attacks, strokes, and sterility, among other health issues, not to mention that they’re illegal in over-the-counter products and are banned by all competitive sports and athletic organizations and many employers. We could speculate ‘til the cows come home whether such contamination is intentional (as in, “Hey, we’re going to make a supplement a thousand times more powerful than anything else on the shelf and hope we don’t get caught…”) or accidental…The important point is that these kinds of contaminations are incredibly common, have led to some prominent athletes temporarily or permanently losing eligibility to play, and are undoubtedly causing some serious, life-threatening illnesses. For this reason, no one should even consider using any supplement that does not carry United States Pharmacopiaea (USP) or ConsumerLab certification.