4 ms·
There has been a lot of issues with storing commodities such as grains in massive piles in open air (for futures trading) and fungal blooms. I wonder how much
by AsymetricCom 13y ago
There has been a lot of issues with storing commodities such as grains in massive piles in open air (for futures trading) and fungal blooms. I wonder how much "gluten sensitivity" is actually vomitoxin* sensitivity, from a food industry that has had most regulational oversight removed.
As someone who has seen the inside of a QA lab at ADM, I think this is a much more likely scenario. The technicians either give good tests that pass the already loosened standards, or they get fired. There was a big problem with Vomitoxin in 2010, due to a lot of wet weather, but that has subsided with this year's drought in the midwest, but many coastal areas which also farm are seeing much more rain this year.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomitoxin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomitoxin
Combine this uncertainy or "back scratching" quality issues, with typical industrial food practices such as fumigating with phosphene and Sulfuryl fluoride, using more insecticide than recommended and all the fun and exciting stuff coming down the GMO pipe, it's no wonder consumers have lost their appetite for American commodities. They're getting sick from them. All these techniques are tested to have "minimal" impact on the health of consumers, but combine them all, and who knows, certainly not scientists, but people do from first hand experience. How many food recalls have already happened this year? Compare that with other years.. These recalls are not from better testing and transparency because these recalls are for food already in the market and sickening people.