L.A Times: food scare propaganda...

This is a new subject for this blog here, but I was just flicking through the news and came across this headline from the Los Angeles Times, which immediately stood out as suspicious and low and behold when you read the story it is quite curious:

L.A. officials warn of cheeses that could contain harmful bacteria

And what the story basically is, is that the authorities in L.A are really kicking up a fuss about unpasteurized or raw milk that's been used in some cheese products, and as far as this story goes, that's being injected into the very real issue to do with immigration in the US.

I'm not quite an expert on this specific topic, but what some people may not know, is that there is an absolute terror towards raw milk consumption by the authorities, that's been going on for quite some time, that's possibly not consistent with any particular health concerns.

From the story:

"L.A. health officials have warned the public about eating Latin American-style cheese from unlicensed makers, whose products could be contaminated."

"It's unclear how many cases of illness have been attributed to these tainted cheeses. According to the county, "unpasteurized milk and unpasteurized cheese contain raw milk that has not been heated enough during processing to kill harmful bacteria. These bacteria, such as Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli, bovine Tuberculosis, and Brucella, can cause miscarriage, illness to unborn babies, diarrhea, fever, stomach cramps, swollen neck glands, and/or blood stream infection."

"It's unclear how many cases of illness have been attributed to these tainted cheeses". You really have to wonder who comes up with this stuff.

And the effect with this story is very simple, you galvanize people against what appears to be a public health issue, by keying into people's frustrations about the very real issue of immigration in the U.S, and you can see that in this comment by a reader to the L.A Times' article,

"Public health authorities shiver in their shoes about calling for enforcement of public health laws for fear of not appearing "politically correct". It's time that Los Angeles undergo a serious reality check. If people are breaking the law causing others to become ill they need to be arrested and put out of business. Yes, law enforcement does involve stepping on toes sometimes as well it should if need be. Common criminals, which these vendors are, have no interest in following the laws and that's why we have law enforcement agencies."

As I understand it from people who are in touch with this, raw milk and its products are a great health food and have certain properties pasteurized milk doesn't have, yet in various states in America (and I'm repeating what I've heard others say here) and in Canada itself it's actually a pretty serious crime to sell unpasteurized milk, with stories of SWAT teams descending on family run farms.

I don't know what the situation is in the UK or Europe, but it makes you wonder what's actually going on there, and I don't think there's too much doubt in this case, some effort has been made to whip up a storm around this by attaching it to the very real immigration issue in the U.S.

It makes you wonder if the L.A Times understands what it's publishing.