Mice Recall Phone Call

[Hollis_Steed]

Well Kevin it has been proven that snakes get more energy from, and digest easier, food that has been cooked. However, the level and type of radiation, and duration of irradiation, does not affect the food at all. It simply damages the DNA of microorganisms, affectively killing it or at least preventing it from reproducing. One would be very foolish, or least misguided to believe that wild mice would be better than irradiated mice from this company. Wild mice are almost always infested with internal parasites.

Richard,
I'll assume that you are calling me misled rather than foolish...

[ConcinusMan]

I edited and changed the word to "misguided" but yeah. Bubblegum or little smokies would be better for them than wild mice. OK, maybe not but you get the point.

[mustang]

well it dosnt do the hobby any good (as previously stated) but most people dont get it that you can get selmonelia from dogs cats and birds too! its not just a reptile and mice thing!

[ConcinusMan]

that stuff lives everywhere. If you swabbed your kitchen sink drain right now, even if you think it's clean, and tested it, there would be loads of it. The funny thing about this recall is that a person is really not likely to get sick from this unless he eats the mice himself. The bacteria itself isn't what causes illness. It's the toxins they produce by consuming their food. If, and only if, a person swallows that food, and there are significant numbers of the bacteria's waste products in it, he will become ill. It's the waste product from salmonella that irritates your digestive system and makes you ill. Bacteria poop, if you will.

But you're right, the reptile industry gets too much negative press when it comes to this.

[ConcinusMan]

Oh, and dogs, reptiles, etc. have a special protective layer in their digestive system. That is why they are not affected. That is why they can eat carrion and not get ill.

[BUSHSNAKE]

plus the good bacterias that help too

[ConcinusMan]

Yes, the "good" bacteria you speak of, actually help you to digest your food, and they also feed on harmful viruses. If you were to kill all the microorganisms present in your digestive system, you would be in big trouble. You need them as much as they need you.

[Kevinh583]

I won't get into the raw vs cooked because I think there are benefits and drawbacks to both. However, I would disagree about the irradiation process not changing the food at all. Everything I've read indicates that some vitamins and nutrients are reduced. Also enzymes and beneficial bacteria are destroyed during the process. These deficiencies could of course be reversed by supplementing the animals diet and would really only be a major problem if irradiated food was the only food provided.

One problem that can't be counteracted occurs at the molecular level. Free radicals (atoms which have lost an electron because of the radiation energy) produced as a result of the irradiation process can cause an increase in carcinogenesis and mutagenesis. Free radicals are implicated in a myriad of diseases including arthiritis, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease and cancer. These problems affect certain foods differently and would need to be tested in each case to determine the amount of damage. Also, it seems certain animals are more sensitive. Cats for example have had serious health problems when consuming irradated food resulting in huge recals and even being banned in certain countries.

So I don't think anybody can say that the process does nothing to the food, it is simply a matter of weighing the risks vs the benefits. It is also a shame that the FDA doesn't do a better job of testing some of these things and pretty much leave it up to the food companies to do the testing. There is a conflict of interest if you leave it up to the companies because irradiated foods are more profitable. But I'll get off my soap box now.

[mustang]

One problem that can't be counteracted occurs at the molecular level. Free radicals (atoms which have lost an electron because of the radiation energy) produced as a result of the irradiation process can cause an increase in carcinogenesis and mutagenesis. Free radicals are implicated in a myriad of diseases including arthiritis, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease and cancer. These problems affect certain foods differently and would need to be tested in each case to determine the amount of damage. Also, it seems certain animals are more sensitive. Cats for example have had serious health problems when consuming irradated food resulting in huge recals and even being banned in certain countries.

ahhhh chemistry class is haunting me !leave me the hell alone aaaahhhh

[Stefan-A]

Oh, chemistry isn't that bad. When you get down to it, it's really just physics.