Category Archives: Flash Nonfiction

I was Botoxed! In a way . . . since I had BOTULISM POISONING!

Originally, the gardener and I were invited to a Halloween party for this past weekend but had to turn it down because we planned to be out of town. It turned out that we couldn’t go away because I’ve been having a lot of trouble with a very painful leg (a whole ‘nother story) and had a bad cold.

Maybe if I’d been out of town I wouldn’t have gotten Botoxed.

Have you noticed how lots of food, especially chicken, fish, and meat, come packaged in vacuum seal these days? I don’t remember when it all changed, but I know it hasn’t been too many years.

I must have been absent the day the memo went out about this new type of packaging for fish—which is a totally different story from other foods. Did you know that when you buy seafood products in vacuum seal packaging you have to take them out of the package to thaw in the refrigerator? When I thaw salmon fillets, I usually do it because the instructions tell me to. But I never really thought about the WHY of it.

I bought salmon patties at a store I don’t usually shop at, and although I read the directions for cooking, I didn’t notice anything about thawing. So, I threw the package from freezer into refrigerator to thaw.

Apparently (and I only play a scientist in my writing sometimes) without oxygen Clostridium botulinum type E grows rapidly on seafood.

There were two patties, and because the gardener was eating burgers instead, I had 1 ½ patties (no buns) and gave him ½ a salmon patty. I ate three times what he did, therefore. And he weighs about 40 pounds more than I do.

I was terribly sick all night. The whole next day I slept and occasionally woke up to stay hydrated. That was Saturday. I still don’t feel great, although I’m no longer sick-sick. I realize that, as bad as I felt, this was a mild case because botulism can be fatal or cause paralysis. On a side note, the gardener did end up getting part of the illness a bit belatedly and although obviously food poisoning, he wasn’t nearly as sick as I was.

At first, I felt stupid after I realized what I had done. But after talking to some people, WOW. None of them knew that you must take seafood out of the vacuum seal packaging to thaw!!!!!!!!!! Many of them either cook frozen fish or thaw it under water. I’m not advocating either of those cooking methods, but at least they didn’t let bacteria grow for hours and hours.

Bottom line: always take seafood out of vacuum seal packaging before thawing!!!! And let others know!!!!!

On a related note, when I called the store to talk to the lady about the salmon patties before I really had what happened locked down, she let me know there is a huge listeria recall right now on a wide range of brands, stores, and products—generally frozen foods that have chicken in them. I called my regular supermarket, and this is their stupid comment:

The minute we get word of a recall we pull all the products from our shelves. And when you go to ring up your groceries if something has been recalled it will show up as recalled on your receipt and on the screen.

HELP!!! I am finding it too hard to live among such illogical people. If they pull the food, how can I be paying for it?!

Also, the store knows every detail of everything I’ve ever purchased there, but they can’t EMAIL me? Good grief.

I know Food Safety has a very boring sound to it, but my goodness it’s as important as Road Safety and Workplace Safety.

###

On the subject of illness (sorry), a nonfiction flash story I wrote about migraines was published by Libre, thanks to EIC Mary B. It’s a little brutal. My Avatar Lives My Life 

If you have ever had migraines or know somebody who does, you might find some similarities.

The one thing that makes me feel better no matter what is going on: my kitties. Here’s Sloopy Anne!