Dr. D. James Kennedy died today in his sleep. He was 76 and was the retired Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. He had suffered a heart attack in December of 2006 and was still having health issues from it. He had just retired two weeks ago.

Many may know him from his television and radio broadcasts. The Coral Ridge Hour was on tv for many years. His sermons were often about how the Bible and our world today coincide.

I know without a doubt that Dr. Kennedy is home with Jesus. He has served Him well. My prayers are with Dr. Kennedy’s wife, family, friends and the members of his congregation.

Salmonella was found again in packaged spinach by Metz Fresh on August 22nd and the company is voluntarily recalling all of it’s bagged spinach. Thank you Metz Fresh. I mean you’re doing this without any government agency forcing you to do this. You’re doing it before anyone dies or gets ill from salmonella.

Andrew Cumming, Metz Fresh President, said “Nothing is more important to Metz Fresh than the safety of our consumers, period. As soon as we learned of the presumptive positive test, we directed all customers to hold all boxes of the spinach affected as a precaution. Now, with this positive test confirmation, there is no question that we would recall and destroy all spinach bearing these three codes.” from the above mentioned article in Med News Today.

Seriously for a company to do this is way beyond what normally occurs. Usually someone (or more than one person) does die first and then it’s tracked back to what food the person(s) ate. Metz Fresh found salmonella on its own, while doing its own testing. Unfortunately the spinach has been distributed already. There was a breakdown somewhere in the chain of events.

So what does our government do to insure our safety? According to the Associated Press, some of our legislators are saying not enough. “This in no way should be seen as a success story,” said state Sen. Dean Florez, who chairs a committee on food-borne illnesses. He said that Metz Fresh should have caught the salmonella before any of its spinach reached consumers, and that he has written the state’s agriculture secretary demanding answers about “this breakdown in California’s food safety system.”

Those of us with chronic illnesses, especially those who take any type of immune suppressant drugs need to keep an eye on these developments. Maybe bagged salads and spinach is not an option for us. Or we may need to wash these vegetables again before eating them.

All I know is that I don’t take chances with things in my life that I have control over. So if you catch me with bagged salad  draining in a strainer in my sink, don’t think I’ve totally lost it.