How I temporarily 'lost' my hearing from eating possibly contaminated salmon steaks

This occurred about three weeks ago, and it involves salmon steaks farmed in Thailand and who-knows-where-else.

One of my local supermarkets had a 50%-off sale on Bumble Bee and Chicken Of The Sea packaged salmon steaks. These aren't frozen or canned items; they're salmon steaks packaged in plastic packets. They were both listed as "discontinued items", hence the half-price sale, and went for about $1.50-$2.00 for a 4 oz package after discount. Seemed like a great deal, especially since frozen salmon normally goes for at least $4.99 for a 4 oz. package.

I bought a bunch of Bumble Bee pink salmon steaks and Chicken Of The Sea teriyaki-flavored salmon steaks, and promptly made them my lunches over the next week.

About four days after I began chowing these steaks down, I started to develop problems with, of all things, my ears. Though I wasn't congested, my ears responded as if I was; low volume sounds registered in my eardrums as almost cannon-like 'booms'. I found myself reluctant even to speak, because my eardrums would respond way too sensitively to the sound of my voice.

For some reason, I suspected the salmon steaks were somehow responsible, but I didn't know for sure. I went cold turkey on the salmon steaks, and my ears improved back to normal in a few days.

Then, against my better judgment, I returned to eating the salmon steaks; the ear problem resurfaced. I've thrown the rest of the salmon steaks out.

The packaging for the Bumble Bee salmon steaks say "product of Thailand". I couldn't locate a country-of-origin on the Chicken Of The Sea packaging; the closest thing I could find was "distributed in the USA by Chicken of the Sea."

"Distributed in the USA..." is always code for "made somewhere far, far away".

My ears are better now. And while I can't prove that shoddy food standards in other nations had something to do with the ear problem, it would be hard to dissuade me that they didn't.

This is what we get when American corporations cut corners and go for the cheapest possible way to obtain/manufacture their products. If I had kids, and this had happened to them, you'd probably see me on television raising holy Hell in front of Scott Garrett's office (my local Repub congressman, though I doubt he would care.)

and I say forced to purchase because 'country of origin' is not required. Countries may not be able to compete with the prices of chinese foodstuff, but by god they can compete with the safety of the food...FUCK CORPORATE AMERICA WHO ARE THE ENABLERS OF THIS CRAP THAT IS KILLING US!

edit for spelling not checked!

. . . pay later.

If indeed your ear problems had something to do with suspect fish from the other side of the planet, was the discount worth it? Imagine if your ear problems hadn't cleared up, and you were still in hospital. Doctors scratching their heads.

Local sources of food may be a little more expensive, but the hidden costs of subsidized, artificially cheap foods are far larger than we had dared to imagine.

would produce those symptoms...:eyes:

You should have saved some and had it tested.

I could go back and buy one of each, though I don't know where I could get them tested. Any ideas?

on edit: the labeling says 'ready to eat!'

In this day and age with all the problems with illness and recalls, I gotta ask -- WHAT were you thinking?

I sincerely hope the symptoms have gone away. That's frightening to even think about.

I buy everything fresh except for condiments and sauces, butter and yogurt.

Of course, I live in a place where that is possible.

I would probably starve if I lived in the Midwest.

But just watch one of those Thai sauces kill me, anyhow.

Take a walk thru the frozen food aisle in your local food market.

The frozen veggie section in mine has shrunk considerably, being rapidly replaced with prepackaged CRAP. We were forced into buying a freezer, so we could buy in bulk and have more of a choice in preparing meals.

I've always been skeptical of these *ready to eat* packages, because you know it's just another way for the markets to re-package the stuff that DIDN'T sell. New package - NEW expiration date -- found money for the markets - a possible case of Montezuma's Revenge for the consumer.

Just no citrus, and not much fish. But we got apples, cherries, cranberries, etc... I buy almost all my vegetables and meat from sources in southern Wisconsin. Certainly all of my dairy and eggs are local.

:shrug:

And California fruits and vegetables.

Plus, I have a friend who brings me a lot of delicious stuff from Chinatown (San Francisco).

on edit: We have great wines for next-to-nothing prices. I drink more wine than water.

I did not know that you live in Wisconsin. What a beautiful state (or at least the parts of it I have visited).

someone who can. You're in an area with a -lot- of resources to do that kind of thing.

on your tinfoil helmet?

My best friend's dad is a retired meat cutter. A conversation with him one evening convinced me to save money at the grocery store everywhere BUT the meat aisle.

I told myself I would had the problem persisted the second time around, but then I cut out the salmon steaks and the condition then went away by itself.

:kick: