“(With apologies to Gabriel Garcia Marquez.) It began with Veggie Booty. Or rather, I should say, it ended with Veggie Booty. As was my habit, I’d tossed it into the cart during our family’s weekend grocery shopping trip. I didn’t read the label, in part because I’d read it before, to make sure there were no meat products used as ingredients, and didn’t think I needed to read it again. Then I learned about the recall. Also, shopping with a healthy, active five-year-old doesn’t lend itself to taking the time to read labels. So I didn’t. Until that Veggie Booty was recalled because it was tainted with salmonella, which was traced back to a spray-on seasoning, which was eventually traced back to China. Fifty two people became sick, complete with bloody diarrhea, including an 18-month-old. My spouse and I each take about 30 seconds or less to read a food label. Even though we’re shopping with our five-year-old son … we have all the time in the world. … We have 1,900 years, to be exact, because it will take the Food and Drug Administration [that long] to catch up on food import inspections.” (02/01/08)