On last night’s telly
Food: Truth Or Scare? BBC1 ★★★
Gloria Hunniford posed a question on BBC1 yesterday morning that was guaranteed to prick up the ears of dog owners.
“Is feeding your dog raw meat putting you and your family at risk?”
Dunno. But my best guess is no, unless your dog gets a taste for it and you cannot outrun it.
I’d be wrong, of course. Although it is becoming popular, feeding raw meat to your pets is frowned upon by the British Veterinary Association.
Apparently, it can house potentially deadly bacteria which can be easily transferred to humans. Gloria and co-host Chris Bavin’s mission is to find out if shocking news reports about food should be taken with a massive pinch of salt. (Not that massive a pinch, obviously. Don’t want to be increasing our stroke risk.) The short answer seems to be yes, particularly if the headline is
really shocking and/or from a research paper in its early stages. However, the BBC’s quest for balance meant Gloria and Chris were often restricted to answers such as “the jury’s still out” and “there are no proven links”. In other cases, they had to hold their hands up and admit the headlines are confusing because the nutritional advice is confusing. Take orange juice. While it can contain as much sugar as glass of cola, other health benefits could make it a worthy part of our diet. Although if you want all the good stuff, then according to nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston: “It’s best to have the whole fruit.”
Sadly, she didn’t add: “And nothing but the fruit.”
She probably thought that would be taking the pith...