New York May Never Win Its War on Rats
Video of rats scampering across a New York City restaurant floor may have disturbed viewers worldwide but some experts say the rodents are less dangerous than other creatures drawn to restaurants — humans.
The video broadcast on television a week ago showed rats running wild at a KFC/Taco Bell restaurant just one day after the outlet had passed a city Health Department inspection.
It took a bite out of the share price of parent netpany Yum Brands Inc. and forced a city Health Department shake-up that removed the inspector who conducted the review from duty and led to 13 more restaurant closures on Thursday.
The owner of the KFC/Taco Bell franchise, ADF Companies, has closed 10 of its restaurants until they pass inspections, and the city closed three other restaurants because of unsanitary conditions or mice, the Health Department said.
Yum Brands on Friday hired an urban pest control expert to review standards at its New York City restaurants.
The Health Department warned that greater threats to public health include restaurant employees who fail to wash their hands or food stored at improper temperatures. One epidemiologist agreed. Still, the incident reinforces New York’s reputation of having a more severe rat problem than other big cities.
New York’s crowded quarters force restaurants to store trash indoors until it can be collected, providing rats with an indoor food source. In addition, New York’s real estate boom means construction is pervasive, scattering rats to a wider geographic area.
Food and Health
The food we eat seems to have a profound impact on our health. Although science has made enormous steps in making food more fit to eat, it has, at the same time, made many foods unfit to eat. Some research has shown that perhaps eighty percent of all human illnesses are related to diet and forty percent of cancer is related to the diet as well, especially cancer of the colon. Different cultures are more prone to contract certain illnesses because of the food that is characteristic in these cultures. That food is related to illness is not a new discovery. In 1945, government researchers realized that nitrates and nitrites, netmonly used to preserve color in meats, and other food additives, caused cancer. Yet, these carcinogenic additives remain in our food, and it benetes more difficult all the time to know which things in the packaging labels of processed food are helpful or harmful. The additives which we eat are not all so direct. Farmers often give penicillin to beef and poultry, and because of this, penicillin has been found in the milk of treated cows. Sometimes similar drugs are administered to animals not for medicinal purposes, but for financial reasons. The farmers are simply trying to fatten the animals in order to obtain a higher price on the market. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has tried repeatedly to control these procedures, the practices continue.