The seven deadliest foods in your kitchen

I know, I know. Another scare story. But for some reason this list, which appeared in Prevention magazine, creeped me out.

I did think the way the author worded the question to the "experts" was interesting: "What foods do you avoid?"

I think you can also argue that this is a skewed sample of experts, ones who might be overreacting. ...

I still sat up and took notice, particularly about the canned tomatoes. They are a winter staple on my shelves, and somehow I don't think next summer I'm going to end up canning my own tomatoes in glass jars. And if I did, I'd probably end up killing my whole family with botulism.

Here's the list. The link above will give you the full story about each one and what the problems with them are:

1) Canned tomatoes

2) Corn-fed beef

3) Microwave popcorn

4) Nonorganic potatoes

5) Farmed salmon

6) Milk produced with artificial hormones

7) Conventional apples

As usual, the solution to all these problems is to buy the more expensive alternative. And these days, that just isn't feasible for a lot of people.

I will mention my popcorn solution. As convenient as microwave popcorn is, if you're at home it's almost as easy to pop it without oil in a cast iron skillet with a tight-fitting lid. You just have to keep shaking it over medium heat until it stops popping. And if you don't use oil, the corn will absorb more melted butter. Yum.

But that's probably worse for you than the microwave version.

(Jerry Jackson/Sun photographer)