Protect yourself at Memorial Day picnics: Go vegetarian

What ever happened to the good old days when the worst things we had to fear on Memorial Day were traffic jams and indigestion?

This year, it's all about food poisoning by the nasty E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria bugs lurking in hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets at millions of backyard barbecues.

The U.S. Meat and Poultry Hotline’s advice is to grill meat and chicken products longer and hotter. They fail to caution that high-temperature grilling forms lots of cancer-causing compounds. Do we really need to choose between food poisoning and cancer?

Luckily, enterprising food manufacturers and processors have met this challenge head-on by developing a great variety of healthful, delicious, convenient plant-based veggie burgers, veggie dogs, and soy nuggets.

These wholesome foods don’t harbor nasty bugs or cancer-causing compounds. They don’t even carry cholesterol, saturated fats, drugs, or pesticides. And, they are right there, in the frozen food section of our supermarket.

This Memorial Day, let's stay safe on the roads and safe at the family barbecue.

The writer lives in Myrtle Beach.

This story was originally published May 21, 2015 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Protect yourself at Memorial Day picnics: Go vegetarian."