Amanda Hitt: Our food system is failing us
Amanda Hitt food integrity campaign director of the Government Accountability Project Posted: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 4:30 am 1 Comment
In May, E. coli-laden romaine lettuce sickened dozens of Americans in five states, and a food-related listeria outbreak has killed at least two Texans. An endless deluge of foodborne illness outbreaks demands re-evaluation of our current food system.
Americans must broaden their evaluation of food safety, however, beyond the finished product, and take the quality of the overall production cycle into account. While outbreaks and hospitalizations grab headlines, there are unseen costs to our production system. We must start putting a premium on food integrity and re-evaluate the entire process -- from soil to plate.
Foodborne illness sickens over 76 million Americans every year, causing 725,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. One recent Georgetown University study showed that the related costs of these illnesses (medical bills, lost wages, decreased productivity) totals over $152 billion a year.
But the true cost of foodborne illness is far greater. The societal and environmental impacts of food production are themselves a type of “foodborne illness” that sickens habitats and communities. These costs must be accounted for. Read More
I find it insulting to everyone who produces food and fiber in this country when people claim that our food system has failed. One of the first numbers they like to bring up is that 76 million cases of food poisoning happens every year. This is certainly a large number and no one in our industry will be happy until it’s zero but let’s put it in perspective. There are about one billion meals consumed every day in this country alone. That means that 99.98% of the meals consumed in this country happen without incident. Is that worthy of being called a failure? Today’s farmers and ranchers are producing more food and fiber with fewer inputs than at any point in the history of the world. Is that a failure? Our livestock are healthier than ever before thus producing a consistent product. Along with that the world has never before seen a safer, more affordable, more abundant food supply. Is that a failure? There is no doubt that we can continue to improve upon our practices but the abundant supplies of food and clothing in this country seems to make it overly easy for our detractors to be critical of our industry.
Showing posts with label food poisoning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food poisoning. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Real Story on Food Safety
The unusual suspects
As food production and preparation moves farther afield, tainted items become hard to avoid
By Arthur Allen
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
If you were planning to serve shrimp during the holidays, you might not want to talk to Michael Doyle, director of the Food Safety Center at the University of Georgia. You see, most of the shrimp sold in the United States, as well as the tilapia and some other fish, are grown in ponds on small farms in China and Southeast Asia. Doyle has visited those farms. What they feed the fish doesn't belong in a family newspaper.
Most of us have long been aware that raw meat is crawling with pathogenic microbes. For most Americans, avoiding it is common sense. Undercooked chicken? Send it back. Steak tartare? Non, merci.
But shrimp? Tilapia? Spinach? Peanut butter? Cookie dough? And how about apple juice?
The increasing number of front-page outbreaks and the high-profile critiques of the food system by such writers as Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma") and Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation") can give the impression that the U.S. food supply is spiraling out of control. But is Americans' food, in fact, more dangerous that it was in the day of home-cooked meals? People who have studied the numbers aren't convinced. The food supply is certainly safer than it was 100 years ago, experts agree, and probably a bit safer than it was even two decades ago, according to CDC food safety expert Robert Tauxe. That said, it could be a lot safer -- and there are real reasons to worry.
With improved surveillance, more outbreaks are identified, which can make things seem worse than they were in the past. The CDC tracks food-borne outbreaks primarily through two networks, called FoodNet and PulseNet. FoodNet uses hospital records and microbial testing programs to trace the spread of pathogens, while PulseNet uses genetic fingerprinting to link cases of illness. Read More
I have to give credit to a reporter when a balanced, informational piece is written about food. It’s interesting that he even counters some widely held beliefs, such as the myth that e. coli was created by modern livestock production methods. I also really appreciate that he emphasized the fact that properly handling and cooking meat will eliminate the risk of any food related illnesses. Our food safety system isn’t perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for any other system in the world. Unfortunately, since humans aren’t perfect, our food safety system never will be either, but we will never quit trying to make it better. And it only helps when we get reporters who write informational pieces rather than creating fear about food.
As food production and preparation moves farther afield, tainted items become hard to avoid
By Arthur Allen
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
If you were planning to serve shrimp during the holidays, you might not want to talk to Michael Doyle, director of the Food Safety Center at the University of Georgia. You see, most of the shrimp sold in the United States, as well as the tilapia and some other fish, are grown in ponds on small farms in China and Southeast Asia. Doyle has visited those farms. What they feed the fish doesn't belong in a family newspaper.
Most of us have long been aware that raw meat is crawling with pathogenic microbes. For most Americans, avoiding it is common sense. Undercooked chicken? Send it back. Steak tartare? Non, merci.
But shrimp? Tilapia? Spinach? Peanut butter? Cookie dough? And how about apple juice?
The increasing number of front-page outbreaks and the high-profile critiques of the food system by such writers as Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma") and Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation") can give the impression that the U.S. food supply is spiraling out of control. But is Americans' food, in fact, more dangerous that it was in the day of home-cooked meals? People who have studied the numbers aren't convinced. The food supply is certainly safer than it was 100 years ago, experts agree, and probably a bit safer than it was even two decades ago, according to CDC food safety expert Robert Tauxe. That said, it could be a lot safer -- and there are real reasons to worry.
With improved surveillance, more outbreaks are identified, which can make things seem worse than they were in the past. The CDC tracks food-borne outbreaks primarily through two networks, called FoodNet and PulseNet. FoodNet uses hospital records and microbial testing programs to trace the spread of pathogens, while PulseNet uses genetic fingerprinting to link cases of illness. Read More
I have to give credit to a reporter when a balanced, informational piece is written about food. It’s interesting that he even counters some widely held beliefs, such as the myth that e. coli was created by modern livestock production methods. I also really appreciate that he emphasized the fact that properly handling and cooking meat will eliminate the risk of any food related illnesses. Our food safety system isn’t perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for any other system in the world. Unfortunately, since humans aren’t perfect, our food safety system never will be either, but we will never quit trying to make it better. And it only helps when we get reporters who write informational pieces rather than creating fear about food.
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