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Is My Food Safe?
by Bonnie Minsky MA, MPH, LDN, CNS & Steve Minsky


We have gotten this question a lot lately. It is very complex and has no simple answer. 

Tainted spinach, peanut butter, ground beef, pet food, farm-raised seafood, Veggie Booty, food booth at the Taste of Chicago, and this month (drum roll please)...chili sauce/canned meat products.

Irradiation, viral adulteration, packing fresh meat in carbon monoxide, administering growth hormones and antibiotics, cloned animals, GMO's, accumulation of heavy metals and pesticides in our nutrient-poor food.

Did we forget bird flu, mad cow, norovirus, e. coli, salmonella and clostridium botulinum?

These are some of the issues we have become familiar with over the last year in relation to our food supply.

The public's confidence in food safety is at its lowest point since Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was published. In our opinion, the safety of food has serious flaws that require a global effort to rectify. Unsafe food is almost unavoidable. However, there are some things you can do to minimize your exposure.  

Who is to blame?
 Most of the media would be happy to place the blame on China. However, US inspectors have stopped more food shipments from India and Mexico in the last year than from China. While China deserves their share, the fact is we are all to blame. The United States has made as many or more egregious food safety errors than anyone. According to The World Health Organization, food safety is a big problem for rich and poor countries alike.

In other words, if you are attempting to buy food produced only in the United States, forget it. It is virtually impossible. Food is a global industry and there is no going back. You can buy a single product today that has ingredients that may come from numerous different countries. So the next time you see "Made in the USA," while it may be produced here, the odds are that every ingredient does not come from here.

What's the problem?

Government
Governments are lax on food safety and are more reactive than proactive, according to the WHO. For the most part, the philosophy has been to allow food companies to police themselves because the economic impact of a recall is so tremendous. As we have seen, this philosophy has not worked so well. Salmonella and e.coli cases have risen over 40 percent in the last ten years.

Now that governments are getting more involved (i.e. the United States), any potential impact will be minimal because of paltry budgets. The recently appointed US food safety czar, the Assistant Commissioner for Food Protection, was created because food inspections were seen as inadequate. But it must beg the question, does this not just add another level of bureaucracy? What can this official do when a typical food inspector examines nearly 1,000 food products daily (roughly one every thirty seconds). Any of those food products seen as high risk are sent to private labs for testing. Yet, the FDA wants to slash the amount of testing labs by one half? FDA inspection staff examines less than 1% of all imported food. The FDA only has 800 inspectors to cover over 80,000 processing plants in the US alone. With the exception of several food categories, the FDA has no rules governing testing protocols, record retention, manufacturing, quality assurance and control, or the right to examine any records that a food-processing firm chooses to keep voluntarily. The FDA can request a voluntary recall, but cannot issue mandatory recalls.

With the current administration pressing for free-trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Colombia, and South Korea, four countries with less than stellar food safety records, our food supply may be further endangered. 

Consumer
The consumer is also the problem. In the quest for pursuing the cheapest possible food, food companies scour the globe to pursue the cheapest possible ingredients. In our quest to have any kind of food available to us at any time of the season, globalization is the only way to make this happen.

Difficulty Obtaining Ingredients
Certain ingredients that are scarcely produced in the US must be found elsewhere. For example, to attain adequate amounts of honey, a company may have to buy from China, Vietnam, India, Canada, several Latin American countries or all of the above.

Human Body
It is widely believed that the host has become weaker. From poor diets to weakened immune systems to the ever-changing drug-resistant pathogens, our bodies are unable to fight off many of the opportunistic organisms that taint our food supply. While we believe this to be true in certain cases, the reasons are much too complex to blame it just on this. Since the beginning of time, there has been a constant battle of survival between human and pathogen. This will not change. So the question we must really ask is...

What can we do to improve our chances of eating safe food?

Think Local or Regional.
Our take? A no-brainer. You can get to know your growers. You can go to their farms. This initiative will never attain the majority of how we get our foodstuffs, but it can be a wonderful supplement.
Think Organic.
Our take? Another no-brainer. The data is now quantifiable and evident that organic offers benefits to human health, the environment, and to nutrient quality while producing the same yields (using 30 percent less energy and water) as conventional.
Think Seasonal.
Our take? Why not? At least attempt to buy your fruits and vegetables that are in season. The closer to home, the less chance it has been tampered with (and exchanged countless hands) to remain fresh.
Read labels.
Our take? The least amount of ingredients, the better. The more ingredients, the higher the chance that your foodstuff is processed from more than one country. With produce, look either on the sticker on the actual foodstuff or on the signage on the shelf. It will usually tell you where the food comes from. Certain catch phrases and labels on food packaging can give you an indication that the food product is safer than most:
    -USDA Certified 100% Organic; with logo (only 100% organic ingredients)
    -USDA Organic; with logo (at least 95% organic, with the other 5% coming from the approved 'National List')
    -Made with organic ingredients; with no USDA logo (70% are certified organic)
    -Certified Naturally Grown; nonprofit certification program for small-scale, direct-market organic farmers (can only sell locally and directly to food stores and restaurants)
    -Protected Harvest; certifies crops that have been raised with integrative pest management
    -Fair Trade Certified; guarantees that prices, working conditions, and wages meet a strict set of standards that ensure farmers and farm workers in developing nations receive a fair price for their product.
    -Certified Biodynamic; free of pesticides, fertilizers, and animal byproducts, grown without genetic engineering, all feed is grown on-site, and the farm is fully sustainable
    -Certified Humane Raised and Handled; ensures that animals raised for dairy, lamb, poultry, beef, goat and pork products are treated humanely, growth hormones are prohibited, as are antibiotics (except in the treatment of sick animals); access to clean and sufficient food and water and a safe, healthful living environment is required
Require Labeling for Country of Origin.
Our take? We don't think this is going to work. An amendment was passed several years ago requiring this for beef, lamb, pork, peanuts, and fresh and frozen fruits/vegetables that takes effect on Sept 30. It has already has been watered down and is mired in controversy. If you went all the way with a law like this, labels would be so dense nobody would read them.
Consumer is King.
Our take? Use the power of the dollar. Why did organics become so huge? Because the consumer demanded the product! Food manufacturers follow the money. Direct your dollars to safe, fresh, real food. 
Be a detective.
Our take? If you think you will be consistently purchasing a foodstuff (let's say for example, frozen ground beef patties), call the company and inquire about the steps they take to ensure safety, where their product comes from (local, regional, in the country, out of the country). What do they feed their cows? Do they feed them animal byproducts? Do they use hormones or antibiotics? How much pasture time do they get? Let them convince you that they are worthy of your hard-earned dollars.
You get what you pay for.
Our take? You know the age old phrase. It has never been more true than with food. Real food is more expensive. Quality does not come cheaply. What was the main reason the US food supply went global? Food was cheaper in other countries. Make spending your money on quality food a priority!
Promote innovation for more natural forms of food safety protection.
Our take? There are so many wonderful ways to promote natural food safety methods. For instance, a recent study showed that grape seed and pine bark extracts used in cooked meats performed better as preservatives than synthetic BHA/BHT for oxidation and microbial effects.
Contact your political constituents.
Our take? Demand more action. Suggest the levying of huge fines and suspensions for food companies and their partners who are responsible for an outbreak. Due to public pressure, the European Union Food Safety Authority and the FDA have recently signed a cooperation treaty to coordinate research efforts into food safety issues. Public pressure has also increased funding to the FDA in 2008 by $120 million, much of which will go to food safety issues. However, the FDA's total budget is one quarter of one percent of the budget allocated to defense. This cannot continue. Voice your opinion on the government's intention to relax rules on irradiation and organics, as well as allowing viral adulteration and cloned animals into the food supply.
And last but not least...improve the constitution of the host!
Our take? This is obviously crucial. Take measures to boost or maintain your immunity. Globalization, processing, and poor soil quality has left our food more nutrient poor compared to fifty years ago. Fortifying yourselves with the basic vitamins and minerals is essential in this day and age. Practice safe cooking, storage, and cleaning of food. Maintain a healthy, balanced digestive tract so that you are able to repel the attacks of foreign invaders (i.e. pathogens) without catastrophic side effects. Probiotics help with this immensely. Eat real food and minimize the amount of processed food you consume. Limit sugar, which tremendously weakens the immune system. In short, make sound, proactive, and preventative lifestyle choices.