FOOD SAFETY

Technological advances in food manufacture and processing have done much to assure that the food we eat is fresh and safe.  Yet there is growing concern that certain recent developments may also produce harmful effects on humans.  For example, the preparation, handling, and storage of food, irradiation of foods, and genetic engineering of foods all contribute to the safety of our food in terms of food contamination.

Food Poisoning

Foodborne illness or food poisoning is the result of eating contaminated food.  The symptoms of food poisoning can be easily mistaken for the flu – fatigue, chills, mild fever, dizziness, headaches, upset stomach, diarrhea, and severe cramps.  Illness develop within 1 to 6 hours following ingestion of the contaminated food and recovering is fairly rapid.

  Bacteria are the culprits for most cases of food poisoning which can be the result of food not being cooked thoroughly to destroy bacteria or not keeping food cool enough to slow their growth.  In addition, nearly half of all cases of food poisoning can be prevented with proper hand washing so as to not contaminate food by viruses, parasites, or toxic chemicals.

Salmonella is the second most common foodborne illness and is found mostly in raw or undercooked poultry, meat, eggs, fish, and unpasteurized milk.  Clostridium perfringens, also called the “buffet germ,” grows where there is little to no oxygen and grows fastest in large portions held at low or room temperatures.  For this reason, buffet table serving should be replaced often and left overs should be refrigerated quickly.  A third type of food poisoning is botulism which is rare but often fatal.  It is caused from home-canned or commercially canned food that hasn’t been processed or stored properly.  Some warning signs are swollen or dented cans or lids, cracked jars, loose lids, and clear liquids turned milky.

Safe Handling of Food

It is important to handle food properly to avoid food poisoning.  Frequent hand washing is at the top of the list of food safety tips.  Bacteria live and multiply on warm, moist hands, and hands can advertently transport germs from one surface to another.  It is also important to clean work surfaces with hot, soapy water and keep nonfood items such as the mail, newspapers, purses, off the countertops.  There are some that advocate for use of antibacterial products while others maintain that if they are overused, these products can lose their effectiveness and bacteria then become resistant to them.  Utensils, dishes, cutting boards, cookware, and towels and sponges need to be washed in hot, soapy water and rinsed well.

Irradiation of Food

Due to the increasing concern about contaminated meat and meat products, the first irradiated meat, ground beef, arrived in American Supermarkets in early 2000.  Irradiated frozen chicken was introduced more recently.  Irradiation is a process that causes damage to the DNA of disease causing bacteria such as salmonella and E.coli as well as of insects, parasites, and other organisms so that they can’t reproduce.  While irradiated meat has much lower bacteria levels than regular meat, irradiation actually destroys fewer bacteria than does proper cooking.  There is also some concern that irradiation will lull consumers into a false sense of security so that they erroneously believe that they don’t have to take the usual precautions in food handling and preparation.  For example, undercooking, unclean work surfaces, unwashed cooking utensils, or improper storage can still cause contamination in the meat.  Some also claim that irradiated meat has a distinct off-taste and smell likening it to “single hair”.

Safe Farming Techniques

In recent decades, there has been an increased push towards ensuring better treatment of animals raised for slaughter or dairy production in the United States.  As a result of recent reforms, more than half of beef cattle in North America meet their end at slaughter house based on innovative designs that consider the fears and inclinations of herd animals.  The cages of laying hens are nearly one third larger than the old ones and the practice of starving hens for weeks at a time to stimulate egg production is beginning to diminish in use.  These reforms are important to ensure more humane treatment of these animals, but are also proving beneficial to human health and food quality of meat when animals are treated humanely, with less bruising, improved tenderness, lower incidence of dark-cutting beef, and lessened occurrence of pale, soft, and dry pork.  Furthermore, the taste of eggs is significantly better if they come from humanely treated hens.

One important component in these reforms – some of which have been government mandated and others voluntarily adopted by the agricultural industry – relates to the feed given to beef cattle.  The spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly known as Mad Cow Disease, has largely been attributed to the use of animal feed containing the protein-rich by-products of slaughtered cows, including nerve tissue, the tissue most likely to harbor the disease.  Such feed – which is believed to be the primary, if not the only, way the disease could be transmitted – was banned in the United States and Canada in August 1997.  While the disease had been restricted to European cows, a number of cases of Mad Cow detected in American cattle in late 2003 encouraged the U.S. government to impose even stricter rules to protect the nation’s beef supply from the disease, including banning the butchering of sick or injured cows, banning certain animal parts from the supply, and increasing testing on suspect animals.

Eliminating animal products from feed has also proven beneficial in hens.  Many consumers choose only to eat poultry and eggs from free-range, vegetarian-fed chickens, for health and safety reasons.  Several companies (such as Eggland’s Best) claim that their vegetarian-fed hens produce eggs that have seven times more vitamin E than regular eggs, are lower in cholesterol, have a higher unsaturated/saturated fat ratio, and contain more omega-3 fatty acids than factory-farmed eggs.

Interestingly, McDonald’s Corporation has been one of the champions for animal welfare reform.  Since 1997, the fast-food leader has required all of its meat producers to undergo animal welfare audits, and in 1999 they conducted 100 audits in the United States, and in 2002, they did 500 worldwide.  Because McDonald’s makes up such a formidable part of the meat industry, few companies could afford to lose its business by not complying with its animal welfare standards.  Thus, McDonald’s has been instrumental in pushing the entire industry to change its production techniques.  The state of Florida has also been a forerunner in pushing for animal welfare in its recent passage of a measure outlawing slow stalls, where pregnant pigs are confined in stalls 2 feet wide and 7 feet long, unable to turn around or walk for much of their 115-day pregnancy.

Genetically Modified Foods

The success of American agriculture, in terms of food quality and marketability, has been based on the ability to genetically alter food sources to improve yield, reduce production costs, and introduce new food characteristics.  Today, however, genetic technology is so sophisticated that changes are being introduced faster than scientists can fully evaluate the effects of these changes.  Concerned individuals and agencies in the United States and abroad called for more extensive longitudinal research into safety issues and stricter labeling requirements for genetically modified foods.  In January of 2001, the FDA determined that food companies did not need to label foods as having genetically modified components, although they could inform consumers that they are “derived through biotechnology.” They has argued that without these measures consumers would have been at risk for unrecognized problems.