Food Poisoning |
(photo courtesy of morguefile.com)
My heart goes out to those that lost their best friends in the recent "wheat gluten in the animal food" contamination. Now that they have tracked the contamination to one distributor in China, it's amazing to see how many different products get their ingredients from just one source. The recent spinach scare is another good example.
According to the CDC, 76 million people get food poisoning in the US every year. And 5,000 die. In China, 300 million people get food poisoning every year. 300,000 million! Almost the entire population of the United States! I don't know how many die.
It's time we consider how technology can help us solve this problem (and just hope there are no unintended consequences).
Comments
The MSNBC article implies that we needn't worry, that big corporations will make our food safer with more technology.
The "expert", Dr. Maki of the University of Wisconsin, says "If we irradiated that hamburger at the time of preparation" we can stop worrying.
I'll pass on that solution. I agree with Michael Pollan that the nation's salad shouldn't all be mixed in one bowl; best to buy local, organic and natural foods from family farmers.
There's a long list of funders of research at the University of Wisconsin web site, including the American Chemical Society. Could the providers of big money for research have something to do with the recommendations that support the interests of major corporations?
I'll put my faith in experts who don't agree with the views of giant corporations on irradiation, genetically modifed foods, and other technological solutions to making food safer in America.
Posted by: Jeff Deasy | April 4, 2007 11:10 AM