Basket of Heirloom Tomatoes at Love Apple Farm, Ben Lomond, California (photo by Tana Butler, courtesy of morguefile.com)

One of the founding principles of American Feast was our company’s call for a healthier and more sustainable food system. In the short time since we launched our business there’s been a relentless repetition of food safety problems that have only deepened our commitment to be advocates for a more sustainable system.

It seems the most recent scare associating tomatoes with more than 1,000 cases of salmonella, with government officials unable to track the contaminated food to its source, has many Americans agreeing with us that major changes in food policy are in order.

According to a poll jointly conducted by the Associated Press and Ipsos, nearly half of Americans are concerned they may get sick from eating contaminated food and are avoiding items they normally would buy. People have good reason to be avoiding food whose safety they don’t trust, but that should not be the long term solution to a deeply systemic problem.

Even though the poll found that three in four Americans remain confident about the overall safety of foods, the Associated Press reports, “The poll found that 80% of Americans said they would support new federal standards for fresh produce. Meat and poultry have long been subject to enforceable federal safeguards, but fruits and vegetables are not, although produce increasingly is being implicated in outbreaks.”

We can all play a part in creating a healthier and more sustainable food system by demanding that our food be raised organically, by the standards already practiced on family scale farms across the country. Our bodies, our planet, and our children will be the beneficiaries.

If you’d like to read the AP article posted by Yahoo! & cited above go to: Food safety worries change buying habits