Get BRAIN savvy with your food.
May 6th 2009 04:30
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A smoking-hot jalapeno pepper ripened under the sun in Baja California, Mexico. Days later, it spiced up salsa in Minnesota and Toronto restaurants. Months later, it was implicated in an outbreak of salmonella that sickened more than 1,400 people, hospitalized 286, and contributed to two deaths in the summer of 2008.
How did a "poison" pepper travel over 1,000 miles from farm to fork -- without getting nabbed? Credit the nation's broken-down and overburdened food-safety system. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), responsible for the safety of 80% of the American food supply, inspects just 1% of the imported foods that it regulates. And although food imports are on the rise, the cash-strapped FDA has lost hundreds of safety inspectors and scientists that it cannot afford to replace.
From bacteria-laced peanut butter and tainted seafood to contaminated tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts, the news about food dangers seems as endless as a presidential campaign. A responsible citizen called lack of federal inspections at 95% of America's food plants "a hazard to public health" and called for creation of a Food Safety Working Group to turn the tide. It's likely to happen -- it was President Obama speaking. In Canada, where lunchmeat tainted with listeria has been linked with 21 deaths since last summer, critics say the nation's food manufacturing and inspection rules need fixing too.
How did we end up with such a mess? For starters:
• The system is tangled! A dozen federal agencies are involved. The biggest players: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees meat, poultry, and egg products; and the FDA, which takes care of nearly everything else (including seafood and produce). It's complicated, and a little crazy: While a frozen cheese pizza is inspected by the FDA, a frozen pepperoni pizza is the USDA's responsibility. The result: Gaps and cracks that don't catch problems soon enough.
• The FDA is overextended and underfunded. The FDA oversees 25% of commerce in the United States, so it has too many other responsibilities -- from regulating drugs and medical devices to counterterrorism -- to effectively safeguard food. Too often the FDA relies on plant owners to voluntarily fix problems found during inspections rather than face potential devastation if their products are tainted.
• The system lacks teeth. FDA food recalls are also voluntary. A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in March -- the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act -- would change that. It would also boost inspections, improve how tainted foods are traced to their sources, and set tougher standards for foreign-grown food. We think it's about time!
What can you do? Let your legislators know -- loud and clear -- that you're freaking about food safety. But protect yourself -- don't wait for the politicians. About 76 million people are sickened by tainted food each year; 5,000 die. Here's how to protect yourself as much as you can right now:
• Buy American or Canadian produce when you have a choice. Sure, safety slipups happen on North American farms. But our friend Gary Ginsburg, PhD, senior toxicologist at the Connecticut Department of Public Health and author of What's Toxic, What's Not, explains that although inspections aren't great in North America, at least they're more frequent than with many foreign-grown products.
• Don't be afraid of irradiated food. We believe irradiation is safe. And we're convinced that this process, which kills disease-causing pathogens, makes meat, poultry, eggs, vegetables, and fruit safer.
• Don't drop the ball at home. You usually can't see, smell, or taste disease-causing bacteria in food. But at temperatures between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, these dangerous germs multiply faster than rabbits in a pet store. So keep hot foods piping hot and cold foods frosty cold. Refrigerate perishables, prepared foods, and leftovers within 2 hours of buying, cooking, or serving. Wash all produce multiple times. Keep your hands, knives, cutting boards, and countertops clean while preparing food. And use separate knives and boards for meats and produce.
• Freeze it fast. Limit how long you leave raw meats in the fridge: 1–2 days for ground meats, sausage, and poultry; 3–5 days for beef, pork, or veal. If it's going to be longer, freeze it. This won't kill existing bacteria, but it will prevent more from growing quickly.
From: Real Age available free on the web
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