Food and water are the most important things people need to survive. Survival is the key to maintaining life. So let’s take the food that we are eating is it really safe for us to eat. As American and being one of the most developed countries in the world you would think that we would not have to be worried about the food that we eat. Food security involves prevention, minimizing, or responding to the deliberate contamination of food products by a variety of potential threat agents.(CDC) Food security is not the same as food safety. Food Safety is the utilization of various resources and strategies to ensure that all types of foods are properly stored, prepared, and preserved so they are safe for consumption.(CDC) Some interesting facts from Goldbergs:
- Each year 76 million Americans get sick from eating spoiled, contaminated, or adulterated food, resulting in roughly 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths
- Imported food has grown to 13 percent of the annual American diet.
- 98.7 percent of imported food is never inspected by the FDA or USDA, the two agencies tasked with protecting Americans from tainted products.
- A series of incidents caused by toxic Chinese goods -- from toothpaste to pet food to toys -- have prompted efforts in Washington to overhaul the system.
- China exported $4.2 billion in food and agriculture to the U.S. last year, which represents a four-fold increase in a little more than a decade.
From past events of food recalls such as 85 product recalls under FDA jurisdiction, "36 of those recalls were due to Salmonella contamination of lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, green onions, and ground pepper, in 2010 are just a few. Website http://www.sweetadditions.net/food-drinks/food-product-recalls-of-year-2010, states the different product lines and what was recalled. With such an advanced country why are we having these problems? Did you know that 25 % of the food Americans eats everyday are imported from foreign countries: China, Mexico, Brazil. Also that less than 2% of the food coming in to the United States is actually inspected. (Goldberg) There countries do not have the same standards that our US farmers are now being held too, because of the New Food Safety Bill. Although I cannot state this as fact but herd from a good source there were supposed to be inspector s inspecting the farms in China, to make sure they met codes, but the inspectors were not inspecting just taking payment to ignore problems. This could have been a large cause for food borne illnesses that have plagued the US recently.
So why do we not inspect more of the food that comes in to the U.S. is because home land security is too busy looking for stowaways, money, drugs, and weapons. This concerns me because if salmonella can spread from one end of the country to the other by a food product that is distributed then just think if, there was a biological weapon placed in the food that comes in to the U.S. and its not inspected think of the deaths that this could lead to. Just some thoughts on where your food comes from. Maybe before we take a bite or buy something at the groceries store we should think about the problems with our food system. Yes, the New Food Safety Bill is supposed to help with this but how effective is it going to be over seas? CDC - Food Safety. (n.d.). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved February 15, 2011, from http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/
Goldberg, M. (2007, September 7). PPI: 98.7 Percent of Imported Food Never Inspected . Progressive Policy Institute: Defining the Third Way. Retrieved February 15, 2011, from http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=85&subsecID=108&contentID
