Food Borne Illness

By Bonnie Jenkins, Advanced Natural Medicine

When I think of Chinese food, I usually imagine chow mein and moo shu pork from my favorite Asian take-out place. But lately, the phrase “Chinese food” has taken on a rather sinister meaning as contaminated foods from China have made their way onto our plates and into the headlines.

But, before you boycott all things Chinese, it isn’t the only country to send contaminated foods across U.S. borders. In the late 1990s parasite-infested raspberries from Guatemala gave nearly 1,400 people diarrhea. A few years later, scallions grown in Mexico transmitted the hepatitis A virus to diners.

The truth is, no country, not even the U.S., produces totally safe food – remember the recent outbreaks involving spinach, peanut butter and canned chili here at home. Luckily, recalls and outbreaks of illness involving imported foods aren’t everyday occurrences. But they are happening more frequently. Here’s what you need to know to protect your family from food borne illness.

The Tainted Table

The U.S. gets food from hundreds of countries and the amount is increasing every year. In fact, food imports have risen about 15 percent annually over the past decade. Why are we getting so much food from abroad? It’s simply a matter of supply and demand. Consumers want a steady supply of out-of-season fruits and vegetables, as well as a wide variety of ethnic foods. But besides importing whole foods, manufacturers now import ingredients. What’s behind that trend? Cost. Foreign suppliers often offer ingredients at much cheaper prices.

It all adds up to more imports on your plate. According to The Washington Post, the average American now eats about 260 pounds of imported foods each year – about 13 percent of what we put in our mouths. And here’s the scary part: Despite the recent surge in food imports, only a minuscule amount is actually inspected. A mind-boggling 99 percent of imported seafood, produce, animal feed and grains pass through U.S. ports without being inspected. Imported meat and poultry fare better – they are visually inspected at the border and subject to additional testing.

Why the difference? Two separate agencies, two separate sets of rules, two separate budgets. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is responsible for meat, eggs, poultry and imported fruits and vegetables, while the Food and Drug Administration covers virtually all other foods. But the dollars allocated are anything but equal. The USDA is well funded, thanks, critics say, to political influence from the powerful beef and milk lobbies. The FDA, on the other hand, has undergone major cutbacks in money, staff and facilities in recent years. And most of their resources are spent on drugs and dietary supplements.

When it comes to food, however, both the USDA and the FDA have only enough resources to focus on specific foods, sources or producers that present the greatest risk. Neither agency carefully monitors all imports. That leads to reactive, not proactive, policies like this past summer’s crackdown on seafood from China. After repeated violations involving contamination from unapproved drugs and additives, the FDA banned Chinese farm-raised shrimp, eel, catfish, basa (similar to catfish) and dace (similar to carp) from entering the U.S. unless importers can prove shipments are free of contamination.

Lagging Legislation

Many experts urge an overhaul of food safety laws. But Congressional action on the Safe Food Act has languished on the Hill since 2005. The act would consolidate eight of the current 12 agencies that deal with food into one unified agency responsible for the safety of the nation’s food supply. As it stands now, both the USDA and the FDA sometimes function at the same port without sharing resources, including inspectors.

In addition, food safety experts urge swift resurrection of a law that requires country-of-origin labeling on all imported foods. Country-of-origin labeling, dubbed COOL, was mandated by the 2002 Farm Bill and was intended to cover nearly all foods. But so far it has only been applied to retail seafood and even that hasn’t been strictly enforced. Certain labels in your local supermarket highlight where a product is from – but only if the manufacturer perceives it as a marketing advantage, such as cheese from France or olive oil from Italy.

While COOL is a step in the right direction, it has one glaring omission – it doesn’t require disclosure of the growing list of imported ingredients used in processed foods. And, while we all get tired of dissecting ingredient labels every time we go grocery shopping, it’s important to know where all you food is coming from. After all, imported ingredients were behind the recall a few months ago of Robert’s Veggie Booty snack food, which contained a Salmonella-contaminated seasoning imported from China.

While lawmakers may be dragging their heels, you can help speed things up by urging them to pass the Safe Food Act and implement COOL on all food items. Write to your representatives at www.senate.gov or www.house.gov or call 800-962-3524 for phone numbers and mailing addresses.

Think Local

By now, you’re probably looking to ditch imported food. If you’re ready to become a food isolationist, think local. Buying locally grown food may limit you to eating seasonally and regionally, but you’ll find that your food is fresher.

While produce that is purchased in the supermarket or a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, produce that you purchase at your local farmer's market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase. This freshness not only affects the taste of your food, but the nutritional value which declines with time.

And, not to bring up the fear factor, but eating locally protects us from bio-terrorism. Food with less distance to travel from farm to plate has less susceptibility to tampering or harmful contamination.

So, how can you find locally-grown food? Check your community for farmer’s markets. Not only is the food fresher, you also get the chance to meet the farmer who grew it. Many are small, family farmers that can help you trace your food from seed to table. If you need help finding a source in your area, check www.localharvest.org/ for a nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources.

One Last Thing ...

While imported foods have posed high-profile safety problems, domestic foods are not immune. By and large, our food supply is safe, but there’s no such thing as zero risk. That’s why you need to be ever vigilant about your own food safety practices. Here’s how to stack the food safety odds in your favor for both domestic and imported foods:

Buy from reputable, clean stores. Avoid dented or swollen cans. It could be a sign of bacterial contamination, such as C. botulinum. Check expiration dates. Don’t buy foods, imported or not, with no dates or those for which it has passed. Practice food safety at home. This includes cooking foods to an optimal temperature, refrigerating items promptly, controlling cross-contamination by keeping raw and ready-to-eat foods separate and washing your hands repeatedly. (While this can’t protect you from pesticides or chemical contaminants, it helps reduce the risk of bacterial contamination.)

This Just In ...

While the FDA can’t afford the resources to check food coming into the US from far-off lands, it seems to be able to focus its attention on non-issues. Take the latest warning about an ingredient found in some herbal teas.

The ingredient is stevia, an herbal sweetener used by tribes of Paraguay and Brazil for centuries. But, based on outdated research, the FDA says this natural sweetener might be dangerous to blood sugar levels, reproduction, cardiovasular health and the renal system.

New research, however, shows that stevia might be useful for treating such conditions as obesity and high blood pressure. Stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose, even enhancing glucose tolerance, therefore it’s attractive as a natural sweetener to diabetics and others on carbohydrate-controlled diets.

So what’s behind the FDA’s attack on this natural sweetener that is 300 times sweeter than sugar? The real issue is this: If stevia has the potential to become a popular non-caloric sweetener, where would that leave some other products like Sweet ‘n Low or Splenda currently on the market?

Apparently someone (FDA won't say who, but it's a big company) doesn't want stevia on the market, and convinced the FDA to ban it in the 1990s. But the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) has forced FDA to allow it in dietary supplements. The agency says it's still illegal to use it as a food ingredient, placing them in the rather stupid position of saying it's safe if labeled as a supplement, but not when sold as a food additive.

If you want to try stevia as a no-cal way to sweeten foods and drinks, you can buy it as a dietary supplement in health food stores. Available in liquid and powder form, you’ll find it with the supplements instead of in the baking aisle. But regardless of its location, stevia is a great way to sweeten that glass of iced tea without the calories.

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References:

Country-Of-Origin Labeling. 2002 Farm Bill Provisions. USDA. Available at www.ams.usda.gov/cool/

“Imported Food Rarely Inspected.” USA Today. 2007.

Saenphet K, Aritajat S, Saenphet S, et al. “Safety evaluation of aqueous extracts from Aegle marmelos and Stevia rebaudiana on reproduction of female rats.” Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health. 2006;37 Suppl 3:203-205.

“U.S. food imports outrun FDA resources.” USA Today. 2007