Has food supply become safer or riskier?

Is it getting more and more dangerous just to eat? Well, public health experts just can’t provide us with a precise answer. This is mainly because records on food-borne illnesses of the past are not very accurate. Most people think that the food supply in the U.S. is substantially safer than it was a century ago, maybe even safer than 10 years ago.

Although less people are getting ill, the recent food-related illnesses and product recalls have health experts and safety advocates worried. As there are more recalls and known outbreaks due to more innovative methods for tracking illness at its source, other things that have happened have unearthed new problems that are evolving in the food supply.

Modern products such as bagged salads demand more handling, which increases the risk for contamination. Foods like spinach and peanuts, which used to be thought of as safe, are now considered risky. Also, more food is expected from abroad, which is troubling to many.

In 1996, the CDC started its improved tracking. Since then, cases of food-borne illnesses have been notably diminished, but contamination scares keep coming to the surface.

The complexity of the food supply suggests the need for firmer government maintenance, including more field inspectors, according to public health experts.

Because of the modern day problems with the nation’s food supply, some people have decided to totally drop out of the contemporary food system. Unfortunately, doing this can cause them to be more vulnerable to diseases that were extinguished from the food supply long ago. For example, a woman from California decided to try raw milk, thinking the unpasteurized milk would provide beneficial organisms. She contracted some campylobacter, which is normally destroyed through pasteurization. This caused her to contract a crippling nerve disease. She currently can not use her hands or stand.  A college student in Washington got severely sick after eating a school cafeteria salad, and a a man from Ohio was temporarily paralyzed after eating chili dogs and drinking beer. The lesson learned here is to try to always be careful.