Summertime and Food Safety Ain’t Easy
Postedby Steve Flick on 07-02-2009
Red meat consumption in the US is down quite a bit over the last couple of decades. However, we Americans still manage to get our fill on major holidays, like the Super Bowl, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving.
Every year at about this time, the FDA, CDC, etc., reeducate the American public about the dangers lurking in improperly handled, stored, or cooked food. They’re right — the public needs to be reminded of its critical role in the food safety and the food supply chain. We, the consumers, are the last link in the chain…the last line of defense.
We are definitely not the only line of defense. The US Congress thinks — or, more accurately, has been told — that other links in the chain (i.e., producers and government agencies like the FDA) need considerable strengthening.
Question: Will Congress’s proposed remedies (HR 875, HR 2749, and so on) be enough? Or, will they be too much, as small family farms and organic producers claim? Would we all be better served if producers were certified to universal standards like ISO 22000 and PAS 220?
Growers, producers, consumers, legislators — I know you have opinions. What are they?
