Food Safety: What is best for us?

Mario Perez – June 2, 2016

Cows living in their own manure on an industrial farm

Do you know what goes on behind the closed doors of huge food industries like Tyson? Do you know what they feed their animals? Do you know what kind of environment they put them in? The answer to these questions should be readily available to the public, but for some reason these questions remain shrouded in mystery. Thankfully experts like Michael Pollan have done some thorough research to provide us with some answers.

Over the years food politics has been debated by people who are for and against stronger government regulations. Some of these issues pertained to what is allowed in animal feed and in what ways must farmers go organic. There is no clear answer to these issues, but if we come together we can organize a call for a reform that will be the most beneficial to our health.

One of the biggest controversies that relate to food safety is the ways that government should get involved in the food industry in order to ensure our safety. Although the government already has certain regulations that companies and farmers must follow, they seem to be loosely enforced. The big question to ask yourself when thinking about this is “Do I trust the companies enough to properly regulate themselves and create proper limitations so that they can ensure their food is 100% safe for the world?” There was a time where no one ever had to think about this question, but recent investigations into the food industry, such as those done in the documentary “Food Inc.,” have forced us to rethink this question.

In the documentary Eric Schlosser stated that regulation agencies are being corrupted by people who originally took part in the food companies.  This raises the issue that the food companies may have political influence in the government. When you focus on the fact that it is very difficult to give branches of the government power to enforce food safety and the way the FDA loosely enforces regulations placed on the industry it makes this alleged influence seem very real. Ever since food safety has become a major issue to the public many steps have been taken to find a way to ensure the safety of the consumers.

Although food safety has at some points seemed to be a priority to the government it seems that many attempts to give federal agencies the power to “enforce food safety regulations have been blocked repeatedly by food producers and their supporters in Congress,” as said by Marion Nestle. Nestle’s idea is very similar to Schlosser in that they both believe that the food companies are hindering the process of giving federal agencies the power to regulate the food industry.

At one point the USDA created a feed ban that prevented “most protein derived from ruminants” from being put in feed being given to other ruminants.  A Consumers Report article wrote that a report done by the Government Accountability Office found that more than four years after the feed ban took effect, the FDA still had “not acted promptly to compel firms to keep prohibited proteins out of cattle feed and to label animal feed that cannot be fed to cattle.”  The fact that the FDA had not taken action to firmly enforce the ban after four years should raise some red flags. This raises the question, if the FDA takes that long to enforce a ban that would prevent the spreading of diseases to other animals, then do they take as long to enforce other regulations that are equally or more important?

Although there are food regulations that are loosely enforced, there are a few regulations that are heavily enforced.  For example, there is one regulation that mandates the amount of pathogens, in percentage, needed to be killed in order for the food to be considered safe to eat.  The authors in an article from Scientific American claim that these “safe” percentages are too high.  They repeatedly mention that the “food safety officials often base their policies on the so-called worst-case scenario.”  Because of this basis many of the foods we eat are overcooked and lose a lot of their flavor.  This regulation is mostly in the restaurant business so it becomes very hard for cooks to create a dish that meets these standards and are also very flavorful. Flavor is one of the most important things for us when we eat, so it is hard for a cook to create the best and safest dish possible under these regulations. However if losing flavor means being able to ensure safety from any diseases, then it should not be a huge deal.  Food that is not cooked or undercooked can easily carry a pathogen such as E. coli O157:H7, so it is best to overcook it to make sure pathogens like E. coli O157:H7 are completely killed off. Our own health should definitely be a priority over the taste of a dish because at the end of the day you can choose to eat something else if you truly do not like the way it tastes.

One other major concern that has to do with food safety is in the animal feed and the living conditions of every animal.  Recently it has become a major trend to begin to feed animals corn.  The main reason for this is best explained by Michael Pollan in Food Inc. “Corn is really cheap and makes animal fat.”  The remainder of the feed is usually some kind of processed animal protein that is made of different, unused parts of the animals and sometimes even come from sick animals.  Even though it might seem disgusting to some people, according to David Fairfield in a Consumer Reports article, processed animal protein is considered to be “very nutritional feed ingredients” and all the feed ingredients are approved by the government

Although processed animal protein might be something that is truly healthy for the animals, we are still at risk against foodborne illnesses. The entire feed can be easily contaminated by one animal that was sick or just “by simply being stored in the wrong bin.” If one small case of contaminated feed is not dealt with properly then it could easily lead to a dangerous pathogen being spread to livestock and, in turn, to products that we buy and consume. This can result in widespread disease outbreak and even deaths if the feed process is not carefully managed.  The best way to avoid any foodborne illness is to cook your food until you are positive that it is completely cooked through so that the amount of pathogens left alive are very little to none.

As one can see the concern with food safety starts at the farm. When it comes to raising animals many big industry farms use certain techniques to raise production and efficiency. “Food Inc.” does a great job at revealing what really goes on in these farms and how it affects animals.  One company farmer named Vince Edwards, who worked for Tyson, said that they make their farmers raise their chickens “in the dark all the time.”  “Food Inc.” also has videos of the real conditions that the animals live in.  The cows are kept in pens without any room to move and have their own feces piling up around them.  This kind of environment is a feeding ground for dangerous pathogens.  If one cow gets sick then there is a chance that another cow in its pen will get sick too and eventually it could infect the entire pen.  Even if one cow is sick and does not spread the disease, there is still a chance for it to be processed and cause an outbreak.  Not only are these conditions inhumane for the animals, but they are also dangerous for us.

A way to solve this problem could be to revert back to the more traditional ways of farming such as free-range.  Joe Salatin, in “Food Inc.,” says that this is the best kind of farming because it keeps nature, the animals, and us healthy.  Reverting back to old farming ways seems like the best bet, but there are still dangers that the animals must face.  Blake Hurst, an industrial farmer, wrote an article that shares a few stories that reveal these dangers. When animals such as turkeys, cows, and chickens are raised free-ranged their biggest enemies are predators in the wild and the weather.

One of the stories that Hurst provides his audience is about how his neighbor raised free-range turkeys.  These turkeys were not smart enough to take shelter when it rained so one night his neighbor “lost 4,000 turkeys to drowning, along with his dream, and his farm.” Since there are apparent dangers that come with both types of farming, it is difficult to choose which one is the best.  Although animals are still at risk when being raised free- ranged it still looks to be the best option because they are free to do what they want and maintain a healthier living style.  Healthier animals mean less pathogens, and less pathogens mean less outbreaks.

For now the best we can do is to rally together and demand a better system in place to overlook the food industry. Even if it is a long and laborious road to get there it is something that we must achieve for ourselves and future generations. While we remain in this uncertain time where a foodborne illness outbreak could be waiting around the corner, I leave you with this advice “If you are unsure if it is thoroughly cooked, cook it a little bit longer.”