Outbreaks and Recalls Put Worry on the Table

Outbreaks and Recalls Put Worry on the Table

Every few weeks, it seems, deadly germs turn up in the food supply.

Heather Whybrew, a college student in Washington State, became gravely ill after eating a salad in her school cafeteria. Carl Ours, of Ohio, was temporarily paralyzed after eating chili dogs and drinking beer. Mari Tardiff, of California, spent three months on life support after she drank unpasteurized milk.

Is it becoming more dangerous to eat?

Public health experts cannot give a definitive answer, largely because the historical figures on food-borne illness are spotty. But most of them believe the nation’s food supply is markedly safer now than it was 100 years ago, and probably safer than a decade ago.

Yet, even if fewer people over all are getting sick, the big recalls and outbreaks of recent years, like the discoveries of the industrial chemical melamine in infant formula and salmonella in peanut butter, are still worrisome to many health experts and safety advocates.

(Swine flu, despite its name, is not contracted from food.)

While there are more recalls and known outbreaks as a result of more sophisticated techniques for tracking illness to its source, some incidents have revealed new problems developing in the food supply.

Full Story: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20090511/ZNYT01/905113008/1101/LIVING?Title=Outbreaks-and-recalls-put-worry-on-the-table