This afternoon, Vice President Joe Biden, Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the findings of President Barack Obama's Food Safety Working Group that was created in March after the salmonella outbreak. For those of you who missed it, the peanut recall was the largest food recall in U.S. history and sickened more than 700 people in 46 states. The administration also created a new post of deputy food commissioner whose charge it will be to coordinate safety during future outbreaks.
According to a statement released by the White House, "The Working Group is recommending a new public health-focused approach to food safety based on three core principles: prioritizing prevention, strengthening surveillance and enforcement, and improving response and recovery."
As with all things, prevention is the best cure. While many efforts are being made to identify and remove contaminated products, some research indicates that we can altogether avoid the E. coli problem by altering what is fed to cattle.
A study by Cornell University researcher James B. Russel found that grass-fed animals have 80% less E. coli than those fed grains. What is more, it turns out that the strains of E. coli which grow inside of corn-fed cattle are extremely acid resistant and make it through human stomachs intact. These findings were later confirmed by the University of Nebraska and can be found in the 2000 Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports.
Well here we are halfway to 2010 with several more outbreaks under our belts and still the media is presenting the issue as a big mystery. If you are like me, you probably aren't feeling too comforted by the proposal of yet another federal agency "looking into the matter." So here's what you can do right now to protect yourself and your family from E. coli and other nasty critters in your food.
1. Use caution when purchasing ground beef. Choose your cuts at the grocer and have them grind it for you on the spot. Also, don't be fooled by stickers that say "fresh ground." What that means is that the grocer has purchased frozen ground beef and then grinded it again "fresh" before they put it out on the shelf.
2. Look for beef that comes from grass-fed cattle. If you just can't find the space in your pocketbook, you can buy beef from "grass-finished" cattle. Turns out that putting them back out to pasture for the last two weeks greatly reduces the levels of E. coli in the meat. If it is still looking like you can't afford it, you may wish to reconsider your portion sizes. Most Americans eat 2 - 3 times the amount of meat than is appropriate for a meal, so if you cut your 8 - 12 ounce portion down to 4 - 6 ounces, you will find higher quality products to be much more affordable.
3. Support local farmers. Sometimes consumers feel that a smaller, less well-known name means that that a product isn't as safe. This is not necessarily the case. In many instances, smaller operations have an easier time meeting food safety standards because there aren't as many points in the production process where things can go wrong.
In tough times it is very tempting to try to scrimp and save on your food, but try to keep in mind that without your health nothing else really matters. With food, just as with everything else in life, when you purchase the cheapest thing you can find on the market, you can rest assured that you get what you paid for.
For those of you that are interested in learning more about the inner workings of the food industry, I would highly recommend you go see Food, Inc., which is out now in theaters. Here is a link to the trailer.
