BCT Editorial – 7/31/08

This page was last updated on August 2, 2008.

Food poisoning; Editorial; Beaver County Times; July 31, 2008.

Yet another doom and gloom editorial.

Should we have reasonable means in place to inspect and track food? Of course. If the recent experience shows improvements need to be made, that’s fine. We just need to remember no system will be foolproof and there’s a point at which “improvements” no longer help.

While the editorial throws around a lot of numbers, it ignores context. For a country of 300 million, the numbers are small. The CDC estimates 5,000 people die annually from food-related death. The report doesn’t say how many deaths were a result of pathogens introduced in the food chain (farm, packager, etc.) vs. being introduced by the final food preparer or consumer.

“But the industry’s track record speaks for itself.” Yep, we likely have the most plentiful food supply of any country, and likely near the safest if not the safest. Isn’t that what the editorial meant?