Lettuce, eggs, tomatoes, sprouts. These health foods shouldn't make your stomach turn, but according to a new report, they are among the 10 riskiest foods regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That's because they're associated with a high percentage of the tainted-food scandals that have sickened people in this country over the past two decades. The 10 foods in the Center for Science in the Public Interest report accounted for 40 percent of foodborne outbreaks since 1990.
One solution? Go organic. While no farmer is completely immune to tainted food outbreaks, organic food production and distribution is more tightly tracked and regulated than other system, giving organic consumers more peace of mind. Buying whole foods locally also cuts down on the number of opportunities for contamination to occur, such as in processing and packaging plants. "The biggest problems in agriculture are industrial production practices that have turned food into a commodity, and divorced a food product from human care and management," says Greg Bowman, editor of the Rodale Institute's New Farm publication, which promotes organic, sustainable agriculture.
Read on for the top 10 "riskiest foods," but don't be intimidated into not eating them. Heed our advice for lowering your risk, and try the recipes we suggest.
Thanks for the heads up/. I guess we never used to think that could happen. But it sure does happen which is really to bad. So just might have to grow our own or go organic. But as I happen to have a black thumb. Just glad the store sells organic food. M
This was a disgusting advertorial disguised as an article. Thought the article is correct in that there are benefits to eating locally grown or home grown food, primarily taste and cost, the statement that organic food is safer and healthier than conventionally grown food is absurd. The two main culprits for food based illness are e.coli and salmonella, both found in animal feces and your kitchen sink/wash cloth. Organic farming relies heavily on using manure, both animal and human, for fertilizer where as conventional farming relies primarily on synthetic fertilizer. Several of the most recent e.coli outbreaks have been tied to organic food production and linked to feces contamination. Salmonella is a very common bacteria and is most likely to be spread by poor cleanliness on account of the consumer in their own kitchens. Keep in mind that every chemical, antibiotic, hormone and so on undergo a rigorous registration process and are under constant scrutiny by regulatory bodies around the world, where as the "organic" industry is largely self regulated in most jurisdictions. It's great to learn about where your food comes from but ingesting self serving dribble like this is not constructive. Ask a people involved in the industry, including your local organic producer, they'll tell you the truth good and bad about your food.
Your local neighborhood farmer,
AO
well---Am I glad I read this article!! ...I will just sit in my house all day & eat NOTHING for the rest of my life....I eat 9 out of 10 things on the list EVERYDAY....talk about becoming paranoid....it's a small wonder how we, as a society even get up in the morning & walk out of our homes.....
between H1N1 & food safety----I am going back to bed.....thanks for that list.....I will go clean out my fridge later....scary stuff.
This article is horrible. Try to say your not scaring people, yet you are using your stats. You can pat yourself on the back for contributing to the Obesity epidemic and pushing people away from healthy foods towards McDonalds. Anyways as for your hilarious "risks" take TUNA for example in this article. 2300 people sick since 1990? ok so what that number over 20 years. so divide this number by 20 thats 115 people per year. take the population of the USA alone being rough estimate of 300 million. divide 115 by 300 million you get approximately a risk odd of 3.83 *10^-7 or a chance of getting sick from TUNA poisoning of 0.000000383. Nice risk. So stop scaring people and get a real job.