A perspective: E-Coli, Pesticides & Other Spectacular Food News!

As I was making my usual Monday morning run south from home on the North Coast to work in the East Bay, I couldn’t help but marvel at how many drivers are so out-of-touch with their environment. On southbound 101, a vehicle is driving 50 mph in the left lane. This driver was on a cell phone while applying make-up with the other hand, oblivious to the fact that many cars were behind her, each leaving about 5 feet of space between bumpers. Just south of Santa Rosa, traffic slows to a crawl. It is early morning so I assume there must be too many cars for the road surface provided. As I make my way, I pass the make-up applier with her attention totally devoted to a car wreck on the OTHER SIDE of the freeway. No traffic, just a slowdown to catch a glimpse of the carnage in the northbound lanes. Then, we pick up speed and my make-up artist friend resumes her position in the left lane.

So, what does this have to do with the topic? Food safety, like safe driving, is a boring topic and only gets peoples’ attention when something goes spectacularly wrong! The E-coli outbreak in Germany from an organic farm with more than a score of people dying and the sickening of thousands of others is spectacular! The recent, irresponsible reporting that has come out of the “worst fruits to eat” genre has generated a spectacle around pesticides and their use. A food manufacturer introduces a new line of delicious, easy to prepare vegetables with a variety of flavor choices – not so spectacular.

Let’s get real. The unabated use of antibiotics, combined with nature’s skill at adapting to new environments, means we will always be challenged with new strains of E-coli and his brothers. This is serious business. The technology today allows us to find pesticides and other trace contaminants at levels unheard of even five years ago. So, the fact that there might be 1 part per billion of some pesticide in an average apple (organic or not) weighing 150 grams (about 5 oz.) seems to be spectacular news. Not to us.

One follow-on article said that food safety in this country is a major issue, indicating that 5000 people or one every two hours dies from food poisoning. We agree since the consequences of bad food can be deadly. But let’s keep this issue in perspective. In 2009 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 33,800 traffic fatalities. Let’s see …that would be 3.8 every hour, almost eight times the rate of food related deaths. And this was the lowest rate in five years! The American Cancer Society estimated that U.S. cancer deaths in 2009 were 562,000. Let’s see… that would be about 64 every hour or 128 times the rate of food related deaths.

Nobody’s death from unnatural causes should be acceptable. But between driving, eating and other “risky” human habits, like smoking and not exercising, I’ll take the food safety risk any day of the week because it so boring! Let’s keep it that way!

-Kevin Buck