Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Check Your Food-Risk Rating
WE ALL WANT to be healthy. What we eat is important to how we feel and how long we live. The nutritional value of our food is one important aspect. The food's safety is another. The more we can avoid illness-causing organisms, toxic chemicals, and such other dangerous substances in our breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the better it is for us.
Can't we just eat the most nutritious food? Unfortunately, food safety and nutrition do not always agree. The "healthiest" fruits and vegetables, grains, and fish are not always the safest from microbes or from drug or pesticide residues. In fact, at times it can become a trade-off between nutrients and the safety of what we eat. Nor can we just rely on eating organic, locally produced , or sustainably produced food. Yes, often they are a better choice. But not always. Nor will buying the most expensive item give us any safety guarantees. In fact, in some cases it can be the reverse: Many upmarket food retailers, which pride themselves on the wholesomeness of what they sell, issue constant product recalls because of contamination. There are also times that we can make an inexpensive type of food just as safe as the expensive one — if we know how to.
The large majority of food hazards are in our foods before we buy them. They have probably entered at the farm, the slaughterhouse, the warehouse, the truck, or the retailer. It has been estimated that maybe four-fifths of food contaminants enter at the farm, or soon afterward, and the final fifth enter during processing. Smart purchasing decisions will help us choose the least risky foods available. In our own kitchens, we can either increase the risks that are already there, or reduce any existing risks — if we know how to.
Spoiled food is not always the same as unsafe food. "Bad food" may have started out safe, and often looks and smells the same as it always does. The riskiest food could be the one you least expect. Will it be your salad? your shrimp dish? your sushi? your French fries? your rice bran? your peanut snack? your hamburger? your tuna sandwich? The food that is riskiest today is often different from the one that was unsafe fifty years ago, two years ago — or even yesterday. So you can't always rely on what your mother told you. Or on that book you read ten years ago. Food risk is a moving target.
Naturally, the government tells us that our food is safe. What else could it say? In the United States, the statement is usually carefully phrased along the lines of: "The American food supply is one of the safest in the world" or "Our food supply continues to be among the safest in the world." But it is estimated that one in four Americans become ill from their food every year — perhaps closer to one in two, if you count all those misdiagnosed and unreported cases and all those milder cases for which we never see a doctor. The situation in Canada is similar.
Food-borne illness, a.k.a. food poisoning, is only the tip of the iceberg. It is now recognized that around 2 percent of victims of short bouts may end up with chronic health conditions. Research is looking into links between certain types of food-borne illness and those common diseases and health conditions many of us suffer from at some point in our life, ones such as arthritis, thyroid problems, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, rheumatic heart disease, multiple sclerosis, kidney problems, and diabetes.
SALMONELLA EVERYWHERE
Salmonella infection (properly known as salmonellosis) is one of our most common food-borne illnesses. It seems that every time we turn around, Salmonellabacteria are there, contaminating one of our foods — our leafy greens, our tomatoes, our peppers, our meat, our eggs, our dairy, our baked goods, our peanuts and tree nuts, and even our spices. Remember the nationwide recall of half a billion shell eggs in August 2010? That was caused by Salmonella bacteria. What is happening?
There are a number of reasons that this is turning into such a problem. One is that we are not just seeing one kind of Salmonella but several subspecies and thousands of serovars (strains), many of which can make us ill. In fact, they have probably been causing illness for thousands of years. Two strains, Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium, are the most common in the United States and account for half of all Salmonella infections in humans. Another reason we are seeing so many of them in our food is that Salmonella bacteria are everywhere in nature (in soil, water, plants, and animals) as well as in many of our food-processing plants. So it would be surprising if they did not get into our food. Salmonella travels around — from animals to the soil, from soil to plants, from plants back to animals.
Another reason that Salmonella bacteria turn up so often is that these bacteria are very hardy. They have been known to survive for years in soil and for months in dry places where one wouldn't expect them to. In fact, salmonellosis outbreaks have been linked to a number of fairly dry food products, such as chocolate, powdered milk, black pepper, and desiccated coconut. Even living in pepper, they still multiply. Foods that are contaminated with Salmonella usually look, smell, and taste normal.
It is believed that Salmonella could be causing as many as 1.3 million illnesses every year in the United States. Although Salmonella bacteria are usually not quite as vicious as some E. coli strains, such as E. coli O147 and O145, they can be pretty dangerous — to some people. Symptoms of Salmonella infection are typical of food poisoning. They will usually develop twelve to seventy-two hours after eating contaminated food. Healthy people may just have four to seven days of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps — and may lose as much as ten pounds. Many recover with no treatment at all. But for young children, the elderly, and people with a weakened immune system, an infection by Salmonella can be very serious: The bacteria can invade the bloodstream and infect other parts of their body, such as their heart, kidneys, liver, or brain. Some studies argue that people over age fifty-five seem to be most seriously affected by Salmonella, and end up in the hospital.
What most people are not aware of is, once their bout with salmonellosis appears to be over, it may not be over. For a small percentage of individuals (much higher among those who have had a serious episode), there can be longer-term health complications. Also, some people who recover from a salmonella infection can also become carriers of the bacteria, without any symptoms. If they are food-service workers and are not scrupulously sanitary in their practices, they could contribute to all those salmonellosis outbreaks.
On top of all the cases of "food poisoning" that grab the headlines, we also have an unseen longer-term accumulation of foodassociated risks — occurring without any sudden bout of illness involved. These risks tend to be related to devious agricultural and industrial pollutants that add to our body burden of toxic substances, meal after meal. It could be that those tiny regular doses of toxic substances, such as certain pesticides, dioxins, PCBs, arsenic, and mercury, are contributing to many of our worst diseases and most mysterious syndromes, including cancer, Alzheimer's, fibromyalgia, ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder — see sidebar), autism, Asperger's syndrome, Reye's syndrome, and many others. Some studies and experts argue that there is a link. Others disagree. We don't have final answers yet. What we do know is that Americans — and a large number of American children — have the world's highest body burden of some of these toxic substances.
ARE PESTICIDES CONTRIBUTING TO ADHD?
ADHD is a common medical condition that may affect as many as one in twenty children in the United States, and many adults. Symptoms of ADHD include hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. The disorder has enormous social and economic costs to families and society.
We are still not quite sure what causes ADHD. Ongoing research is looking into genetic causes; abnormal brain development; allergies ; premature birth; the mother's use of cigarettes, alcohol or drugs; lead exposure; and sugar and food additives in the diet of the children themselves. Now there is new evidence that pesticides may also be playing a role.
A research study reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (May 17, 2010), found a positive association between body levels of organophosphates — a general name for insecticides commonly used on fruits and vegetables — and ADHD in American children ages eight to fifteen. This was a well-done and reasonably large and representative study, carried out by leading U.S. and Canadian universities. The levels of organophosphates used in the research are quite common among American children. The study concluded that organophosphates may be contributing to ADHD prevalence.
Who is at most risk? "Bad food" does not affect everyone equally. If you are a healthy adult, well armed with an immune system, gastrointestinal tract, liver, and kidneys that are all functioning optimally, your body will be better able to deal with invaders of all kinds. But some people are very vulnerable. A family of four can eat the same contaminated chicken and salad dinner with quite different results. One person may feel just a little "off" and tired for a couple of days, another may come down with moderate gastrointestinal symptoms, and two may end up in the hospital. Also, with certain food hazards, if you just take antacids, or a certain antibiotic, or have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, your vulnerability can increase substantially. But usually higher risk is linked to life stage, health, and diet. See "Are You in a High-Risk Group?" to see whether either you, or a member of your family, fall or might fall into a high food-risk category, either now or in the future.
ARE YOU IN A HIGH-RISK GROUP?
People that are most likely to be affected by risky foods usually fall into four main groups, largely based on age and health.
* Infants and young children — because their body and brain are still developing and because they eat a limited range of foods, thus concentrating their risk. In the case of certain toxic substances, they are also likely to pick up larger additional doses from the environment than are adults.
* Pregnant women — who are at greater risk of developing certain food-borne illnesses and whose unborn child is also at risk. Some toxic substances that accumulate in the body can also be passed through breast milk by nursing mothers.
* People with weakened immune systems or chronic health conditions — as in the case of those who have diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS, or another serious illness or condition such as abnormal liver or kidney function or weakened digestive processes. This category also includes those who are taking certain over-the-counter or prescription medications, such as steroids; certain medications to fight autoimmune disease; and drugs given after organ transplant, which can reduce the ability to fight disease.
* Elderly people — because as we age, our body's ability to deal with toxic organisms and substances decreases. Even a mild food-borne illness can have fatal consequences.
If you look at the high-risk groups, you will realize that we all normally fall into at least two of them at some time in our lifetime. Even if you are not currently in a high-risk group, the chances are that you care about someone who is — such as a child, or an ill or elderly relative or partner.
Perhaps I should also mention the obvious issue — diet. Some types of diets are riskier than others, for a variety of reasons. Review yours as you read this book. Note that your risk will be affected not only by what you usually eat, but by its diversity or lack thereof. One issue with many of us these days is habitually consuming just a few foods. If you eat mainly pizza, pasta, and burgers, you are consuming primarily wheat, cheese, tomatoes, and ground meat, and will therefore be more than normally affected by anything toxic in these food items. The same would apply if you dine at the other end of the spectrum, following a raw-food diet. In that case, you may be more vulnerable to common contaminants in raw fruits and vegetables and nuts than is someone who eats a wider variety of foods and eats them cooked. Again, if you have salmon for breakfast every day, and spinach salads just about every night for dinner — as a friend of mine does — your diet may not actually be the safest. My point is, lack of diversity concentrates your risk. It's rather like investing all your money in General Motors, Citibank, and Microsoft. Even though the stocks are in different sectors, they are still just three companies. If General Motors goes under — you may, too.
CHAPTER 2
What Makes Our Food Risky?
NOT EVERYTHING WE eat is equally risky. Some foods and places to eat are more likely to be so than others. But, given the right circumstances, any food can be hazardous to our health — not just our leafy greens or seafood or meat, but even (sadly) our chocolate, soft drinks, and yogurt. Who would have thought that peanuts would be one of our most frightening foods? In recent years there have been incidents of various forms of contamination in such unexpected food items as dry cereal, children's candy, peanut butter, ice pops, popcorn, "pure" bottled water, coffee, pepper, and superhealthy drink mixes.
Four Kinds of Food Hazards
FOOD HAZARDS VARY as well. We tend to think of them in terms of bacteria, such as E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and maybe pesticide residues. We are learning that bacteria are the ultimate survivors — and ruthless opportunists. But there are many other risks. Most, but not all, of the dangers you need to watch for in your food fall into four groups:
• Microorganisms and the toxins they produce: Microbes such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi (molds), can enter our food at any stage between farm and table — in the field, a waterway, in a barn or slaughterhouse; during storage, processing, packing, or transport; at our favorite restaurant or neighborhood store; or inside our own kitchen. All it takes is a little contaminated soil or irrigation water or one tiny slip-up by a farm, warehouse, or food-service worker — or by you or me. It has been estimated that close to half of our raw food is likely to contain small numbers of some dangerous microorganism or other, many of which we have never heard of. Some estimates put it closer to 100 percent. Unluckily for us, those millions of different kinds of microbes are everywhere — in the soil, water, air, on our face and hands, and on our kitchen counter. Some are harmless, but some are very dangerous to our health.
• Toxic industrial and agricultural chemicals: Toxic chemicals are everywhere as well, and it is very difficult to keep them out of our food. Today's farmers and industry are not to blame for many of the worst of these. The group called persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are among the most toxic compounds ever made. They include ones like DDT, aldrin, dieldrin, chlordane, toxaphene, PCBs, hexachlorobenzene, and unintentionally produced toxic wastes such as dioxins and furans. Many POPs are still around, in spite of bans and environmental cleanup attempts, and keep turning up in our food and animal feed — which passes along to our meat and milk and farmed fish. Studies show that we are "eating POPs" in foods such as farmed fish, fatty meat and chicken, and whole-milk dairy foods (see page 14). In addition, we have all those new pollutants that are constantly being produced — plus some naturally occurring metals that can be toxic if we are exposed to too much of them.
• Drugs and hormones: These are given to many of our food animals and our increasingly popular farmed fish. Industrial farming practices have a lot to do with it. Frequently the immediate reason for veterinary drug use is for preventing — not curing — disease, and for enhancing productivity or growth — and profits. Governments and scientists are increasingly concerned that such use of antibiotics is contributing to development of superbugs — those multidrug-resistant bacteria that we all fear. Such bacteria are already turning up in our imported shrimp and in our meat. Although the use of hormones still remains a controversial issue, there are enough unpleasant research findings about them to worry those concerned with food safety.
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Excerpted from "The Safe Food Handbook"
by .
Copyright © 2011 Heli Perrett.
Excerpted by permission of The Experiment Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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