| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010 6:36 am |
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Editorials 
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Food safety should be higher on U.S. menu A town hall question to the presidential candidates: What will you do to ensure food safety in this era of fatal E. Coli outbreaks and melamine contamination? What will you do to make the FDA and USDA more effective?Where are we now? A New Jersey company is recalling a yogurt-type drink from China called "Blue Cat Flavor Drink" after FDA testing found melamine. This latest discovery coincides with new rules that went into effect this month requiring "country of origin" labels for fresh meat and produce. Alas, there are loopholes. Since "Blue Cat Flavor Drink" is a processed food product, it doesn't fall under the labeling requirement. (In this case, however, the product's own label, the one that says "Blue Cat Flavor Drink" should be enough warning to stay away.) Foods requiring a label include most cuts of beef, lamb, chicken, goat and pork and their ground-meat versions; perishable agricultural products like fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables and macadamia nuts, pecans and peanuts. But the minute any of those foods are mixed together or altered (like through roasting), they are considered "processed" and are excluded from the labeling requirements. Salad mixes that contain more than one kind of lettuce are excluded, as are bacon, "organ meats," marinated meats, etc. Consumers fending for themselves need to remember that just because a food product doesn't have a label, it's incorrect to assume it's a product of the United States. It's also important to remember that the "country of origin" of certain food culprits causing recent E. Coli outbreaks, such as spinach and lettuce, was the United States. In China, the melamine-tainted baby formula has sickened 54,000 children, mainly with kidney problems, and is blamed for the deaths of at least four. Meanwhile, the FDA reassured Americans that eating a miniscule amount of melamine -- 2.5 parts per million -- would not raise health concerns, even if a person ate food every day that was tainted with the chemical. FDA officials also stressed that their "risk assessment" does not mean U.S. authorities will condone foods deliberately spiked with the chemical. Again, that is supposed to be reassuring. Considering the pet food recall last year, and the current sick and dying Chinese children, it's evident that some food suppliers in China deliberately spike products with melamine and who knows what else. What preventive steps should we take as we import more and more food? Like our food safety measures, the "country of origin" labels are entirely inadequate. Just as ingredient labels are dangerously incomplete -- since they don't list such "additives" as melamine, let alone which country the melamine came from. |
- Woman still in critical condition after Monday crash on Highway 9
- Cut through solid-white lines and it could cost you $411
- Study: Boeing tanker seen as big job producer
- County to pay builders $1.7 million to settle suits
- Marysville girl on bike in critical condition after struck by car
- Lawmakers act to roll back state ferry workers' travel perk
- Fugitive charged in toddler's slaying accused of robbery
- Mariner notes
- Special session likely to finish budget, tax increase
- Everett man pleads guilty to murder on Tulalip reservation
- Cut through solid-white lines and it could cost you $411
(22) - Tulalip man accused in a toddler's death is a no-show (19)
- Special session likely to finish budget, tax increase (12)
- Woman still in critical condition after Monday crash on Highway 9 (11)
- Fugitive charged in toddler's slaying accused of robbery (11)
- County to pay builders $1.7 million to settle suits (10)
- Marysville girl on bike in critical condition after struck by car (8)
- Bill passes making cell phones, texting while driving primary offense (6)
- Wanted: Downtown Everett renters (5)
- Community Transit cuts will hurt; just ask a rider like Crystal (5)
- Meadowdale boys refuse to fold, but rally falls short in 3A state opener
- Prairie’s zone defense stymies Lynnwood at Class 3A state girls basketball tournament
- Ellensburg takes it to Archbishop Murphy girls at 2A tourney
- Beyond the ‘Woodstock Generation'
- Magical run for Jackson
- Schools, public debate budget cutting ideas
- Farrand watercolors on exhibit at MLT library
- FD1, FD7 could merge
- Boeing to Offer NewGen Tanker to US Air Force
- New CEO at Valley General Hospital
- Dan Koffman's ‘TopSpin' marketing astounds, inspires, motivates, produces — just for starters
- Economic forecasts for Snohomish County, Everett, Marysville offer some bright moments
- Government officials influencing home prices
- Massive EPA energy regulations meet challenge
- Washington state healthcare reforms also needed
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