Bacteria become resistant in the gut of the cow and then, if we become sick from that form of bacteria, we can't be treated with the antibiotic because suddenly we're dealing with resistant strains. |
For the industry to step up like this and start the testing program is a very important improvement. But it's critical that USDA ensure that all chicken producers are complying with the same requirements. |
It is far more likely that you will die from a heart attack caused by eating a lot of beef than you would from BSE. |
It is good that they are funding new inspectors for overseas, but they haven't begun to grapple with the fact that they need new inspectors for domestic produce and seafood. |
Kids have a right to safe food in school, and parents have a right to know what goes on in the school cafeteria. Until now, many parents had to jump through hoops to track down inspection reports. Posting these reports in schools and on the Internet will be a powerful incentive for schools to run clean and safe cafeterias. |
Last year, there was a bumper crop of food-borne illnesses from FDA-regulated foods. |
Many more of these plants should be considered failures. |
Physician-education material like this is a long time coming. |
Raw meat, poultry and seafood present the greatest risk. However, outbreaks have also been linked to fruits and vegetables. |
The message is not to do away with fish in your diet. What's needed is a shift away from high-mercury species to those with much lower levels. That should be easy to do for most consumers if they had the right information. |
The U.S. has had fire walls in place to protect the cattle population from getting infected with mad cow disease and there are some gaps in these fire walls. |
There are 76 million cases of food-borne illness reported a year, with 5,000 resulting in death. Your risk of dying is low, but your risk of getting sick is one in four. Sickness is very painful and results in doctor visits, lost work and extreme discomfort. |
There's no evidence that there is a risk of getting the influenza from consumption [of fowl]. |
This is not a foolproof system. |
Those who are still concerned despite the extremely low risk can avoid processed meat products, such as hot dogs, because they are more likely to have nervous system tissue, but even those foods have minimal risk. |