It seems that every time there is an outbreak of food borne illness, production agriculture is somehow blamed and often even suffers severe financial losses. This is frustrating to producers and those of us in the business of regulating and promoting agriculture because we know the greatest contributors to food borne illnesses are the people who come in contact with food after it leaves the grocery store.
Today I read a report that tells me this trend is actually getting worse. The International Food Information Council Foundation recently released its “2009 Food and Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes Toward Food, Nutrition and Health.”
According to the survey, nearly 40 percent of consumers do not seperate raw meats, poultry and seafood from other foods during preparation and only about half the respondents said they used seperate cutting boards for meats and other foods during preparation.
Perhaps most frustrating was the fact that less than half the people surveyed felt our food supply is safe and wholesome…then again, with their admitted deficiencies in food prepartation, I guess their food supply is at risk.
–Jack Carson
