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Essayb food safety
Essayb food safety
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Food Safety, Food Safety:
A Briefing Paper for Senator Jones
Dear Senator Jones,
Imagine coming home to discover your child’s dead body. You wonder how this could have happened. Your daughter was always healthy and rarely ever got sick. All of a sudden, you spot the cantaloupes you bought and some pieces remaining in her hand; indeed, after the autopsy it was determined that your child died from tainted cantaloupes. Unfortunately, this was the case for 33 families in 2012 in Colorado. The cantaloupes were not inspected, and were contaminated by listeria, which caused the victims’ deaths. Food safety, the practice necessary to ensure the safety of food, is a major health issue that few Americans think about until someone becomes ill from contaminated food. However, concerns about food safety have grown as society has become more aware of foodborne illnesses. Likewise, the function of government in its citizens’ food consumption has remained a controversy since civilization first came to be. As food is such a necessity for survival, it is clear that government must have some role in inspecting food security to guarantee the viability of citizens. In this briefing, first I will explain the history of this issue, both pros and cons regarding food safety, what actions the government has taken, and lastly I will suggest that the government should not immensely invest in more programs for food safety, rather it should take a different approach and invest more on just the inspections of farms.
One major agency out of many, the U.S Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services (USDA), guarantees the safety and labeling of foods (“Pure Food and Drug Acts, Food and Drug Administration”). ...
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In the documentary, Food Inc., we get an inside look at the secrets and horrors of the food industry. The director, Robert Kenner, argues that most Americans have no idea where their food comes from or what happens to it before they put it in their bodies. To him, this is a major issue and a great danger to society as a whole. One of the conclusions of this documentary is that we should not blindly trust the food companies, and we should ultimately be more concerned with what we are eating and feeding to our children. Through his investigations, he hopes to lift the veil from the hidden world of food.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) is a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, animal foods & feed and veterinary products.
In our fast pace society, we base everything on time and money. This need to save money and time has transformed the way we see food and purchase food. Food is an essential part of all cultures. It plays a role in every person’s life. The population has the power to choose what we eat and how the food industry is shaped. There are many important questions that we need to ask ourselves in order to keep the food industry in check. These questions are: How do we know our food is safe? What should we eat? How should food be distributed? What is good food? These are simple yet difficult questions.
With all the unregulated dietary supplements being sold and recommended, our health insurance costs will continue to rise. If the product causes severe side effects, it should no longer be permitted to be sold in stores. The only way to touch the minds of many people is to inform them of the dangers of consuming dietary supplements. Disposing of all incorrect information in product labeling and ingredient lists is important. People need to recognize the faults that plague many advertisements. In addition businesses should promote safe products instead of the harmful ones that they advocate for. The United States Congress should consider regulating dietary supplements to maintain safety. If people are aware of the many lies companies present, then dietary supplements will be one less problem to worry about.
Meatpacking has become the most dangerous job in America. Unlike poultry plants, in which almost all tasks are performed by machines, most of the work in a slaughterhouse is done by hand. Hazards of the job include injuries from the various machines and knives, strain to the body from poor working conditions, and even methamphetamine use in order to keep up with the production line. Women face the added threat of sexual harassment. This chapter opens with an anecdote about the largest recall of food in the nation’s history. In 1997 approximately 35 million pounds of ground beef was recalled by Hudson Foods because a strain of E Coli was found in the food. However, by the time the beef was recalled, 25 million pounds had already been eaten. Schlosser notes that the nature of food poisoning is changing. Prior to the rise of large meatpacking plants, people would become ill from bad food in small, localized arenas. Now, because meat is distributed all over the nation, an outbreak of food poisoning in one town may indicate nation-wide epidemic. Every day in the United States, 200, 000 people are sickened by a food borne
Wilson, Jacque. "Who is Looking Out for Your Food Safety?." CNN. CNN, 08 Oct 2013. Web. 23 Jan 2014.
On January 4, 2011 President Obama signed into law The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). This law has shed new light on the safety and security of our food supply. The last update to the food safety laws in the United States was in 1938. The food safety modernization act pays special attention at trying to modernize the food safety policies in the United States in hopes to prevent problems and concerns before they happen. As we all know, most of our food comes from overseas or sometimes from your neighboring state. The food products travel by car, truck, airplane, boat, or even train. We are all very happy to be receiving our bananas from Costa Rica and all of our other fresh fruits and vegetables that are imported into the United States, but we never stop to think about what pathogens are contaminating our produce and other foods on the way over and if they are safe for us to eat. In an article by Neal Fortin, he states that the law also gives the FDA new standards to hold imported foods to the domestic food standards and it also encourages the FDA to establish and develo...
In Lee Ann Fisher Baron’s “Junk Science,” she claims that the “food industry with the help of federal regulators” sometimes use “[a science that] bypasses [the] system of peer review. Presented directly to the public by…‘experts’ or ‘activists,’ often with little or no supporting evidence, this ‘junk science’ undermines the ability…[for] everyday consumers to make rational decisions” (921). Yet Americans still have a lot of faith in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to a 2013 Pew Research study, 65% of Americans are “very favorable” or “mostly favorable” of the FDA. When it comes to what people put in their bodies, the FDA has a moral obligation to be truthful and transparent. The bottom line of the FDA’s myriad of responsibilities is to help protect the health of Americans. Deciding what to eat is a critical part of living healthily, and consumers must be able to trust that this massive government agency is informing them properly of the contents of food. While the FDA does an excellent job in many areas, it has flaws in other areas. One of its flaws is allowing the food industry to print food labels that are deceptive, unclear, or simply not true (known as misbranding). This is quite the hot topic because a Google search for “Should I trust food labels” returns well over 20 million results, many of which are blog posts from online writers begging their readers not to trust food labels. HowStuffWorks, a division of Discovery Communications, published an online article whose author claims that “[the food industry] will put what they want on labels. They know the game….” While the food industry is partially at blame for misbranding, the FDA is allowing it to happen. If a mother tells her children that it is oka...
The third weakness is the fact that food tests, inspections, and the detection of contaminants are taken seriously only after an outbreak of some food-borne diseases, food poisoning, or deaths. The increase in the number of food establishments or outlets such as cold stores, hypermarkets, and supermarkets reported by the Public Health Director has also made inspection and control mo...
Food safety is an increasingly important public health issue. Governments all over the world are intensifying their efforts to improve food safety. Food borne illnesses are diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter the body through the ingestion of food. “In industrialized countries, the percentage of people suffering from food borne diseases each year has been reported to be up to 30%. In the United States of America, for example, around 76 million cases of food borne diseases, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year.” (Geneva 2)
The NRA (2008, 2010) states, “Creating a food safety management system will help prevent problems. A crisis-management plan will help manage an outbreak if one happens” (p. 9.1). The initial step would be, for a food service operation to require all food service workers to have a Food Handler’s certification, and anyone in a management position would be required to have a Food Protection Manager’s certification. Then, all employees should be trained in the food service operations Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. The International HACCP Alliance (2014) says, “HACCP is a process control system that identifies where hazards might occur in the food production process and puts into place stringent actions to prevent hazards from occurring”. Armed with their certifications, and a HACCP system in place, all food service workers will know how to safely handle food, and what to do if a breach in the system does occur. Another important step from management would be to make the implementation of all safety and sanitation regulations one of the highest priorities in the food service operation. Supervision should be constant, and consequences should be given, when workers do not meet or exceed the safety standards. Food service workers should know clearly that the safety of the public’s health is their top
Foodborne illnesses which causes vomiting, stomach ache and etc. Is a common problem but usually taken for granted, especially in places where food safety is not properly practiced by the people. This happens because of the lack of knowledge and improper practice of food safety. According to M&M Technologies (2012) “Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illnesses”. And so, the researchers wanted to find ways that can help raise awareness about food safety. They specifically wanted the selected 3rd year