Is There a Need to Panic?

Food contamination is viable issue for citizen’s to be concerned about since it could easily affect the food they bring home from the grocery store. The recent food scare has been with tomatoes and the rare form of salmonella that has been caused by these infected fruits. Unforgettably, there have been several food scares in the past few years including peanut butter and spinach, but does this mean that the government is not doing enough to protect us?

The editorial entitled, Now It's Tomatoes, criticizes the Bush Administration and blatantly states “they haven’t done nearly enough”. In addressing concerned citizens this article does mention the high degree of precaution being taken by food suppliers when problems like this do arise but this author’s main concern is that this is a reoccurring problem. It’s hard to place the blame on those in Washington because there is such a vast array of other issues that need to be addressed as well, the war in Iraq being one of main focus. Food poisoning is definitely an important issue and one that the public should be aware of though not one that government needs to immediately focus on because there are bigger issues that need priority. With only about 160 people falling ill out of a country of millions this clearly is not an epidemic that is affecting a majority of our food supply. It is a valid argument to desire more funding for the Food and Drug Administration, which could potentially prevent future food contamination. However, with so many other problems currently facing our nation, it is neither likely nor necessary that this problem be given the government’s full attention.

There are many ways to address this issue, including the creation of a “trace-back system” like the editorial noted. Solutions like this, however, cannot be expected to be implemented immediately or ensure the prevention of all types of food contamination. We have to expect that even with increased inspection, contaminated food will go unnoticed every once in a while because the mass of food being shipped all over the country is just too large to be scrutinized. Though the process is slow moving, the increased funding to the Food and Drug Administration is a first step as well as the continual awareness and warning about the potentially harmful foods already in circulation. Despite the reoccurrences of food contamination recently, the government is concerned with the publics safety and would take more drastic measures if the problem became out of control.