Posted: Thursday, August 2, 2007 12:00 am
The latest food scare calls attention to at least a couple of points:
• We have become so accustomed to general food safety that we don't worry about it. That's a testimony to all the people taking part in the process of feeding this country - the producers, the distributors, the retailers, and the inspectors and regulators too. We may suspect that some of the ingredients are not the best for long-term health. But as a rule, we don't get sick from consuming anything we get at a store.
• But this episode of recalling millions of canned products of one company also reminds us that the system is vulnerable. It points out the disquieting fact that average consumers have no idea at all about where their food originated or how it was prepared. For anyone concerned about this, one answer is to buy mostly fresh ingredients, wash them well, and cook or otherwise prepare the various components of meals from scratch.
If the occasional scare causes people to do more of that, inconvenient though it may be, they might be better off in the end. (hh)