Food Protection Trends - January 2009 - 12

“perspectives” from your president H appy New Year! I hope that 2009 will be a healthy and prosperous year for ever yone reading this column. For many people, the start of this New Year could not come quickly enough. In many ways, 2008 was a trying year for our societies as a whole for companies supporting IAFP, and for many of the individual members of IAFP. The slow down in the global economy has put a strain on most economies of the world. In many instances, the need to reduce government, academic, or private industry spending is putting extreme pressure on our food safety system. All of this at a time when we seemingly are faced with more food safety challenges than at any time in our history. Hopefully, as budget holders make the tough decisions that they must make, they will remember that there are no shortcuts to providing safe foods. As I reflect back on 2008 and before, from a food safety perspective, I often ask myself “how did we ever survive our grandmothers’ food-handling practices?” I grew up on a farm in hot and humid South Georgia. We always had a cow that provided the unpasteurized milk that we drank everyday and which was used to make the butter that we ate. We grew our own chickens, pigs and cows that provided most of the meat that we ate. We grew our own vegetables that more often than not were fertilized with “organic matter” from our animals. My grandmother was an outstanding cook, and I have many fond memories of the great meals we ate at her house. However, when I think about my food safety training, probably the thing that scared me the most about eating at Grandma’s house was how she handled the food after meals were through. In South By STAN BAILEy PRESIDENT “From a food safety perspective, I often ask myself how did we ever survive our grandmothers’ food-handling practices?” Georgia, the meal that most of us now know as lunch (middle of the day) was called dinner. Every day Grandma would cook at least two meats and three or four vegetables along with a big bowl of biscuits for dinner. After we had eaten, we would clear the table of our dirty dinner plates and then Grandma would fold the tablecloth up over the food and leave it until we ate supper (night meal that we now refer to as dinner). The “leftovers” were never refrigerated. How did we survive? I believe t h a t we we re j u s t l u c k y. To the best of my knowledge, none of ever got Campylobacter, Listeria, or pathogenic E. coli from the unpasteurized milk we drank or the raw vegetables fertilized with organic materials from our animals that we ate. The thing that saved us from getting sick from all of the unrefrigerated leftovers was that Grandma always cooked everything “well” done and there was little opportunity for cross contamination. I am aware that there is a small, but vocal, group of consumers in the United States and around the world who are advocating returning to consumption of raw milk and locally, organically grown, minimally processed foods. As someone who grew up on a small family farm, I am fully supportive of efforts to support sustainable agriculture in general, and the small farmer in particular. There is nothing better than fresh produce or vegetables that are eaten on the day they are picked, and clearly, buying locally will help reduce the carbon footprint of the food we eat. However, even though many people including myself can say that they have consumed unpasteurized milk with no adverse consequences, I do believe that there is overwhelming epidemiological evidence suggesting that it is irresponsible to allow the sale and consumption of raw, unpasteurized milk. Even as local, small farmers are supported, it is also important to recognize the role that “commercial” farmers and agriculture has played and is playing in feeding the US and world populations. The following facts about US agriculture are 12 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | JANUARY 2009

Food Protection Trends - January 2009

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