More Food Nonsense
More food hysteria from the Nation: Bad Meat.
None of the recently proposed reforms, however, would prove as important and effective as the creation of an independent food safety agency with tough enforcement powers. The USDA has a dual and conflicting mandate. It's supposed to promote the sale of American meat--and protect consumers from unsafe meat. As long as the USDA has that dual role, consumers must be extremely careful about where they purchase beef, how they handle it and how long they cook it. While many Americans fret about the risks of bioterrorism, a much more immediate threat comes from the all-American meal. Until fundamental changes are made in our food safety system, enjoying your hamburgers medium-rare will remain a form of high-risk behavior.
Ground beef is more of a threat than terrorism? Last I recall, a few thousand people died on 9-11. And regardless of whether or not ground beef that's been sold contains e.coli 0157 h7, you can prevent illness through careful preparation, and cooking your ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
No one wants people to get sick, but do we really want to spend hundreds of millions (if not billions) of tax dollars on preventing illnesses that can be easily prevented through proper food preparation? That's the question, so why isn't this article asking it?
None of the recently proposed reforms, however, would prove as important and effective as the creation of an independent food safety agency with tough enforcement powers. The USDA has a dual and conflicting mandate. It's supposed to promote the sale of American meat--and protect consumers from unsafe meat. As long as the USDA has that dual role, consumers must be extremely careful about where they purchase beef, how they handle it and how long they cook it. While many Americans fret about the risks of bioterrorism, a much more immediate threat comes from the all-American meal. Until fundamental changes are made in our food safety system, enjoying your hamburgers medium-rare will remain a form of high-risk behavior.
Ground beef is more of a threat than terrorism? Last I recall, a few thousand people died on 9-11. And regardless of whether or not ground beef that's been sold contains e.coli 0157 h7, you can prevent illness through careful preparation, and cooking your ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
No one wants people to get sick, but do we really want to spend hundreds of millions (if not billions) of tax dollars on preventing illnesses that can be easily prevented through proper food preparation? That's the question, so why isn't this article asking it?
posted by lonely libertarian at 1:27 AM
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