How Safe Is Your Food: Healthy Eating A Guide To The New Nutrition

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

How safe is your food?

Aside from being nutritious, healthy foods must also be safe — untainted by bacteria, free from dangerous levels of pesticides and other impurities. Concerns about food safety have grown stronger and more far-reaching. Headlines warn of contaminated beef, toxic pesticides, and potential hazards from genetically engineered foods.

Modern farming and food processing methods have done a great job of making more food available. But these methods have created safety issues. Efforts to maximize yield have led to greater use of pesticides on crops and hormones in animals. The crowded animal pens of factory farms and the large-scale assembly-line nature of slaughterhouses and food processing plants have increased the spread of dangerous bacteria in food. Farmers' routine addition of antibiotics to animal feed has given rise to bacteria that are resistant to treatment with medications.

In truth, our food supply is reasonably safe, but it could be safer. The government is working with farmers and slaughterhouses to take greater precautions against the spread of germs. Organic farming and other strategies are beginning to reduce the need for synthetic toxic pesticides. Meanwhile, there are steps you can take in selecting, handling, and storing food to minimize safety problems.

Last updated:	January 23, 2007