Chapter 1 Is our food safe to eat Food provides you with the energy needed for everything you do and with all the chemicals your body needs to grow to repair damage and to stay healthy When you take a mouthful of food you probably enjoy the taste Depending on what you are eating you might expect your food to be good for you too But what if the food you eat actually makes you sick If food looks or smells bad chances are you won’t eat it but could there be hidden dangers that you cannot detect We generally take it for granted that our food is safe but how safe is it really Worldwide issues As many as 925 million people were suffering from chronic hunger in 2010 according to the United Nations and more than 14,000 children were dying every day from hunger related causes In most developed countries however there is plenty of food What worries many people in these countries is not whether they have enough food but whether the food they do have is safe to eat While some people are anxious that there might These workers are arranging fish sticks into rows at a food processing factory Today much of our food is produced in similar factories 6
be hidden problems with their food others are happy to accept assurances from governments and producers that the food is perfectly safe Strict regulations cover every aspect of food production from growing crops and raising animals through to processing packaging storage and sale There are rigorous standards and officials check that these standards are maintained What are the dangers The potential dangers fall into three main categories Genetic modification GM Is our food safe to eat Expert View After combining the estimates for the major known pathogens and the unspecified agents the CDC concludes that the overall annual estimate of the total burden of disease due to contaminated food consumed in the United States is 47 8 million illnesses 127,839 hospitalizations and 3,037 deaths US Dept of Health Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC website 2011 This scientific technique can be used to produce new foods but despite reassurances from scientists not everybody is convinced that GM foods are safe Chemicals These may be added at various stages of food production and processing and some may not be good for us Microbes Eating food contaminated by some microbes can cause serious illness Ancient to modern Our ancient ancestors lived on whatever food they could find they roamed to hunt animals and to seek out edible plant parts such as fruits berries and nuts Over many thousands of years a gradual change took place People sowed seeds tended plants and harvested crops They domesticated and looked after animals to provide themselves with milk eggs and meat Early farmers Early farmers grew what they and their families or social groups needed relying on native plants and animals that were suited to the environment in which they lived Gradually processes of selection began to occur For example by choosing to plant seed from only the strongest healthiest plants farmers ensured that future generations of plants would be even stronger and healthier 7
Is Our Food Safe They also found ways of storing food so that even in winter when fresh food was scarce there was something to eat Drying smoking salting and pickling all helped to preserve food until it was needed This photograph from 1939 shows a woman sorting peas in her storeroom with the previous year’s preserved fruits and vegetables in jars and cans on the shelves and floor around her Developing societies As societies and civilizations developed farming methods became increasingly organized and sophisticated Explorers and traders brought new foods from distant lands expanding the range of foods available The nineteenth and twentieth centuries were periods of rapid progress Electricity and machinery speeded up many processes previously done by hand while steam ships trains and airplanes reduced journey times Some scientists unraveled the secrets of genetics and inheritance while others investigated chemicals They studied microbes and developed ways of combating them New materials such as plastic were invented and household appliances such as refrigerators and freezers became commonplace Everyday life was transformed 8
FORUM People hold different views about the merits of traditional versus modern farming methods I believe there is a real and prosperous future for the traditional family farm in some cases on a more diversified basis although I know very many farmers have already taken those steps I would be astonished and dismayed if we were to see the disappearance of the traditional family farm Margaret Beckett UK environment secretary 2001 There is a need to continue to intensify farming Organic farming has a place but it will never feed the growing population of the world Bill McKelvey head of the Scottish Agricultural College 2007 Which type of farming do you think offers the best hope for the future Is our food safe to eat Modern changes All these changes have affected the food we eat Small fields have been combined to make large fields suitable for modern agricultural machinery Crop yields have been increased through the use of chemicals Animals are raised in conditions specifically calculated to allow more food to be produced more quickly and in smaller spaces Chemicals are used to improve the look or taste of food and to help it last longer Organisms can now be changed in laboratories in ways that would once have taken many years of selective breeding And global transportation means that we can have fresh food from anywhere in the world at any time of the year Modern science and agriculture together with air transport mean that a wide range of fresh fruit and vegetables from all over the world is available in our supermarkets throughout the year 9
