Every week, a new food or health-related product seems to be pulled from shelves due to some form of contamination, the most notable for some being the Taylor Farms cyclospora incident about a month or so back. But it is more than just one or two products every few weeks… it is 385 different products as of Sept. 18. More products have been recalled in the last nine months than there are days in one year.
48 products were taken off shelves in January, 37 in February and another 37 in March, 41 in April, a whopping 73 in May, 38 in both June and July separately, 59 in August and 14 so far in September, according to the Food Industry Council LLC. There have been two fatalities linked to the cyclospora outbreak this year.
If we have things like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), what is with the recalls? Why does our ice cream have metal in it, and why are they finding E. Coli in our blueberries? It is not because the FDA has suddenly decided to stop caring about its job or is it because it is being defunded by President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The FDA has faced a 3.9% decrease in overall budget, and it has lost about 11.4% in discretionary authority, meaning that it has less ability to use its own judgment to assess situations like these outbreaks and contamination cases.
Some people may believe that this does not matter–that if the FDA is still being funded at all, then we are safe, and that these budget cuts hardly affect United States citizens. Those people are ignoring the fact that less budget means fewer workers, which in turn means fewer eyes making sure that our consumables are safe to even be consumed. Ignorance is bliss until you’re in the ER with salmonella poisoning from broccoli sprouts.
Many people like myself have health anxiety, which makes even the smallest sicknesses sound about as scary as getting your hand chopped off. With word of diseases getting spread from person to person and media outlets having to come out and state that yet another food has been recalled for one thing or another, it begins to feel like a battle to even eat a full meal without getting paranoid that I am going to end up in the hospital because of it.
I think these outbreaks and contamination cases also make it difficult for grocery stores to manage their stock. The big ones will be alright, but the smaller family-owned ones might begin to suffer when millions of people decide to boycott all produce because they did not do their research on the ones that were recalled to begin with. Millions of pounds of food already get wasted each year in the United States alone, but with so many things being recalled, even more is getting thrown away because it cannot be eaten. Buying from farmer’s markets is a great way to continue to get fresh produce, meat and dairy products while supporting your local community at the same time, and is a solid alternative during this time of grocery uncertainty.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to continue to stay properly informed; check the news, read articles and if you ever have any doubt, get checked out by a doctor. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
Nicholas Ackley can be contacted at
nackley@kscequinox.com
