It's Raining...So It Must Be Time For Another Food Recall!

It's not April Fool's Day or Groundhog Day and no, you're not dreaming. The theme du jour is food contamination and it's happened yet again. In America...in the year 2009, no less. The nasty prize that consumers across the country may have won (if they dared to eat Nestle cookie dough straight from the package) is the threat of E. coli. Ohhhhh, that again? This recall is serious business -- we're talking 300,000 potentially contaminated cases of cookie dough -- and 29 states have already reported sickened victims experiencing the typical tell-tale signs of the bacterial illness, including vomiting, stomach pain, dehydration, bloody diarrhea, fever and possible kidney failure. One might hope that we've advanced since 2008, where in just the last 4 months alone, the U.S. went on record as having 56 food recalls, 10 of which were due to the same nasty E.coli bacteria above. Amazingly, there have already been 5 beef-related E.coli recalls since the beginning of 2009, so it doesn't really look like we're in any better shape.

Let's review some of the most newsworthy contaminated edibles in recent history, shall we? 

• Peanuts and Peanut Related Products
• Peppers
• Beef...beef...beef...beef...and beeeeeeeef
• Tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Pistachios
• Sprouts

And those are just the highlights, folks. Should we be cautiously optimistic that our government quite recently decided to work on revamping our chronically flawed food safety system and -- specifically -- the responsibilities of the FDA? Don't jump up and down for joy just yet...there's no set timetable in place. Nevertheless, Reuter's reports that the FDA's regulatory authority will expand and that it will work in conjunction with major food producers to elevate safety requirements in our food supply. As it stands, "many facilities can go several years without being inspected" but the new proposal would require that "inspections take place every six to 12 months at high-risk facilities and between 18 months and three years for those deemed to be at lower risk." The Associated Press adds that the FDA plans "to focus on the riskiest foods and implement prevention strategies - what scientists call risk-based controls - to target the spots along the farm-to-store chain where contamination can occur."

Even though foodborne illness outbreaks are in the mainstream consciousness and with each passing month, we seem to add a new ostracized food to the list of untouchables, how many people take the information to heart? Get ready for this --Rutgers Food Policy Institute launched a study at the end of 2008, concluding that 40% of those interviewed felt that "food recalls just (didn't) apply to them." Instead of returning questionable food to a retailer or choosing to dispose of it, a surprising amount of people admitted crossing their fingers and eating it anyway. Greenwalas, I beseech you to share your perspective on this matter. Are you freaked out by our incessant food recalls or do you shrug your shoulders and hope for the best? Has this regular phenomenon desensitized you or has it prompted you to completely change your diet and the way you source the food you eat? Has your faith in our governmental regulatory agencies been shaken to the point of no return?