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Food Illness in the USA

Mike

Well-known member
March 21, 2006
What's lurking in your refrigerator can be a 'serious public health problem,' Cornell professor says
By Sandra Holley
Americans suffer from some 76 million cases of food-borne diseases (FBDs) each year. And some of the associated bacteria can have lasting health consequences, according to Kathryn Boor, Cornell associate professor of food science.

Presenting a public lecture March 15, Boor described how Listeria can cause pregnancy loss and how E. coli O571:H7 has become the leading cause of acute kidney failure in children in the United States.



Robert Barker/University Photography
Kathryn Boor, associate professor of food science, speaks March 15 about the high incidence of food-borne illnesses in this country, which she called a serious health problem. Copyright © Cornell University
And because only one out of four infected people ever seek medical care, "we probably underestimate the burden of food-borne illnesses in the U.S.," said Boor, in the Boyce Thompson Institute auditorium speaking on "What's Lurking in Your Refrigerator: New Tools for Protecting the Safety of Our Food." The talk was hosted by the Cornell Campus Club.

FBDs are a serious public health problem, she said, pointing out that "mad cow" and foot-and-mouth diseases are back in the news in Alabama and Great Britain, respectively, as is E. coli O157:H7 found in raw milk and raw apple juice elsewhere in the United States, including upstate New York.

"All these things tend to make us feel quite anxious about the safety of the food that we eat," reported Boor, who is director of the Food Safety Laboratory at Cornell.

Some of the outbreaks are triggered by people carrying animal-based food products from other countries. That was the case with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the United Kingdom that started when someone brought sausage into the country illegally and fed the scraps to pigs.

International trade, mass production and the demand for lightly processed foods also contribute to FBDs entering the food supply. For example, Americans enjoy exotic fruits and vegetables regardless of the season, such as strawberries in the middle of the winter available in such small towns as Horseheads, N.Y., where Boor grew up.

"And, they are not grown in Chemung County," said Boor. "They are being sourced from all over the world. As a consequence, we are also exposing ourselves to greater opportunities of encountering foods that may have been contaminated, due to the complexity of [food] coming to us from faraway places."
One of the major problems, she said, is recognizing harmful strains of bacteria. There are "good" E. coli and there are "really bad" E. coli, but they all look alike under a microscope. However, even if they share the same name, they may share as little as 70 percent of the same genetic material. That means 30 percent of the genetic material in an organism enables researchers to figure out the good from the bad. Her laboratory, for example, she said, is on the cutting edge of using these genetic differences to tell bacteria apart.

The Cornell Campus Club, a century-old organization, can be contacted through http://www.campusclub.cornell.edu/ or Anita Watkins at [email protected]
 

Jason

Well-known member
Mike have a question for you. How much of the food that people in cities like NY or LA could be grown locally? I don't disagree with these statements, but reality is people want variety and local is impossible in most situations.



Americans enjoy exotic fruits and vegetables regardless of the season, such as strawberries in the middle of the winter available in such small towns as Horseheads, N.Y., where Boor grew up.

"And, they are not grown in Chemung County," said Boor. "They are being sourced from all over the world. As a consequence, we are also exposing ourselves to greater opportunities of encountering foods that may have been contaminated, due to the complexity of [food] coming to us from faraway places."

Right now we have so many tomatoes from dad's garden that we eat them everyday just to try to keep up. When they are gone will we have to eat no tomatoes until next season? How many city people would eat like that?
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Jason, just because you want to maintain your ignorance of the risks of the concentration of our food supply doesn't mean the rest of us have to follow suit.

I hope you enjoy those tomatoes.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Jason, "I don't disagree with these statements, but reality is people want variety and local is impossible in most situations."

It just goes to show that there is a price to be paid for everything.
 

Jason

Well-known member
Can you ankle biters even answer a straight forward question?

I asked can cities like LA or Ny even be fed locally?

I don't believe they can. The food for large cities has to come from a distance. When a society has too many large cities they will be forced to import food.

I agree more local food might be safer, but it is not possible given logistics and consumer desire to have variety even out of season.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Jason said:
Can you ankle biters even answer a straight forward question?

I asked can cities like LA or Ny even be fed locally?

I don't believe they can. The food for large cities has to come from a distance. When a society has too many large cities they will be forced to import food.

I agree more local food might be safer, but it is not possible given logistics and consumer desire to have variety even out of season.

Jason, LA could be fed locally as they are near the breadbasket of the world. NY could be fed more locally than at present. Everything doesn't need to come from central locations or from certain companies that abuse market power to beat competitors.

I didn't answer you because they were dumb questions.

Go figure.
 

Jason

Well-known member
How many people live in LA? All of California has what 50 million people?

How many beef cattle are in California?

Average consumption of beef is about 55 pounds per year per person. That is 2.75 BILLION pounds of beef. Even if you figure the whole carcass weight as edible, and use a 700 pound carcass, that is almost 4 million fed cattle to feed the population of California.

Numbers on a quick google show only 640,000 fed cattle marketed and only 840,000 beef calves born. Granted this was the early 90's but I doubt the numbers have changed much.

The point is California might be able to feed it's population with produce but not with all aspects of a balanced diet. Then what do they do with the extra produce? Right now they ship it off to the rest of the world that wants spinach watered with human waste. :roll:

Go to Montana or Wyoming where they grow cattle, but don't feed many, they can't even feed their less than 1 million population with locally produced food.

The questions were anything but dumb to someone who can think.
 

Bill

Well-known member
Econ101 said:
Jason said:
Can you ankle biters even answer a straight forward question?

I asked can cities like LA or Ny even be fed locally?

I don't believe they can. The food for large cities has to come from a distance. When a society has too many large cities they will be forced to import food.

I agree more local food might be safer, but it is not possible given logistics and consumer desire to have variety even out of season.

Jason, LA could be fed locally as they are near the breadbasket of the world. NY could be fed more locally than at present. Everything doesn't need to come from central locations or from certain companies that abuse market power to beat competitors.

I didn't answer you because they were dumb questions.

Go figure.
LA is near the breadbasket of the world? Maybe you could define locally for us. Do you really believe California can feed its 36 million residents given a limited supply of arable land and more importantly water?
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Listen here, India or China would have many more times of persons living on the same land base and feed them all.
 

Bill

Well-known member
PORKER said:
Listen here, India or China would have many more times of persons living on the same land base and feed them all.
Those two countries citizens are not fed even close to the same per capita amounts and dietary wants as Californians? :roll: Given the increasing standards of living in both China and India, it is doubtful either country will be able to meet their future needs.
 
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