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News Tue Jul 10 2007
The New Jungle
It's been a weird year for food safety. A banner year, perhaps, if you're an FDA employee and get your kicks from getting your hands dirty and protecting the public. But a disturbing year if you're, you know, everyone else. From tainted pet food and the quiet horrors of unwittingly endangering man's best friend, to e. coli ridden spinach and salmonella-laced peanut butter, more than a few consumers are entering grocery stores on their own new level of orange alert.
Looking back to the source of these nasties' introduction into our American cornucopia, NPR's All Things Considered recently spent some time with Gurnee, IL wholesaler Woodland Farms to talk about food imports and the new safety obsession. (Read the whole story here and be comforted that some suppliers still hold themselves to the highest standards.) While the nightmare landscape of Upton Sinclair may no longer be the backdrop of American food production, we are most certainly hacking our way through a new jungle of imports, additives and biological abuses at the most microscopic level. Happy hunting.