By GAP Food Integrity Campaign Director Amanda Hitt appeared in the Bristol Press, Common Dreams, the East Texas Review, the Madison Capital Times, and Marshfield Mail.
In May, E. coli-laden romaine lettuce sickened dozens of Americans in five states, and a food-related listeria outbreak has killed at least two Texans. An endless deluge of foodborne illness outbreaks demands reevaluation of our current food system.
Americans must broaden their evaluation of food safety, however, beyond the finished product, and take the quality of the overall production cycle into account. While outbreaks and hospitalizations grab headlines, there are unseen costs to our current production system. We must start putting a premium on food integrity and reevaluate the entire process – from soil to plate.
Food integrity considers all players involved in the lifecycle of food production – the health and wellness of associated citizens, the environment, and product itself. Safeguarding the process ultimately yields the safe food consumers want.
Foodborne illness sickens over 76 million Americans every year, causing 725,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. One recent Georgetown University study showed that the related costs of these illnesses (medical bills, lost wages, decreased productivity) totals over $152 billon a year.
But the true cost of foodborne illness is far greater. The societal and environmental impacts of food production are themselves a type of “foodborne illness” that sickens habitats and communities. These costs must be accounted for.
Waste and contaminants from industrialized “factory farms” endanger our fragile ecosystem and place us all at avoidable health risks. Consider concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, which are largely responsible for the low cost of meat, dairy, and poultry. These facilities lower production costs by cramming animals into small spaces and enhancing animal growth to expedite the time between birth and slaughter. Chicken CAFOs hold over 20,000 animals in extremely confined areas with little room to move, and without access to the outdoors. Numerous whistleblowers report these animals are subjected to further inhumane handling, which leads to wholly preventable, but serious, contamination.
Furthermore, CAFOs assault the rural environments in which they operate. Animal waste pollutes neighboring streams, poisoning wells and drinking water. Priceless natural resources end up sickening neighboring residents. Byproduct is teeming with harmful bacteria – E. coli, cryptosporidium and listeria – the same bacteria which often contaminate ground beef. Given these impacts, no product distributed from these types of facilities should ever truly be considered “safe food” when it gets to your table.
Worker rights are also essential for safeguarding public health. The food industry routinely exploits laborers, paying unconscionably low wages for dangerous duties. Often migrant workers find themselves in the untenable position of safeguarding the nation’s food supply, yet have no rights to speak out. If these workers witness gross violations and wishes to come forward, they risks not only their family’s welfare, but possible deportation. Even though these workers are often the only ones in positions to protect us, it’s easy to see why the vast majority of them choose to keep quiet.
The problems go on. Industry regulators, silenced by corporate influence on government, go unheard. Citizen activists, crushed by industry giants, are powerless to confront agribusiness polluting the water and soil. The current system is failing.
It’s not surprising that the food system has evolved to this. Shoppers want inexpensive, convenient food. The industry is responding to consumer demand, and agribusiness is providing food products at historically low prices. Make no mistake, though. Today’s savings come at tomorrow’s health costs.
It’s been roughly 100 years since Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle brought about the advent of many of our modern food safety reforms. Contrary to popular belief, that groundbreaking work was written as an exposé of the plight of the American food worker – not as a way to establish food safety reforms. When asked about the food safety laws created as a result of his book, Sinclair said “I aimed for their hearts. I got their stomachs instead.” He was advocating food integrity. It’s time for Americans to revisit, and demand, his original intent.
Amanda Hitt is the Food Integrity Campaign Director of the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization based in Washington, D.C. www.whistleblower.org