… and the kitchen is the last line of defense. Yet groups like FightBac in the U.S. and something called the Food Safety Information Society in Alberta continue to focus exclusively on the kitchen.

The Alberta group today issued a press release today to tell consumers that "what you don’t know about produce can harm you," provided a bunch of tips about washing and handling, and concluded by saying, "if bacteria have been absorbed by the vegetables, washing will not eliminate them."

These groups need to go beyond the consumer-only focus to a true farm-to-fork food safety system, or at least follow the advice of the World Heath Organization which also recommends using safe water and raw materials — in other words, source food from safe sources.