(Disclaimer, I’ve been interviewed by one of the authors several times; and I haven’t read the book – yet. And since I haven’t read it, below is a summary the authors wrote for the Denver Post.)

Jennifer Brown and Michael Booth of the Denver Post write in their new book, Eating Dangerously, that dying from a cantaloupe shouldn’t have to rank high on a person’s list of fears.

Nor should people have to worry that a spinach salad, peanut butter or even an undercooked fast-food cheeseburger might kill them.

The depth of flaws in the food-safety system in this country struck us as we wrote about the melon outbreak tracked to a fourth-generation farm in tiny Holly in southeastern Colorado. How often would you guess federal inspectors had visited the farm prior to the outbreak? Once every few years? Once a year? Try never.

We spent the next year investigating food safety in America, and the result is “Eating Dangerously: Why the Government Can’t Keep Your Food Safe, and How You Can.” Here are 10 issues to consider as you shop and cook for your family.

1. The fox guards the henhouse, all too often: Here’s something the producers of deadly cantaloupes, killer peanut butter and lethal eggs had in common: embossed certificates from third-party auditors, paid by the producers, declaring their production first-rate.

2. If everyone is in charge, is no one in charge? It’s hard to keep track of the mishmash of agencies and responsibilities.

3. If food illness strikes, Colorado is a good place to be. The “CSI” of a food-illness investigation is fascinating, and some states, including Colorado, are fast and efficient, nailing the target within days or weeks. Still, we found that many states and the CDC are reluctant to disclose information even when they know who is at fault.

4. Punishing the perpetrators is rare: Most of the time, food producers are not criminally charged even when people die.

5. The list of foods most likely to cause an outbreak doesn’t include processed chicken nuggets or bags of potato chips. It’s the foods not so far removed from a field of dirt or a barn that are more dangerous, at least in how often they cause outbreaks. Among the most notorious: sprouts, ground meats, peppers, tomatoes and oysters.

6. High-tech help for low-tech foods: Industries that have experienced the expense and heartache of a deadly national outbreak are now some of the leaders in food safety.

7. Chicken is the new ground beef: More consumer watchdogs and legal advocates are challenging why raw chicken is allowed to float in pools of juice laden with salmonella and other pathogens, long after steps were taken to crack down on E. coli in ground beef.

8. The underfunded Food Act.

9. Imported foods take up more and more space in your fridge and cabinets, and even the FDA acknowledges it can’t keep ahead of the tide.

10. Don’t waste worries on spilled GMO milk: You might fear genetically modified foods because you don’t like big corporations, or because you prefer local, smaller farms. But don’t worry about food safety — a solid, international scientific consensus declares them safe for humans. Clear labeling would help eliminate many fears.