Doug has already posted a couple of comments on this article by Dan Dempster of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, in which Dempster discusses how produce is the safest fresh food group in Canada. What constitutes a fresh food? Are sprouts a fresh food? The U.S. FDA doesn’t really think they are that safe with their standing warning that those who seek to reduce the risk of foodborne illness should not eat raw sprouts.
Dempster implies that he doesn’t believe the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)’s estimation that 11-13 million Canadians get sick from foodborne illness each year. Nelson Fok wrote a great article discussing the estimation, which Mr. Dempster over-simplified with his comments. But PHAC isn’t the only authority who has come up with that estimate. CDC, WHO and the Australian government also support the estimates that close to a third of developed countries’ citizens get the runs and puke from food each year.
While Dempster plays down the FBI statistics, he forgets to mention one that I like to use — the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affair (OMAFRA) Food Safety Science Unit (FSSU) estimates that 41 per cent of foodborne illness in Ontario can be attributed to produce. This exceeds every other food group including meat, fish, dairy and eggs. So is produce the safest thing you can eat in other parts of Canada, just not Ontario?
A 2004 baseline study conducted also by OMAFRA suggested that the ministry found fairly high(1).jpg)
levels of E. coli at a fairly high prevalence on domestically grown leafy commodities, which as they put it "is a concern". E.coli may not be the greatest indicator of the presence of pathogens, but it’s data.
It’s easy to pick apart Dempster’s article as a marketing puff piece and it’s a shame that was the direction he took. Mr. Dempster had a real opportunity to acknowledge the risks associated with fresh fruits and vegetables and focus on what the produce industry is trying to implement to address them — because they are doing good things. The Canadian Hort Council has been working on guidelines and developing audit schemes, and pushing for changing practices and verifying them. We’ve worked with producers in Ontario for the past decade on doing just this. If data exists on how producers are doing, and why food safety is so important to them, make it public.
Industry typically shies away from talking about risks with their consumers — feeling, I think, that if they discuss how they are managing risks they are highlighting potential negatives of their products. This goes against everything in risk communication research – the important part is proactively talking about what you are doing before you end up in crisis. When the next produce outbreak hits, it’s too late. Dan, the headline of your article appearing in the Calgary Herald says that "Fruits, veggies don’t deserve a bad rap" and you never addressed the most important part — why.
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for more info check out these links:
Foodborne illness estimates:
WHO: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs237/en/print.html
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol5no5/mead.htm
Australia: http://www.ozfoodnet.org.au/internet/ozfoodnet/publishing.nsf/Content/7F6D9DE21AB6F102CA2571650027861F/$File/cost-foodborne.pdf
Canada: www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/consultation/blueprint_food-plan_aliments/rmsfn-smran_e.html#12
OMAFRA illness estimates:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/food/inspection/fruitveg/min_process/mp02_background.pdf
OMAFRA microbiological baseline video:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/crifs/GFSS05/L.A.feb9.mov