Recently news sources have focused on the question, “Where does your food come from?” Everyone’s on board with the query. The Topeka, KS evening news ran a local version of the story and our own Manhattan Mercury ran its take on it, too (see “Grocer providing a market for agriculture industry” on July 22, 2007). In the last two weeks Doug has been quoted in the Washington Post, the L.A. Times and twice in USAToday about imported food from China.

I can’t help but wonder if this is like the media induced “Summer of Shark Attacks” or the summer after that when the focus was on high profile kidnappings. In both of those instances it was proven that the number of shark attacks and kidnappings were no higher than normal. The media had simply found a way to highlight specific subjects and heighten American viewers’ concerns on the topic. Are we suddenly so bored that we are shocked that our food comes from global sources when just a few weeks ago we ate without a care that our cereal was composed of ingredients from 9 different countries? Or is there reason to be worried after recent problems with Chinese ingredients in pet food and toothpaste?

From the July 19 USA Today:

While it may be "psychologically comforting to blame others," what the U.S. needs is farm-to-fork food safety, said Douglas Powell, director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University. "Imports are a problem. So is food produced in the U.S. One should not distract from another."

Food, whether it’s of the trendy local variety, or if it comes from around the globe, presents special concerns. No matter its provenance, we need to be vigilant, because every bite we take of uncooked (or improperly cooked and handled food) is an act of faith.