Safe Food_ Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism - Marion Nestle [167]
Labeling may be a problem easily solved, but positions on GM foods are unlikely to budge until the benefits of food biotechnology are seen to accrue to the public as well as to the food biotechnology industry.
THE POLITICS OF MICROBIAL FOOD SAFETY: UPDATE
In contrast, since this book first appeared, value-based views of microbial contamination have shifted somewhat toward science-based views as a result of a seemingly unending series of outbreaks and recalls. Microbes continue to account for massive illness in the United States. Although noroviruses remain the leading cause, toxic forms of Salmonella and E. coli get far more attention, perhaps because they cause more serious harm to health and show up in the riskiest foods: meat, poultry, and produce.10
The Politics of Raw
The most prominent examples of recent clashes between science and values are those involving raw foods, particularly milk and oysters.
The Raw Milk Debates. Although dairy foods account for only 3 percent of reported cases of foodborne illness, a whopping 71 percent of those cases are caused by pathogens in raw milk.11 Raw milk creates little dread or outrage in the public, but it enormously distresses health officials. Because pathogens are easily killed by pasteurization, deaths caused by pathogens in raw milk are easily prevented.
Safety scientists are baffled by the raw food movement, whose constituents believe—against all evidence—that raw milk is healthier and safer than pasteurized milk. To read the statements of raw milk advocates is to enter a parallel universe in which the usual standards of scientific judgment are thoroughly discounted. Such views are most prominently expressed by the Weston Price Foundation, named after the author of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (1939). With considerable justification, Price argued that many of today’s chronic diseases could be prevented by avoiding highly processed and refined foods.
The foundation, however, interprets this advice as “avoid pasteurization.” It recommends “raw whole milk from grass-fed cows . . . produced under clean conditions and promptly refrigerated.” One would hope that by “clean conditions” the foundation means a HACCP plan (discussed in chapters 2 and 3), but it does not say so. Instead it says that “natural protective systems can be overwhelmed, and the milk contaminated, in situations conducive to filth and disease. Know your farmer!” Raw milk, it says, contains many antimicrobial and immune-supporting components (but, I would add, so does pasteurized milk). The foundation argues that grass feeding is healthier for cows, as well it may be. But researchers find grass-fed cattle capable of shedding almost as much E. coli O157:H7 as those in feedlots. To the question “Is it safe to consume raw milk?” the FDA’s answer is blunt: “No. Raw milk is inherently dangerous and it should not be consumed by anyone at any time for any purpose.”12
For proponents of raw milk, the issue is not safety; it is values and personal choice. Demand for raw milk is increasing and mail-order sales thrive. Although more than half the states allow raw milk to be sold within their territory, federal rules prohibit shipping of raw milk between states. Mail-order companies can get around this restriction by marketing raw milk as pet food. Raw milk is sold through pet food outlets and also through use of clandestine codes, cash transactions, secret drop-off points, buyers clubs, and cow-sharing programs. Are such programs safe? Although most raw milk does not cause illness, the CDC regularly reports outbreaks caused by pathogens in raw milk. Other values come into play when such pathogens are responsible for the death of a child fed raw milk from a cow share.13 When belief systems are at stake, science-based arguments rarely work. A better strategy might be to legalize raw milk production but regulate its safety. Some raw milk producers voluntarily use HACCP plans. The FDA could require such plans and also require testing for pathogens. But doing so would undoubtedly elicit a level