Food, "Glorious (but tainted)," Food

How much longer will it be before we read another story about tainted food reaching the shores of the USA from China.

First it was tainted pet food--a crisis that sent many household critters to their early demise while frustrating and infuriating their owners. Numerous and costly veterinarian bills and countless tears were the result of this disaster. Still, it didn't seem to be enough to stop even more contamination from reaching our dinner tables.

As time progressed it was pesticides and now mercury contamination of fish products from China that again has the USA in turmoil.

The underlying question is, "Can we depend on trading partners, such as China, to provide us safe food substances?" Each day and each story indicates that the answer to that question might very well be a resounding "NO."

I have often felt that one of the primary locations for terrorists to attack the USA was through its food and water supplies. I don't believe China is a terrorist-sponsoring nation, but these exported food substances are creating terrorist style results.

We are a nation that might be the best fed in the world. We dedicate massive amounts of money to the construction of restaurants and huge grocery stores that offer a wealth of choices for our diet. Typical American cuisine is on the menu, yes, but so are many foreign dishes have become addictive to our palates.

The addition of these foreign dishes to our menus brings the need for some foreign food substances. And this leaves us at the mercy of those that can provide these items. We have been taught to believe that our government can protect us from unsafe items--and in all fairness its safe to say the Food and Drug Administration does just that.

Still, we might be asking for a superhuman effort to keep all tainted items out of our food supply. Case in point. Even in situations where food supplies have not been considered unsafe, tragic outcomes have resulted from unsafe food preparation and deliveries.

E coli, the digestive system disturbance that typically indicates food contamination, has seen a 50 percent increase while Vibrio infections--associated with shellfish--has increased nearly 80 percent.

I guess its time we become a bit more discreet in the selection of food sources for our dinner table. And while I will admit that the Chinese and other nations aren't necessarily trying to terrorize our food supplies, I will continue to wonder how safe that supply really is.