The authors begin by discussing large food outbreaks that have caused death and illness, particularly a Listeria outbreak traced back to cantaloupe and a Salmonella outbreak traced back to peanuts. One of the major problems in foodborne illnesses is the lack of government oversight. While most companies do not intentionally sell tainted food, there are so many ways that pathogens can get into food and too little regulations and third party eyes on the food that the chances of an occasional illness-causing product are great.

While I appreciate the research that the authors put into this work, I was not impressed with their arguments for the most part. The idea that we could ever completely eliminate foodborne illnesses is ridiculous. They point out all of the pitfalls of the current system, but don’t offer any solutions in any real way and put all of the solution on the consumer. They do point out some best practices that some companies have adopted, but that is as far as they go.

They also fail to address all of the helpful bacteria that exist in the world and are carried on plants that become food. Something about spraying chemicals on my food to kill all of the bacteria seems a bit wrong to me. They offer suggestions to home cooks about how to treat food that is strict to the point of absurdity. Even if you followed every single step that they recommend, there is still no guarantee that you will eliminate all foodborne illnesses – however, you might end up cooking and cleaning your food until it tastes like soap and rubber.

Colorado Springs Independent, 3/26/14
Eating Dangerously
Michael Booth, Jennifer Brown
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, $24.95, hardcover

Michael Booth and Jennifer Brown are both Denver Post reporters and worked together covering the 2011 listeria outbreak that originated in Colorado cantaloupe and went on to kill 33 people. In Eating Dangerously: Why the Government Can't Keep Your Food Safe ... and How You Can, they make a pretty clear point: Consumers have a role to play in food safety. We may be at the end of the line, but the bright spot here is that there are some actions we can take as consumers to protect the safety of the food we eat. This is a hands-on, "don't eat a pink hamburger" look at the problem foods — ground meat, sprouts, raw milk — and a guide to doing what one can. It's also a good debunker, making clear that local and organic does not necessarily equal "safe." Most of us will get some sort of food-borne illness — there's no such thing as the "stomach flu" — but it doesn't have to be deadly. If, however, you're OCD about your food, this might be TMI. ( )

Where common sense is not enough

Suddenly in the 1980s, government went from being the solution to being the problem. Ronald Reagan slashed and burned, and agencies of the federal government became unable to fully carry out their duties. Over the next 30 years, more and more laws required more and more action on their part, but instead of adding resources, they are continually cut back. This unfunded mandate situation has allowed critics of government to slam the agencies as ineffective, completing the vicious circle. In the realm of food-borne disease, this book examines the results. It details diseases, but also the steps to avoid them on your own, since it is clear government can no longer be counted on.

In Eating Dangerously, a short, intense tour of disease outbreaks of all kinds and from all over makes up the first half of the book. Then, when you’ve been sufficiently beaten up, tenderized, ammoniaed and bleached, the second half examines ways to avoid being killed your groceries.

The problem, and the reason this book should be read and kept around, is that not everything is intuitive. Cooking even ground meats and eggs until they’re 165 degrees F. in the center is beyond common sense. This even goes for deli meats, as grocery slicers are five times more likely to carry pathogens. The one hour limit for leaving produce out on the counter in summer is not intuitive either. Joints in spatulas are one of the five leading locations of pathogens. So is the rubber gasket at the bottom of the blender. A once a week meal is too long for leftovers. (The “five second rule”? Too absurd to even mention.)

With the admonition there is no such disease as stomach flu, the authors then list all the conditions engendered by food-borne pathogens. They seem to produce similar symptoms, mostly gastro-intestinal, but vary in intensity, longevity, and aftereffects. Here again, common sense is not enough, as doctors often miss the diagnosis, and are undecided on the effectiveness of antibiotics for several of the diseases.

And of course government’s role is not intuitive either, as the Food & Drug Administration competes with rather than complements the US Department of Agriculture in (badly) policing the industry. No amount of common sense could determine which is responsible for what.

I would have liked to have seen a chart, showing the outbreaks these agencies have tallied in recent years, to put the size of the problem in perspective. In various stories, the authors tell us that several hundred people were sickened or died from cantaloupe or tomatoes, or spinach, or sprouts. But the range of years is always different, and the geographic area is not always clear. Is it a daily plague, or sporadic? Does it affect millions, or thousands? Even just a map with overlapping circles and colors for the different diseases would have helped. But with that caveat, Eating Dangerously is still a valuable reference in an ever more complicated world.

David Wineberg ( )