80 Years Later
On Jan. 4, 2011, President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
By signing this act, Obama secured the first major overhaul to the food safety regulations since 1938. To put this in perspective, in 1938, there were no vaccines to prevent chicken pox or polio, and the first computer was seven years away from being built.
“The food safety modernization act affects what happens from the farm to the loading dock,” says Gina Kramer, executive director at Savour Food Safety International and president of Savour Safe Food.
Thanks to the FSMA, food facilities are now required to have written plans to prevent food-borne illnesses.
“The biggest change is requiring food companies to ‘say what they do’ from start to finish and then ‘do what they say’,” Kramer says. “What good companies do is employ a high-quality standard, if there is a deviation, they can correct without causing harm or injury to a customer.”
Who Can I Trust?
Organic? Non-GMO? Free range? Locally sourced? With such a variety of labels – each claiming to be safer and more healthful than the last – it can be hard to tell which to trust.
“There are so many points of view on social media, and it’s hard to navigate what is scientifically proven as right with food,” says Linda Bernard, quality assurance and research and development subject matter expert at Savour.
Misconception runs amok in food safety and nutrition arenas. Even the term “stomach flu” is widely misinterpreted.
“There is no such thing as a stomach flu. More often than not, you are sick from food poisoning,” Kramer says.
And that’s not all. Take, for example, a company such as Chipotle. Though the company prides itself on sustainability and local sourcing, it suffered a blow after an E. coli outbreak in early 2017. How can a company that strives to be so diligent still serve unsafe food?
“Chipotle grew because of consumer demand for local, and I love what they stand for -‘food with integrity’ - but people don’t realize local food does not equate to safer food,” Kramer says. “Bacteria, parasites and fungi do not discriminate, it does not matter how locally it is grown or processed.”
Your Pantry Isn’t 100 Percent Safe, Either
Whether it’s organic, locally sourced or not, everyone is susceptible to food-borne illness. So with all this trust required, what can food safety novices do to protect themselves and their families?
Good food safety starts in the home. It becomes simpler if you separate food preparation into four categories: cleaning, separating, cooking and chilling.
“These are the same actions for anyone preparing food in restaurants or grocery stores as well,” Kramer says.
Be sure to wash your hands, utensils and cutting boards after interacting with foods like raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs. Be sure to separate raw meat and poultry from other foods that may not be cooked in containers, ensuring juices cannot drip on other food.
A Leap of Faith
Columbus still remains a major test market for fast food establishments. Chipotle’s now-defunct burger spinoff, Tasty Made, opened its only location in Lancaster. Sbarro’s Pizza Cucinova concept debuted in the Grandview Heights area. The Wendy’s Innovation Center is in Dublin. And the testing doesn’t end there; all over Columbus, the food scene is growing.
With all of this going on, a certain level of blind trust is required to eat with the peace of mind that your food is safely handled and prepared.
“Word of mouth is a big component that is an easy way to figure out what is safe or not,” Bernard says. “This is both good and bad for the restaurant industry.”
Restaurants are held to high standards and are required to be investigated by the FDA to ensure that their practices are safe for consumers. There are four color-coded signs to empower the consumer to make a healthy decision.
“Consumers don’t know that all this work happens in the background… If a company passes an inspection from the government that their food is safe, those food safety regulations are only the minimum standards,” Kramer says.
Factors as simple as paying attention to the traffic in the restaurant and overall upkeep can go a long way in determining safety practices. Though you can choose how you want your food cooked, there are requirements for consumer advisories on menus stating that raw or undercooked meals can result in food-borne illnesses. And if something seems wrong, trust your gut, or you’ll be hearing from it later.
“When a chef or a company blatantly talks about food preparation that goes against proper food safety practices, you don’t want to go there,” Kramer says.
It’s a Work in Progress
Though it’s often hard to control what happens behind the scenes with the food we consume, we as the consumer have the power to make the right decision. All too often food safety is assumed.
Small actions such as storing foods separately and speaking up about restaurants that have caused illness to you or people you know can go a long way.
“There is definitely a misconception among people who love food, thinking that if food is sourced locally it is safer,” Kramer says. “The focus needs to be on how to (make) food safety and nutrition to go hand-in-hand, and how both together affect our health.”
Rocco Falleti is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at rfalleti@cityscenecolumbus.com.