Food recalls due to Salmonella, E. coli, and other foodborne pathogens are cropping up every day. Is it possible that people are beginning to drown out the food recall “noise” and become indifferent to food safety? A report from Today’s Dietician Magazine would suggest so. After examining the 2008 Salmonella outbreak that was initially thought to be caused by tomatoes but later linked to jalapenos and chili peppers, food policy professor and scholar Dr. Neal H. Hooker concluded that public response to the recall was apathetic. Hooker has observed a similar trend with the Peanut Corporation of America recall of peanut products due to potential Salmonella contamination. Apparently the public is either unaware of the recalls or naively trusts that supermarkets have removed any recalled items from the shelves.
Dr. Hooker isn’t the only one concerned about food recall apathy. Tara Gidus, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, worries that the overload of constant recalls may desensitize people to the importance of avoiding potentially contaminated products. Although many people trashed jars of peanut butter after the initial PCA recall warnings, other products that were tainted with peanut paste, like cookies and cracker products, remain on consumers’ pantry shelves.
It’s essential that consumers review the continually updated list of FDA recalls to avoid contracting foodborne illness from contaminated products. Sure, we get tired of the gloom and doom of knowing there are dangerous products on the market; but rather than succumbing to apathy, we prefer to feel good knowing that keeping up with recalls is a simple step to protecting our families. We’ll continue to post recall updates right here on the blog, so stay tuned.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2011
[...] The USDA FSIS has issued an alert for yet another massive Class I Recall. At the risk of sounding alarmist, let’s remember that FSIS defines a Class I Recall as a “health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.” No one wants to hear that our food can kill us, but it’s better to be cautious and avoid the potentially fatal consequences of foodborne illness rather than succumb to food recall apathy. [...]