Despite regulations, there is no such thing as zero risk
SAFETY standards, spot inspections globally, danger alerts, traceability are some of the ways the EU has tried to ensure its food is the safest in the world.
But with food there is no such thing as zero risk.
And with the EU being the world’s biggest importer of food from more than 200 countries as well as consuming millions of tonnes produced by the bloc’s 10 million farmers, this is especially true.
There are still regular serious outbreaks ranging from dioxins to salmonella and E coli as well as more simple cases such as printing ink in breakfast cereals and nicotine in mushrooms.
With rapid alert systems spreading the word quickly around the EU and contaminated food removed quickly, people take their own measures too, refusing to buy or eat the suspect products.
Pointing the finger too quickly at Spanish cucumbers has almost destroyed the country’s vegetable farmers. But should experts have held back on their suspicions until they were proved? The EU works off the precautionary principle, preferring to warn of any danger — arguing that failing to warn could lead to bigger casualties if suspicions are founded.
But now weeks after the outbreak nobody is closer to finding the source of the outbreak of E coli STEC O104. There is confusion as to whether the bug is in fact O104, a strain that has turned up a few times over the past few years in other EU countries. Despite all the high-tech science, the source of about 60% of outbreaks is never found. Discovering the source relies heavily on a pen and paper and a lot of time asking victims what they ate and drank and where they were over the previous 10 days — and trying to find a common link in patients’ answers.
Ensuring food is safe is nothing as simple. It begins with setting standards, enforcing them, checking them and finally ensuring contaminated food is taken off the shelves or stopped at the borders.
It is a vast network of both rules and bodies coordinated at EU level and operated nationally. Politicians and experts must agree the amount of space animals need, that they can’t be given hormones, limits to pesticide and toxin residue, the amount of fertiliser that can be spread on the land, how it must be labelled so it can be traced back if there is a problem and how much you, the consumer, is entitled to have on the packaging.
Enforcing the rules on every potato, steak, orange and litre of oil would be impossible so there is a vast network of random checks at every level from the farm to the shop. As a result just items that have caused problems at checked at point of entry but just samples are taken for scientific testing.
Nationally random produce samples are tested to ensure that if there are chemical residues they are within what are considered “safe limits”.
Even discovering the number and type of food and waterborne diseases in the EU is difficult as many are under-reported nationally according to the European Centre of Disease Control. Figures for 2009 suggest there were 49,000 cases, with 5,500 people hospitalised and 46 deaths. But figures for France suggest 400 deaths while for the US the number from 1996 — 1998 is said to be 5,000. It is doubtful like is being compared with like here.
The EU generally enforces more strict rules than the US, being less swayed by big food companies. Pesticide residue levels are also lower in the EU and GMOs are strictly limited.
- Coli bacteria move into our digestive tracts within hours of birth. Some, however, can become toxic, introduced through food and drink. The type known as STEC poses the greatest danger. There were 3,573 reported cases in 2009 in the EU.
Very few bacteria are needed to cause acute gastroenteritis with bloody diarrhoea. Most recover within five to seven days with about half needing hospitalisation. Fewer than 1% die, but about 8% of adults and 15% of children develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) with kidney failure, bleeding and heart problems. One in 20 die. Antibiotics make it worse.
O157:H7 is found in about half the cases. STEC O104, identified in the latest fatal outbreak in Germany, is rare worldwide but there have been eight cases in the EU between 2008-2010 and some reports from 2004 from Germany and Austria of it being found in food or animals.
- Mainly through eating or handling contaminated food. You can also get it from close contact with infected people and animals.
The dangerous foods associated with STEC infections in the past were undercooked meat, unpasteurised milk, cheese and apple juice and raw vegetables.
- Good personal hand hygiene.
Wash your hands with soap and water for as long as it takes you to sing Happy birthday twice before preparing, serving, or eating food. Also do this after using the toilet or changing nappies, handling fresh vegetables or raw meat and following contact with pets, farm animals or after visiting a farm
The US FDA has banned sanitisers claiming to kill various bacteria. They don’t work.
- Don’t handle food for others if you have diarrhoea or vomiting.
- Wash all fruit and vegetables properly.
- Peel all root vegetables and fruit.
- Cook vegetables and meat properly as this destroys bacteria and viruses.
- Keep raw meat away from cooked meat and vegetables by using separate cutting boards and utensils.
- Keep food at safe temperatures.
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