Our Food Is Not the Safest

Your hear it constantly from all the mouthpieces that shill for the big agriculture crowd. "The U.S. has the world's safest and most abundant food supply". While there may be a lot of it, it isn't the safest by a long shot. Finally there has been some study and the published statistics show that America's food supply is NOT the safest. I guess there is some good news and that is that Canada's worse off that we are. 

The U.S. has one of the safest food supplies in the world, but the report card is mixed, reports CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker. Every year 33 percent of Canadians get sick from what they eat. In the U.S., it's 25 percent. But in England it's only 2 percent and in France just 1 percent. In both places food is grown more locally and on a smaller scale than in North America. [emphasis mine]

While I didn't have my statistician hat on while working over there it was obvious to a cook that the food supply was intrinsically safer. You could often look the actual producer/farmer in the eye while you shopped. The food was likely produced within just a few miles of where you were buying it. It was fresh and you could touch it and smell it before you bought it. If it wasn't properly handled and made you ill then you could look the vendor in the eye the next week and let him or her know. Every time I am able to go to Europe (mostly England) I revel in the markets. Local butchers, farmers and grocers that respect the relationship with their customers and take the relationship seriously. I so miss that here in the U.S.

h/t Jill at La Vida Locavore