The Rural Voice, 1998-03, Page 21Pigs, pork
and public
perception
The indt tstry, must
pay heed to
concerns of the
public, speakers at
Centralia Swine
Update say
By Keith Roulston
Concern for food safety is an
issue that is being pushed back
from consumers through food
processors right to food producers
and is leading to more calls for
quality control in all aspects of food
production, Dr. Douglas Powell, of
the University of Guelph's
Department of Food Sciences told
producers at the annual Centralia
Swine Research Update in Kirkton,
January 28.
In the U.S., 9,000 people die each
year because of foodborne illnesses.
The best guess is that 20 million
people get sick each year from food.
In Canada, 2.2 million people get
sick from food infections. Combine
that with the fact aging baby boomers
are worried about dict and food and
Consumers are becoming
increasingly worried about the food
they eat. Dr. Douglas Powell says
and want accountability right back
to the farm level.
it's an issue that is creating a trend
toward scrutiny of the system all the
way back to the farm. Consumers are
asking questions of food -producing
practices, things such as: "Do I have
control?"; "Do I have any benefit?";
"Do I trust the producers?".
"Consumers don't want a risk-free
world. They make risk/benefit
decisions every day. What they do
want to know is that those in charge
are doing everything they can to
manage/mitigate/reduce levels of
risk," Powell said.
Quality control programs like
HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Points) involve the procedure
to "say what you do, do what you
say, and prove it" Powell said.
Food issues began to grab
headlines with the outbreak of E. coli
0157:H7 (hamburger disease) at the
Jack-in-the-Box restaurant chain in
Washington State in 1993.
Eventually four children died, 700
became sick. Since then there have
been other headline -grabbing food
issues such as a hamburger disease
infection at Hudson Foods where
tons of hamburger had to be recalled;
mad cow disease; concerns about
BST use in dairy cattle; E. coli
outbreaks in unpasteurized apple
juice and even in vegetables (9500
people in Japan became ill, probably
from E. coli in radish sprouts).
MARCH 1998 17