“One-Stop Shopping” For Food Safety Info

A major criticism of how our government oversees the safety of our food supply is that different regulatory agencies are responsible for different arenas. The FDA, for example, oversees produce and most packaged foods, while the USDA oversees meat and dairy; meanwhile, it’s the CDC that tracks food-borne illnesses. There are no imminent plans to overhaul the system as many health experts would like to see happen, but there is a new website (www.foodsafety.gov) that, for the first time, fuses critical food safety information from all these agencies.

It provides free information on a range of topics, from how to select fish low in mercury and how to store your eggs safely, to the latest food recalls and who to contact if you think you’ve become ill from tainted food. Though it would be nice to see the government put more resources into preventing food recalls and food-borne illnesses in the first place, this web site at least offers resources, all in one place, that can help keep you and your family safe at the dinner table.

Source: Health Insider