5,000 Americans Die Of Food Poisoning Each Year

Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control released these startling numbers. They also found that each year, 325,000 require hospitalization. The numbers show that over the last couple of years, our food supply has been getting more dangerous and with less protections overall. The questions has to be: WHY?

• Between 2003 and 2007, the FDA’s main food-safety arm lost 20 percent of its science staff and 600 inspectors.
• The United States gets 15 percent of its food from foreign countries, including 60 percent of its fresh fruits and vegetables and 75 percent of its seafood, but just 1 percent of all imported food is inspected.
• The allowance of producers of food to regulate and inspect themselves.

Think about it. You bring in food from countries that are inspecting it even less than we are, you defend the limited protections we have, and you let the companies do it instead. The country doesn’t spend the money and expects the companies to. This is a receipt for our present problem and it’s probably only because there are some businesses that want to stay around for longer than the quick buck, that keeps this from being an even bigger death count.

When you think about it, our bodies have to be incredible security systems when you take into consideration how many hazards we encounter with the food we depend on to live. It’s time that we do something to finally stop these problems.