Danny Dempster on produce safety

This is a column Dan Dempster of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association wrote for The Daily Townsman (Cranbook) in Canada, passed along by Doug Powell of K-State's Food Safety Network. I have a call into Danny but he was out.

Dan Dempster:

Canadians love their produce, consuming over 6.4 million tonnes of it every year. That's something like 50 billion servings of tasty salads, apples and berries, just to name a few.
Yet, produce has had some bad press lately, including information that's just plain wrong.
A number of produce-related issues late last year captured the headlines. But, serious though E. coli-contaminated spinach and recalled cantaloupes undoubtedly are, they don't define the reality of Canada's market for produce.
Confusing research also had some consumers wondering about the produce they're eating, with no good reason. Take, for instance, the scary statistic from the Public Health Agency of Canada that spoke of an estimated 11 million to 13 million cases of food-borne illness a year in Canada. A number like that suggests a veritable epidemic.
But a closer look reveals the number was a countrywide extrapolation from the results of a telephone survey conducted with 3,500 randomly selected residents of the Hamilton, Ont., area. In other words, it's an estimate.
Canadians can have more confidence in a study to be published later this year by the same public health agency, looking at actual documented outbreaks of food-borne illness in Canada over an eight- year period. This revealed that fewer than 3 per cent of the 1,127 outbreaks reported were definitively linked to fresh fruits and vegetables. Produce, it turns out, is actually the safest fresh food group.
Of course, one food-borne illness is one too many. But the statistics regarding the health benefits of consuming five to 10 daily servings of fruits and vegetables are overwhelming. Science has proved that consuming vegetables and fruit can help reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, keep your bones strong and make it easier to maintain a healthy weight.
What happens without enough produce in the diet? Health Canada estimates $4.3 billion annually is spent treating illness and diseases linked directly to obesity alone. Add to that the billions of dollars spent treating heart disease, cancer and diabetes: Now that's an epidemic. Canadians need to focus on the big issues around healthy eating.
Health professionals have linked the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables with a healthy lifestyle. Research suggests that if everyone ate between five and 10 servings of vegetables and fruit a day there would be 20 per cent fewer cases of cancer. Rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre, vegetables and fruit are a veritable long-term health insurance policy. Most have the added benefit of being low in calories and fat.
Supporting all this is an industry that devotes considerable resources and tireless efforts to ensuring a safe food supply.
Canadians enjoy an extensive variety of healthy, delicious fresh produce year round, and whether domestic or imported, conventionally grown or organic, this industry works diligently to provide safe, nutritious products to consumers.
Food safety is a team effort involving both industry and consumers.
Industry members share responsibility along the supply chain, while consumers complete the effort through proper washing, handling and storage of fresh fruits and vegetables in the home. The Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education has developed recommendations on safe food handling practices, which can be found at www.canfightbac.org. For more information on healthy eating, visit www.5to10aday.com.


TK: Canada's eight-year study on foodborne illness outbreaks, apparently to be published later in the year, will be widely watched. Danny makes a strong point that consumers need fruits and vegetables in their diet. Danny's argument walks a line between emphasing the safety of fresh produce while at the same time not downplaying the need for food safety measures up and down the supply chain.