More than you want to know about your food

Just after posting my previous article on food safety I discovered a disturbing report in the Cape Cod Times, FDA inspectors overwhelmed by food imports. Do not, I repeat, do not, read this article before dinner.

I cantell you that it made me sick. Here are some excerpts:

Billions of dollars' worth of foreign ingredients that Americans eat in everything from salad dressing to ice cream get a pass from overwhelmed inspectors, despite a rising tide of imports from countries with spotty records, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal trade and food data.
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When U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors at ports and border checkpoints look, they find shipments that are filthy or otherwise contaminated. They rarely bother, however, in part because ingredients aren't a priority.
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You don't have to be a Ph.D. to figure out that ... if someone were to put some type of a toxic chemical into a product that's trusted, that could do a lot of damage before it's detected," said Michael Doyle, a microbiologist who directs the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety.

...one supplier drove a truck over tea leaves to dry them with exhaust, which leached lead into the leaves.