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It’s all in the nuts–or was it the mayonnaise–or maybe it was the …
CH&S Netways
It’s all in the nuts– or was it the mayonnaise– or maybe it was the . . .
I
Frankie Wood-Black is Quality Assurance Team Leader for the Phillips Petroleum Borger Business Unit, and Tim Pasquarelli is a managing partner for International Peril Mitigation Services, Mining and Petroleum Security Consultants, Golden, CO. 34
f you have picked up a newspaper, read a trade journal, listened to the radio or watched the evening newscast, you are bound to have heard a story related to the many hazards of food. You know the allergies that case this rash or that reaction. Or more possibly it is the more sinister bacteria, fungi or mold that is causing that queasy feeling in your stomach. Or could it be your biotechnology enhanced tomato in your salad that is causing you to say, just what am I eating? The sixties and the seventies brought us a food revolution: convenient, prepackaged, and modified foods. Remember the space sticks? Those were the days when food experimentation came with the words new, improved, fast, and convenient. No one really worried about the additives, the modifications, not those hidden things, unless the pork was undercooked or the product was contained in a swelling can. Food safety was not something we thought much about, much less had evening news stories about. But in today’s environment and media blitz, food safety has come out of the home economics classroom and into your living room, your car, and your personal data assistant. So just where can you go to get good information about what’s in your tuna fish sandwich and how do I protect myself from the great office menace, the communal refrigerator. A visit to the Centers for Disease Control1 is a good bet if you want detailed information about food safety and health. In fact the site is so large with extensive information you can get lost. Much of the information is written in a form that is more on statistics and scientific studies with reams of details that are not that practical for basic use. Much of the material is related to foods to eat to maintain a healthy diet rather than how foods can spoil and what foods are safe. There is also an abundance of information about irradiation programs and how that affects the food you eat. You can find very useful information about food safety, especially related to travel. When you get to the site go directly to the section marked Travel, then to Safe Food and Water. There you will find good practical information that is pre-
© Division of Chemical Health and Safety of the American Chemical Society Published by Elsevier Science Inc.
sented without an excess of government contractor extraneous wanderings. The CDC site also has useful connections to other sites. The World Health Organization (WHO)2 has a section on Health Topics which then allows you to navigate into Food Safety. As with many other government sites, there is a lot of information about what WHO is doing. Check the section titled Documents on Line for studies on food safety. Much of the information at this site is in Adobe Acrobat format, so you will need to ensure you have that loaded and available. Now if you really want to have some fun, you can do a search on Yahoo! or any other search engine and type in Food Safety. You get over 12,000 hits ranging in topics from the Food and Drug Administration3 sites (there were over 5 sites just related to quizzes) to the National Center for Food Safety and Technology4, which is a consortium of leading food companies looking at various issues. But a favorite and probably more helpful link for the average consumer is KitchenLink.com.5 This site was designed for consumers and it has a wonderful page (over 3 pages when printed) of links to various universities, organizations, and databases on food safety related topics. It is extremely easy to use and full of helpful hits tips and practices. So, if you are worried about or have a concern about what is happening with the food you eat, either at home or traveling, you can follow the following rules of thumb– don’t eat anything with mayonnaise (unless you know how its been handled), don’t eat processed meats (especially while traveling), don’t eat anything with eggs– or just don’t eat. Or you can take some simple precautions and make sure your food is properly handled, stored, and prepared. (When was the last time you looked in that refrigerator??) References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
http://www.cdc.gov http://www.who.int http://www.fda.gov http://www.iit.edu/⬃ncfs http://www.kitchenlink.com
1074-9098/01/$20.00 PII S1074-9098(01)00219-2
It’s all in the nuts– or was it the mayonnaise– or maybe it was the . . .
I
Frankie Wood-Black is Quality Assurance Team Leader for the Phillips Petroleum Borger Business Unit, and Tim Pasquarelli is a managing partner for International Peril Mitigation Services, Mining and Petroleum Security Consultants, Golden, CO. 34
f you have picked up a newspaper, read a trade journal, listened to the radio or watched the evening newscast, you are bound to have heard a story related to the many hazards of food. You know the allergies that case this rash or that reaction. Or more possibly it is the more sinister bacteria, fungi or mold that is causing that queasy feeling in your stomach. Or could it be your biotechnology enhanced tomato in your salad that is causing you to say, just what am I eating? The sixties and the seventies brought us a food revolution: convenient, prepackaged, and modified foods. Remember the space sticks? Those were the days when food experimentation came with the words new, improved, fast, and convenient. No one really worried about the additives, the modifications, not those hidden things, unless the pork was undercooked or the product was contained in a swelling can. Food safety was not something we thought much about, much less had evening news stories about. But in today’s environment and media blitz, food safety has come out of the home economics classroom and into your living room, your car, and your personal data assistant. So just where can you go to get good information about what’s in your tuna fish sandwich and how do I protect myself from the great office menace, the communal refrigerator. A visit to the Centers for Disease Control1 is a good bet if you want detailed information about food safety and health. In fact the site is so large with extensive information you can get lost. Much of the information is written in a form that is more on statistics and scientific studies with reams of details that are not that practical for basic use. Much of the material is related to foods to eat to maintain a healthy diet rather than how foods can spoil and what foods are safe. There is also an abundance of information about irradiation programs and how that affects the food you eat. You can find very useful information about food safety, especially related to travel. When you get to the site go directly to the section marked Travel, then to Safe Food and Water. There you will find good practical information that is pre-
© Division of Chemical Health and Safety of the American Chemical Society Published by Elsevier Science Inc.
sented without an excess of government contractor extraneous wanderings. The CDC site also has useful connections to other sites. The World Health Organization (WHO)2 has a section on Health Topics which then allows you to navigate into Food Safety. As with many other government sites, there is a lot of information about what WHO is doing. Check the section titled Documents on Line for studies on food safety. Much of the information at this site is in Adobe Acrobat format, so you will need to ensure you have that loaded and available. Now if you really want to have some fun, you can do a search on Yahoo! or any other search engine and type in Food Safety. You get over 12,000 hits ranging in topics from the Food and Drug Administration3 sites (there were over 5 sites just related to quizzes) to the National Center for Food Safety and Technology4, which is a consortium of leading food companies looking at various issues. But a favorite and probably more helpful link for the average consumer is KitchenLink.com.5 This site was designed for consumers and it has a wonderful page (over 3 pages when printed) of links to various universities, organizations, and databases on food safety related topics. It is extremely easy to use and full of helpful hits tips and practices. So, if you are worried about or have a concern about what is happening with the food you eat, either at home or traveling, you can follow the following rules of thumb– don’t eat anything with mayonnaise (unless you know how its been handled), don’t eat processed meats (especially while traveling), don’t eat anything with eggs– or just don’t eat. Or you can take some simple precautions and make sure your food is properly handled, stored, and prepared. (When was the last time you looked in that refrigerator??) References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
http://www.cdc.gov http://www.who.int http://www.fda.gov http://www.iit.edu/⬃ncfs http://www.kitchenlink.com
1074-9098/01/$20.00 PII S1074-9098(01)00219-2