Despite its title, ”Safe Food” (Living Planet Press, $9.95) is not about the 10 safest foods or the 10 most dangerous. So it`s probably not going to grab any headlines in the supermarket tabloids.
It`s not even about how eating certain food might give you cancer or kidney disease or cure them. Nor is it a diatribe against the American diet or an apology for it.
In ”Safe Food,” Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, along with CSPI staff members Lisa Lefferts and Anne Witte Garland, has provided a convenient, easily absorbed book for intelligent people who are concerned about what they eat and how they can shield themselves against harmful effects from it.
In a text that is well-documented, the authors appear to have taken pains to present an accurate account of risks involved in food-borne bacteria, animal antibiotics, food additives such as nitrites and MSG, pesticides and environmental toxins. But the book purposefully steers clear of using scare tactics.
That doesn`t mean it doesn`t have a political or a philosophical agenda. For the last decade, CSPI, a Ralph Nader-style Washington-based consumer action group, has been instrumental in influencing governmental policy regarding food and environmental safety. The book is a collection of much of the information gathered by CSPI.
The book takes a two-pronged approach, Jacobson said. On one hand it explains what the consumer can do to protect himself, such as washing hands before touching food and cooking chicken adequately. On the other, it suggests plans of action for getting involved in bringing pressure on government to tighten and expand regulations for the food we buy to guard against possible harmful pesticides, additives and contaminants.
In Jacobson`s view, the solution to many of the country`s food-safety problems lies in more government regulation of the food supply industry.
”Factually, I think the book will be hard to criticize,” he said during a recent Chicago stop on a promotional tour, ”but there will be several philosophical grounds on which to disagree. Some free-marketers are bound to criticize it, and the American Council on Science and Health (an organization of scientists and health professionals, often linked to business and the establishment) probably will have something to say.
”Our philospohy is that we favor more government regulations to protect consumers-people who can`t test for pesticides themselves, for instance-rather than waiting for people to be killed by contaminants so the free market can then take its course and change procedures.”
In some ways, Jacobson said, government regulation can be as simple as requiring a label on fresh poultry that reads: ”Thoroughly cook this food to destroy harmful bacteria. Wash hands, dishes and implements with soap and water immediately after contact with raw product.”
”It doesn`t have to come from the federal government,” he said. ”It can be imposed by a city or state health department. California, for instance, now has a warning on Gulf of Mexico shellfish telling people not to eat them raw.
”I don`t think the book should frighten people into not eating,” he said. ”We have tried to be balanced and moderate and write about things you should be concerned about. The truth is that most foods aren`t harmful. Many chemicals are perfectly safe. We shouldn`t be afraid of something just because it has a chemical name.
”Food safety should not be a fetish but a habit.”
But any discussion of food must take into account the role of nutrition.
”When it comes down to it,” Jacobson said, ”good nutrition is even more important than food safety, more important than pesticides and additives. It is important to eat fruits and vegetables, even if they have been treated with pesticides.”
”Safe Food” is divided into some convenient food chapters: fruits, vegetables and grains; milk and cheese; meat, poultry and eggs; fish and shellfish, and what`s safe to drink. There also are chapters on how to make safe food choices, additives and how to set up a safe kitchen. The last chapter presents a safe food political-action agenda and provides a large list of sources for information, organic products, organizations and government agencies. It provides some sample letters to write.
There probably is very little in the book that has not been said by someone or in some publication, but Jacobson and crew have assembled it in one readable, easy-reference format. The CSPI has a respectable reputation as a lobbying group and has contributed to reform of governmental regulation of antibiotics in milk, sodium nitrite in bacon, caffeine in coffee and soft drinks and urethane in brandy.
”Safe Food” should be available at major bookstores; if not, it may be ordered from the Center for Science in the Public Interest for $9.95 plus $1.25 postage by writing to CSPI, Suite 300, 1875 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Box G, Washington, D.C. 20009.
