Journalists discuss food safety issues in new book

Posted by Elena del Valle on December 5, 2014

Eating Dangerously

Photo: Rowman & Littlefield

This year, an estimated 50 million Americans will get sick from food they eat, 100,000 of them will need to be hospitalized and 3,000 will die, according to Eating Dangerously Why the Government Can’t Keep Your Food Safe… and How You Can (Rowman & Littlefield, $24.95). In 2011, 33 people died of food poisoning from one instance of listeria contaminated cantaloupe alone, say the authors. What is happening to our food between the farm and the table?

In the book, Michael Booth, a former health care writer for The Denver Post, and Jennifer Brown, an investigative reporter with the same newspaper, set out to answer some of the most relevant questions regarding food safety in our country. They strive to provide an understanding of the food networks’ functionality, where it works and where it fails, and offer advice on ways to avoid food borne illnesses. The propose readers seek a balance where they become “skeptical, but cynical; aware, but not hysterical.”

The 185-page hardcover book published this year is divided into an Introduction, 10 chapters and two appendices in two main parts: Should we be afraid of our food? And How to feed your family safely and sanely. The appendices feature resources for additional information and tips on how to eat safely. It features multiple pages of end notes.