Safe to Eat?

An estimated 48 million individuals (about 1 in 6) will get sick from food-borne illness annually in the U.S., and yet our food supply is often described as one of the safest in the world. For those working in food safety, 2011 was a banner year for both illnesses and response. Last year, reports of multistate outbreaks associated with foods as diverse as meats (ground turkey, chicken liver, and turkey burgers), fresh produce (cantaloupe, lettuce, and sprouts), and nuts (hazelnuts and pine nuts) appeared in the media almost daily, while regulators, industry, and academics contributed to shape the most sweeping changes to food safety legislation in three decades.

Linda Harris is a food safety microbiologist with the Department of Food Science and Technology at UC Davis and Associate Director of the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security and the Western Center for Food Safety. With an aim to increase the safety and confidence of the food supply, she leads a team of researchers who focus on better understanding food-borne pathogen risks and mitigation strategies within the fresh produce and nut industries.

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Science & Technology

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• sick
• food-borne
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• chicken
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• meats
• ground
• turkey
• liver
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• cantaloupe
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• pine
• media
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• academics
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• legislation