So, what are you really eating?

Jeff Broddle | Cadillac News Chris Suchezki milks a cow at Gingrich Meadows Dairy Farm recently. The farm has installed a security camera to watch over the milk supply as a way of keeping the food supply safe.

Tonight’s dinner may have traveled more miles than you have in a lifetime.

From field to table, it is likely your meats and produce have a lengthy history. Before you lift your fork, consider that you are the final judge of your food’s safety.

“The food system is very complex,” said Jerry Wojtala, Deputy Director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture Dairy Division. “If you look from where it’s grown, the animals raised, the processing plants, transportation, retail, restaurants and consumers — all levels have input.”

And something can happen at any step in the chain to impact food safety, he warned.

Foodborne illnesses are caused by ingesting foods or beverages contaminated by disease-causing microbes or pathogens. Poisonous chemicals or other harmful substances can also cause disease if in food.

Foods from around the globe make it to the dinner table in a variety of forms in a market directly driven by the American appetite.

“The food industry has responded to a year-round demand for products,” Wojtala said. “In the past 20 years we have globalized the food supply”

Imports account for about 13 percent of the annual diet but only 1 percent are inspected, according to a report by the Organic Consumers Association and the U.S.Food and Drug Administration.

Although FDA inspection of imports is limited, Wojtala said foods inspected are those most likely to cause illness, such as seafood. Inspection is one of several precautions.

“They do other things now,” Wojtala said. “Foods must be registered and the FDA notified of any food coming in. It allows the FDA to target companies that have had trouble or types of food.”

Other efforts to increase food safety include improved practices in field sanitation, the use of fertilizer, worker hygiene, international regulations and tracking.

At local dairy farms, inspections, testing and tracking are daily routines. Milk is tested by the hauler and again by the processor, according to Amy Martin, co-owner of Gingrich Meadows Dairy Farm in LeRoy. In addition, federal inspectors conduct a random farm test annually. State inspectors come in twice yearly and the farm’s milk cooperative inspects individual farms at least twice annually.

“I hate to see the milk inspectors come because they are so tough,” Martin said. “If I have a burned out light bulb it’s a point (deduction). They are very detailed.”

Gingrich Farm recently initiated voluntary measures to enhance their product safety.

“We recently put up a security system to monitor who comes and goes,” Martin said. “It looks over our milk tanks. If anything happened, I could look back and know. It’s being proactive.”

At the retail level, other tracking and warning systems are in place. Records on imported foods must be kept for a full year at the store level, according to Al Blackburn, manager for Cadillac Meijer. Lot dates and supplier codes allow products to be traced to the producer if a problem arises.

Temperature control is another vital element in preserving food safety during transportation and on the shelves, he said. Meijer refrigeration cases feature alarm systems which notify employees if case temperatures drop.

Although most frequently set off when a customer leaves a cooler door open, it could signal the first set in a critical temperature violation, Blackburn said.

Any product recalls require immediate attention.

“In an urgent recall, the store manager is notified and we have 30 minutes to respond,” Blackburn said.

This was the procedure during the massive spinach recall of 2006 and pet food recall last March.

Once food leaves the store, its safety is in the hands of the consumer, the last link in the food chain. Without diligence on this level, consumers may place themselves and their family’s at risk for illness.

Blackburn noted studies show the majority of consumers are unaware of the temperature of their own refrigerator. Forty degrees is the recommended temperature, and it should be monitored, “especially if you have kids going in and out of the refrigerator all the time,” he said.

For more information on food safety, visit the Centers for Disease Control at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodborneinfections_g.htm.

sbarber@cadillacnews.com | 775-NEWS (6397)

Your Local Connection

Food safety

Protecting yourself and family from food tampering and contamination:

Check whether a package or can has been opened. If it has been damaged, dented or opened prior to purchase, contents should not be used.

Be alert for abnormal odor, taste and appearance of a food item. If in doubt, don’t eat it.

If you suspect a food product has been contaminated or tampered:

If the product does not contain meat or poultry, call the FDA at (301) 443-1240.

If the product contains meat or poultry, call the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture at (800) 535-4555.