Making Supper Safe

Book excerpt: Food recalls have become so ubiquitous we hardly even notice them. The massive peanut salmonella contamination of 2008–2009 alone killed nine and sickened an estimated 22,500 people; only a few weeks later, contaminated frozen cookie dough sent 35 people to the hospital. These tragic, inexcusable events to which no one is immune are but a symptom of a broader food system malaise. In Making Supper Safe, Ben Hewitt exposes the vulnerabilities inherent to the US food industry, where the majority of our processing facilities are inspected only once every seven years, and where government agencies lack the necessary resources to act on early warning signs. The most dangerous aspect of our food system isn't just its potential to make us acutely ill, but the ever expanding distance between us and our sources of nourishment. Hewitt introduces a vibrant cast of characters and revolutionaries who are reinventing how we grow, process, package, distribute, and protect our food, and even how we protect ourselves. He takes readers inside a food contamination trace-back investigation, goes dumpster diving, and talks to lawyers, policy makers, and families who have been affected by contaminated food. Making Supper Safe explains why we should worry, but it is also a quest to understand how we can learn to trust our food again.