The organic food isle at the grocery store kind of ticks me off, not that I’m against health food (I’m all for it) but that I don’t have any confidence in the validity of the organic stickers. How do I know these companies are really producing their food in an “organic” way? Is there an organization or regulatory group that investigates these “organic” claims on non-meat products? I’m also quite skeptical of the foods that claim to have extra vitamins/antioxidants or come with a super-duper-nutritious injected-with-vitamins label. Don’t lie to me on the front of your product. Show me the ingredients and I’ll tell you what I think of it.

There aren’t any laws in place to punish unsubstantiated claims of producing organic foods, but thankfully there are consequences for drugs that make unsubstantiated claims.

New Zealand brothers John and Ian Fistonich were fined $6,750 for marketing an unregistered herbal horse product with unsubstantiated therapeutic claims.  Their product, Verm-X, claims to repel internal parasites and worms. Not only is there a lack of evidence to validate these claims, but also Verm-X wasn’t registered with the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA). Therapeutic products in NZ must be registered under the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act. ACVM Director Debbie Morris says that “Verm-X has not gone through NZFSA’s rigorous risk assessment and management process to ensure it is safe and does what it says it’s going to do on the label.”

On the product’s website, Verm-X is praised with its parasitic-controlling herbs, herbs for blood cleansing and also herbs for gut maintenance. They also have a “chemical-free” claim, which is another pet peeve of mine. I’m sure they’re going for the all-natural appeal, but c’mon, everything is made of chemicals.  If it really was “chemical-free” I think it would have a different name like “anti-matter horse dewormer.” But that’s not really the point here. The point is there haven’t been any studies conducted to test the effectiveness of these herbal pellets, and the NZFSA hasn’t cleared Verm-X to be on the market. This includes their horse formulation as well as all the other formulations they have for the rest of the zoo in the backyard.

Tell us what’s in your product, verify it with the NZFSA and prove your claims. The same goes for therapeutic drugs in the US – make sure you’re a friend of the Food and Drug Administration before putting your product out there.

It’s end-of-year, so lists are big, and I’m fond of my Top-5 Records label list.

But some are just dumb, and it’s good to see the science types in New Zealand calling out some BS.

The Dominion Post reports tomorrow that toxicologists have accused a food safety campaigner of a lack of understanding after she advised people to eat organic celery to avoid pesticides.

Alison White has ranked celery at the top of a list of foods likely to contain pesticide residue, but scientists say that does not mean indulging in the vegetable will cause any harm.

Ms White, who is a researcher and co-convenor of the Safe Food Campaign, said consumers wanted information about whether their food contained pesticide residues.

Canterbury University toxicology professor Ian Shaw said Ms White's table, which she published on the group's website, displayed "naughtiness" in referencing research about cancer risks among people who sprayed vegetables, not those who ate them.

Ms White's comments also showed she did not understand the difference between how dangerous a chemical was, and the actual chance or risk of it causing any harm.

The Food Safety Authority's principal toxicology adviser, John Reeve, dismissed Ms White's suggestion that pesticide residues could be making our food unsafe.

"Alison White and her colleagues have no expertise in toxicology and don't understand the science."

Dr Reeve said pesticide limits were determined by how much of a chemical growers needed for it to work.

That limit was hundreds of times lower than the levels that would have any impact on human health, he said.

From the there’s-an-award-for everything category, the U.K. Food Standards Agency has apparently copped a statue for clear communication about listeria.

“The Agency has been given an award by the Plain English Campaign for a leaflet advising the over 60s about food safety and the food poisoning bug listeria. Food safety and healthy eating messages are often based on complicated science, but the Agency strives to make these messages as accessible to as many people as possible. We are therefore pleased that these efforts have been recognised by our partners and by the Plain English Campaign.”

The U.K. government agency that has millions of dollars to engage consumers and the best they can come up with is to serve turkey ‘piping hot’ rather than use a thermometer is now blowing itself for its, ‘Look out for listeria’ campaign. The award-winning leaflet is attached, and it essentially blames old folks for getting listeria.

The science is not complicated and neither are the communications. The level of state-sponsored arrogance is somewhat alarming.
 

Food safety is not simple.

And because food safety is hard, it’s important to reduce the number of pathogens entering a home or food service kitchen.

The Food Standards Agency today published the findings of a new survey testing for campylobacter and salmonella in chicken on sale in the U.K.

The survey showed that campylobacter was present in 65% of the samples of chicken tested. Salmonella was in 6% of samples, 0.5% of these samples contained S. enteritidis and S. typhimurium.

Andrew Wadge, Director of Food Safety at the Food Standards Agency, said,

"The continuing low levels of salmonella are encouraging, but it is disappointing that the levels of campylobacter remain high. It is obvious more needs to be done to get these levels down and we need to continue working with poultry producers and retailers to make this happen. Other countries like New Zealand and Denmark have managed to do so, we need to emulate that progress in the UK."

FSA is to be commended for undertaking the retail survey, but should be slapped on the wrist for terrible risk communication, once again asserting that, “cooking chicken properly all the way through will kill the bug, so consumers can avoid the risk of illness.

“Taking simple measures in the home can reduce the risk of food poisoning. If food is prepared, handled, and cooked properly, avoiding cross-contamination with other food, then food bugs will not have a chance to spread and cause harm.”

Food safety is not simple. Piping hot is not an end-point cooking temperature.

The video below accompanying a terrific N.Y. Times feature on E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef demonstrates how easy it is to cross-contaminate, and they don’t even use a thermometer to ensure delicious 160F hamburgers.