Editorial Review:

Food safety is a matter of intense public concern, and for good reason. Millions of annual cases of food "poisonings" raise alarm not only about the food served in restaurants and fast-food outlets but also about foods bought in supermarkets. The introduction of genetically modified foods--immediately dubbed "Frankenfoods"--only adds to the general sense of unease. Finally, the events of September 11, 2001, heightened fears by exposing the vulnerability of food and water supplies to attacks by bioterrorists. How concerned should we be about such problems? Who is responsible for preventing them? Who benefits from ignoring them? Who decides?
Marion Nestle, author of the critically acclaimed Food Politics, argues that ensuring safe food involves more than washing hands or cooking food to higher temperatures. It involves politics. When it comes to food safety, billions of dollars are at stake, and industry, government, and consumers collide over issues of values, economics, and political power--and not always in the public interest. Although the debates may appear to be about science, Nestle maintains that they really are about control: Who decides when a food is safe?
She demonstrates how powerful food industries oppose safety regulations, deny accountability, and blame consumers when something goes wrong, and how century-old laws for ensuring food safety no longer protect our food supply. Accessible, informed, and even-handed, Safe Food is for anyone who cares how food is produced and wants to know more about the real issues underlying today's headlines.

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Eye opener:

As a food safety trainer I did not realise the rest of what has and is going on to deliberatly sell us food that is not fit for the purpose all in the interest in profit.
One could have doubted what was written but we have just had the blatent disregard for food safety by 'CADBURY' the famous chocolate people claiming that only minute traces of bacteria may be present.
You either have bacteria or no bacteria there is no halfway house, this book will open everyone's eyes.

An important and well-documented expose:

This is a well-written book by an author with experience in both the scientific and public affairs aspects of food quality and safety. Marion Nestle makes an effort to describe the complex scientific procedures associated with foodborne disease investigation, and the creation of bioengineered foodstuffs, reasonably clear to the layman / woman. Her message is simple and direct: as far as US government regulatory agencies, and the food industry itself, are concerned, food safety and wholesomeness is regarded... more info

Excellent:

"Safe Food" is a terrific look at the issues involved in keeping our food supply uncontaminated. It is also a look behind the scenes at how our democracy really works, and it's not a pretty sight. Corporations choosing profits over public health, government representatives more often than not siding with industry rather than consumers, corruption, greed, and ineptitude are all part of this fascinating story. Highly recommended!

more questions raised about the author's intentions:

I just heard Marion Nestle on the Mike McConnell raido show. All I could ask myself during the interview was, "What are her intentions in writing this book." All I could think of during the interview was she was another Rachel Carson writing her "Silent Spring".
My general impression was that she wrote this book to create fear in the food consumer, but never really offered any solutions except more government intrusion. She never presented, in the interview, the fault of the consumer in poor preparation... more info

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