Many of us grew up fearing food borne illness – from meat. One of our biggest fears was getting Trichinosis from pork.  My mother cooked pork until not a speck of bacteria could survive.  We’re all cautious about poultry.  Now we face (bacterial) dangers from fruits and vegetables.

Paul G. Auwaerter, MD, Clinical Director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, and website advisor for Medscape infectious diseases, cautions us that fruits and vegetables are probably the most dangerous foods that we can eat. 

Fruits and vegetables are not closely supervised.  They come to the US from all over the world.  There are over 3000 agricultural distribution centers, which do not have the ability to monitor the hygiene of what comes to our plates, unlike slaughter houses, which are fewer in number. 

 Washing fruits and vegetables won’t solve the problem. Fruits and vegetables cannot be irradiated.  Dr. Auwaerter admits that the risk of infection from fruits and vegetables is low, but in comparison to meat, they are the most dangerous foods to eat.According to Dr. Auwaerter, he solution seems to lie in getting the attention of regulatory agencies.  He urges our government to take a more active role in managing the safety of fruits and vegetables.  Most of us really don’t think much about the danger of eating fruits and vegetables.  In fact, every bit of information that we read, touts the benefits.  We still don’t even know the source of the contaminated tomatoes. I’m going to focus my own efforts on buying locally, and my tomatoes and peppers are ripening as we speak.   Thank you, Dr. Auwaerter.   Over 300 deaths from eating a vegetable are quite enough.  I sincerely hope these recent tragedies will indeed be followed by changes in food safety regulations.