Discussion: Food Safety Issues

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has strict guidelines for food safety. Bacteria, fungi, pesticides, hormones, and artificial compounds plague food supplies. What makes these contaminants frightening is that they are not generally visible to the naked eye and evidence of their presence in foods can be very difficult to detect without scientific testing. In this Discussion, you will look at how food safety affects health and explore solutions.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review Chapter 12 of the course text, Nutrition for Life.
• Think about the food contaminants affecting everyday foods.
• Consider policies and regulations designed to protect the food supply. Are they effective?
• Choose a food issue that is important to you. It may be an issue presented in your book or another one of your choice. Some suggested topics may include: food-borne illness, food additives and preservatives, pesticides, malnutrition, artificial sweeteners, water quality, et cetera.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 3

Post a 2- to 3-paragraph summary outlining the risks associated with a particular food safety issue. Be sure to include the following:

• Justify why it is a food safety issue.
• Correlate your food issue to a disease or health concern.
• Evaluate and suggest 2–3 steps that could reduce the impact or eliminate the food issue.

Be sure to support your ideas by connecting them to the week’s Learning Resources, or something you have read, heard, seen, or experienced. Use at least two APA-formatted references for full credit.