A recent government study shows the main cause of food borne related illness is coming from vegetables. Vegetables we have always been told that plant base produce is good for us. Now the study proves that leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach have been linked to several cases of food poisoning.
Lettuce and spinach is loaded with vitamins A, C, K, folate and iron.
Although food borne illness are caused more from chicken and meat that is contaminated and not properly handled well causing the contamination to spread in the meat. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there are many cases of people getting sick and dying from plant base foods such as leafy greens. The CDC reports 1 out of 6 or over 40 million people get food poisoning.
The study shows that of those that get ill over 120,000 are hospitalized and approximately 3,000 die.
Some food poisoning cases could be avoided if vegetables and fruit are properly washed before being eaten or cooked. One way of doing this is properly rinsing the vegetables with a little vinegar or lemon as vinegar and lemon help kills bacteria. Also having a fruit and vegetable brush on hand to scrub the produce will also help.
The CDC believes more than half of food poisoning cases are related to produce. As the CDC tries to look for ways to stop the illness, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs to set up, and be more diligent in their inspection of fruits and vegetables.
The FDA should devote time and resources into working with the CDC. In doing so the number of people getting sick, and possibly dying because of a lack of precaution being taken on the FDA’s part should be taken more seriously because people’s lives are at stake.
It is the FDA responsibility to ensure safety of produce and food packaging.
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