Figure 4. Comparison of the accumulated number of food alerts and the transgressor indices.

A new international food safety monitoring tool has been developed to track food safety violations by country, and the results do not look good for the U.S., which ranks among the top five most dangerous countries in food safety.

by Kristen Ridley March 18, 2010 Change.org

A new international food safety monitoring tool has been developed to track food safety offenses by country, and the results don’t look good for the U.S. It joins China, Turkey, Iran, and Spain as the five countries with the worst records of food safety.

The new tool uses massive amounts of food recall data collected from 2003 to 2008 to make it’s calculations, and it’s all available online in a user-friendly format for anyone to see, even if it is still obviously geared towards researchers. According to one of the tool’s developers, D. P. Naughton, “No other system can reflect the complexity of this information in a snapshot form.” This advanced level of food safety analysis should prove particularly useful to developing countries, many of which still don’t have comprehensive food safety programs.

This is perhaps the first time such a massive amount of food recall data has been compiled and analyzed in this way, and the results should wake America up. Why is the richest nation in the world doing such a terrible job protecting its citizens from food contamination?

The answer to that question is complex, but a two simple things are clear: Our industrial system that prioritizes speed and low cost is dangerous, and we need to do something about it now.

Kristen Ridley is an artist, foodie, and aspiring grass farmer who earned her Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Southern California. She is focused on the production side of sustainable food and the obstacles facing those attempting to start or maintain an ethical, sustainable, profitable farm.

PS: if you go to the Change.org website, don’t automatically rubberstamp its call to support S 510. Read this first: