The legs on the story about the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s October list of the 10 “riskiest” foods are amazing.
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Chuck Robinson
Assistant Copy Chief |
“Good Morning America” picked it up, and so did CBS and ABC, and so did hundreds of newspapers.
Of course, no critical thinking went into creating the list. It came from data from the Food and Drug Administration.
For instance, potatoes were listed as a top 10 risky food, largely because people make potato salad and use undercooked eggs. Maybe potato salad should have been on the list, or boneheaded food preparers and servers.
Besides spuds, the list included leafy greens (rated No. 1), tomatoes, sprouts (OK, they may have something here) and berries.
Ice cream was on the list. The CSPI said half of the food-related illness incidents involving ice cream were “most likely due to the use of undercooked eggs in homemade ice cream.”
Again, it sounds like the group should be raging against poor food preparation and handling.
Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates poultry, beef and pork instead of the FDA, those foods were ignored.
This slap by the CSPI stings more because it comes from a compatriot. CSPI generally promotes eating more fruits and vegetables. Surely their advocates would be glad for people to drop the greasy burger and have a salad instead.
For instance, also in October, CSPI presented on its Web site another in its long-running series of angel-and-devil comparisons of two foods.
Persimmons were the angel, or the food the CSPI listed as “perfection.”
CSPI’s Web site tells us how hachiya persimmons should be a bright red-orange when you eat them and so soft you think you might damage the fruit when you pick it up. It’s good spooned into yogurt, they say. The less-common fuyus, however, are solid when ripe and can be used in salads or salsas.
For the devil, under “food porn,” they listed Auntie Anne’s Pepperoni Pretzels sold from kiosks in malls and airports. In one snack, you can get three cheeses, butter, pepperoni slices, 480 calories, 8 grams of saturated fat and half of a day’s allotment of sodium.
Fruit good. Junk food pretzels bad. We’re with you as far as that goes, CSPI.
In a mid-October Nutrition Action Health newsletter, CSPI highlights “10 Super Foods for Better Health,” a list topped by sweet potatoes and also including grape tomatoes, broccoli, citrus fruit, spinach and kale.
But then back to the risky food list — the point CSPI was trying to make was written in the prologue introducing its list. There the CSPI said great diligence in food safety oversight is needed because of the combination of a globalized food system, archaic food safety laws and large-scale production and processing.
“Unfortunately, the hazards now come from all areas of the food supply: not only high-risk products, like meat and dairy, but also the must-eat components of a healthy diet, like fruits and vegetables,’’ the prologue stated.
Of course, much subtlety is lost when the story gets its legs.
Even after criticism of the list began to surface in early and mid-October, papers like the South Whidbey (Wash.) Record were misinterpreting the list and repeating falsehoods.
“I think I’ll avoid those prepackaged greens for awhile and, as I said before, from now on, I’m grinding my own hamburger,” wrote the Record’s columnist.
She thinks she is among those “who think and care a lot about food.”
I think she hasn’t often had deep thoughts if she thinks eating a burger is better for her health than having a spinach salad.
The produce industry is well aware of the need for diligent food safety oversight. The industry has jumped into the fray trying to accomplish that goal through technological advancement and through self-policing and regulation.
Another voice calling for adequate FDA funding helps the cause. However, CSPI should be more careful knifing the people on its side.
The explanation that CSPI was trying to influence lawmakers rings hollow when you review the “Good Morning America” video or read the countless articles and columns on the Internet that suggest salad, potatoes, tomatoes and berries are inherently dangerous.
They miss the point and CSPI doesn’t correct them. It probably can’t correct them.
They give in to hyperbole and fuel the same back at them.
You can feed your snark monster by going to the CSPIscam.com Web site. It is run by Center for Consumer Freedom, a group of fast-food restaurants and snack food manufacturers.
The Web site inveighs against CSPI with a bit of sarcasm in a nutrition label mockup for CSPI’s nutritionists that lists that each serving from CSPI provides 36% of a person’s daily value of junk science, 92% of a person’s daily value of sound bites and 60% of a person’s daily value of sanctimony while delivering 0% of balance, objectivity and fairness.
Fun, fun, fun.
The problem is the produce industry’s best interests lie with our not-so-faithful compatriots in CSPI, not the feckless purveyors of soda pop, burgers and fries.
In the effort to improve the diets of everyone in the nation and beyond, CSPI should sidle up to the produce industry and act like friends. We have the same goals in mind, but the purveyors of fruit and vegetables would prefer a more amiable partner.
E-mail crobinson@thepacker.com.
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