Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

The Thursday New York Times article by Michael Moss raises interesting questions about food safety, especially as more and more foods are manufactured using multiple ingredients.  Moss shares:

Increasingly, the corporations that supply Americans with processed foods are unable to guarantee the safety of their ingredients. In this case, ConAgra could not pinpoint which of the more than 25 ingredients in its pies was carrying salmonella. Other companies do not even know who is supplying their ingredients, let alone if those suppliers are screening the items for microbes and other potential dangers, interviews and documents show.

It is both reasonable to expect food companies to provide safe products and reasonable to understand how difficult identifying problems it can be.  The reality is the burden of food safety rests both on the companies and consumers, the article points out, however, that consumers have confusion about how best to prepare products.

In addition to ConAgra, other food giants like Nestlé and the Blackstone Group, a New York firm that acquired the Swanson and Hungry-Man brands two years ago, concede that they cannot ensure the safety of items — from frozen vegetables to pizzas — and that they are shifting the burden to the consumer. General Mills, which recalled about five million frozen pizzas in 2007 after an E. coli outbreak, now advises consumers to avoid microwaves and cook only with conventional ovens. ConAgra has also added food safety instructions to its other frozen meals, including the Healthy Choice brand.

via Food Companies Try, but Can’t Guarantee Safety – NYTimes.com.

Although the rules governing organic food require health inspections and pest-management plans, organic certification technically has nothing to do with food safety.

via The ‘Organic’ Stamp – Does It Mean That Food Is Safer? – NYTimes.com.

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