Globalization Linked to Rash of Food Scares Amel Ahmed - Al Jazeera
go to original August 8, 2013

New Zealand's Fonterra sparked a milk powder contamination scare across several countries. (Reuters)

Two cases this August involving food poisoning highlight a growing public concern with food safety, raising concerns about the globalization of the food supply.

Outbreaks linked to imported food have been on the rise since the late 1990s, according to data published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fonterra and Taylor Farms, the two companies implicated in this month's food safety scandals, are both multinational corporations that supply products to food companies worldwide.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Friday that salad mix shipped by Taylor Farms of Mexico contained the cyclospora parasite, responsible for a severe stomach virus. And on Sunday, New Zealand-based Fonterra announced that it had supplied whey protein to food suppliers that may contain bacteria that causes botulism, a severe and sometimes deadly food poisoning.

Because of globalization, food products served at local restaurants and in neighborhood markets can go through a long chain of food suppliers that often spans continents.

Read the rest at Al Jazeera

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