Eat, Drink, and Be Wary

Veteran journalist Duncan demonstrates that fears about food safety in the U.S. are not unfounded. Bit by bit, he examines "our enormous food safety problems," the reasons why the government has failed to protect consumers, and the consequences of such lax oversight. Contamination can affect every "phase of our food chain, from the wheat and corn fields, grazing cattle, slaughterhouses, egg farms, and dairies to our oceans and bays." Meanwhile, global imports generally do not receive proper or sufficient inspection, either. The FDA, for example, inspects less than two percent of foods shipped from China (and more than half of Chinese food processing and packaging firms fail that countrys own safety inspections). Chapters on items such as produce, poultry, and eggs highlight similar themes. According to Duncan, the American government drags its feet and has kept secret public information about enforcement, closures, and seizures of food processors, protecting big businesses at the publics expense. Subsequent discussions on milk, seafood, and processed meats strike cautionary tones as well. . . .Duncans work is comprehensive and readers concerned with the safety and reliability of their foods will appreciate his efforts. * Publishers Weekly * A much-awarded print and TV journalist takes the U.S. food industry to task. Even the statistics he presents alone will alarm. Every year, 3,000 Americans die and 48 million are sickened by food-borne illnesses. Of the 91 percent of seafood the U.S. imports, only 2 percent is inspected. And on and on. Duncan cites many books, chapters, and verses on every aspect of the food industry, from the possibility of bioterrorism through our food supply and the dangers of delicatessens to GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and restaurant food. Although not collected in any one chapter, his advice proves valuable: eat only prepackaged deli foods; dont drink raw, unpasteurized milk; and select fish with low to moderate mercury. Who has weakened U.S. food chains? The government (USDA and FDA are the largest agencies), which writes laws to favor industry, not the public, and the D.C. bureaucrats who defund and strip food-safety programs to bare bones. In Duncans epilogue, readers will see him preparing for his next documentary foray, against sugar. Extraordinarily well researchedand scary. * Booklist * Eat, Drink & Be Wary is a mostly catalog of all the ways food can make us sick, but Charles Duncan concludes with recommendations for making it safer. . . .Charles may be long gone from TV, but it's good seeing that the old watchdog is still on the prowl. * The Dallas Morning News * This book is loosely based on Duncans long-running Dallas/Fort Worth television news series. Eat, Drink & Be Wary . . . is [a] recommended (and controversial) reading. * Skagit Valley Herald * Charles Duncan is the Upton Sinclair of his day, delivering a searing, groundbreaking investigative look into the U.S. food industry that is as important as it is disturbing. Eat, Drink & Be Wary is must reading for consumers and those government inspectors tasked with keeping our food safe. Duncan reveals stunning shortfalls in the quality and inspection of domestically grown and imported foods and herbs that are jaw dropping. This is investigative reporting at its best. -- Peter Van Sant, Correspondent, CBS News Charles Duncan has written a lively account of the many chinks in the armor meant to protect the safety of our foods and beverages. Globalization, concentration, industrialization, misuse of antibiotics in food animal production, political power of big agriculture, underfunding and ineffectiveness of regulatory agencies its all here in this informative book by a seasoned journalist. -- Robert S. Lawrence, MD, Director, Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Eat, Drink, & Be Wary exposes the ill-gotten gains of the food i

Charles Duncan has been writing non-fiction for the last forty years. He has researched and written documentaries, articles, investigative series, and features exploring a vast array of compelling topics: crime, hazardous chemical dumps, religious cults, discrimination, safety and security violations, and others. Eat, Drink and Be Wary was also the title of Duncans most popular television news series, 100 segments on the six oclock and ten oclock newscasts, graphically depicting the sorry state of restaurant food safety in Dallas and Fort Worth. His articles have been carried on ABCs World News Tonight and Good Morning America, scores of radio and TV network affiliate stations, and have been written about in TIME, Newsweek, Texas Monthly, the London Sunday Times, D Magazine, and the Dallas Morning News. His exclusive report on the Palmer Drug Abuse Program prompted follow-up stories by CBS 60 Minutes and ABCs 20/20 program. He has won a duPont Columbia Silver Baton, an Edward R. Murrow award, Headliners and numerous other national and regional awards. After spending seven years as the investigative reporter for KAKE-TV in Wichita, Kansas, Charles became a Senior Investigative Reporter at WFAA-TV. He later obtained his Texas Private Investigators License and operated his own company for many years.

Acknowledgments Dedication Introduction 1: Bioterrorism, Cyber Attacks 2: Food Imports 3: Produce 4: Poultry 5: Eggs 6: Beef and Pork 7: Milk 8: Seafood 9: Deli Dangers 10: Outbreaks, Illnesses and Deaths 11: Food Fraud and Tampering 12: Foods We Eat, Others Wont 13: Unwelcomed Critters in Our Foods 14: GMO Genetically Modified Organisms 15: Generally Recognized as Safe 16: BPA Bisphenol A 17: Cottage Food Industry and Your Kitchen 18: Restaurants 19: Governments Report Card Epilogue: Sugar, A Legalized Recreational Drug