Eating Dangerously

Americans are afraid of their food. And for good reason. In 2011, the deadliest food-borne illness outbreak in a century delivered killer listeria bacteria on innocuous cantaloupe never before suspected of carrying that pathogen. Nearly 50 million Americans will get food poisoning this year. Spoiled, doctored or infected food will send more than 100,000 people to the hospital. Three thousand will die. We expect, even assume, our government will protect our food, but how often do you think a major U.S. food farm get inspected by federal or state officials? Once a year? Every harvest? Twice a decade? Try never. Eating Dangerously sheds light on the growing problem and introduces readers to the very real, very immediate dangers inherent in our food system. This two-part guide to our food system's problems and how consumers can help protect themselves is written by two seasoned journalists, who helped break the story of the 2011 listeria outbreak that killed 33 people. Michael Booth and Jennifer Brown, award-winning health and investigative journalists and parents themselves, answer pressing consumer questions about what's in the food supply, what "authorities" are and are not doing to clean it up, and how they can best feed their families without making food their full-time jobs. Both deeply informed and highly readable, Eating Dangerously explains to the American consumer how their food system works-and more importantly how it doesn't work. It also dishes up course after course of useful, friendly advice gleaned from the cutting-edge laboratories, kitchens and courtrooms where the national food system is taking new shape. Anyone interested in knowing more about how their food makes it from field and farm to store and table will want the inside scoop on just how safe or unsafe that food may be. They will find answers and insight in these pages.

Michael Booth is the lead health care writer for The Denver Post and has covered health, medicine, health policy and politics throughout his twenty five-year journalism career. He was part of the team that won the 2013 and 2000 Pulitzer Prizes for Breaking News. He has made frequent appearances on commercial and public television and radio, and has won the National Education Writers' Award, Best of the West, American Health Care Journalists honors, and other awards. He also co-led the coverage of the most deadly food-borne illness outbreak of the past century, the cantaloupe listeria illnesses of 2011, with Jennifer Brown. Their coverage of the listeria outbreak became the outline for a Congressional committee's scathing report about what went wrong at the source farm and in the supply chain that sold the tainted melons. Jennifer Brown is an investigative reporter with The Denver Post and has covered health, medicine and health policy for the past decade. She was part of the team that won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. Brown led the team covering the two-year debate over national health care reform in 2009 and 2010. She has worked at The Associated Press, The Tyler Morning Telegraph in Texas, and The Hungry Horse News in Montana, and has won a National Headliner Award, three Katie awards and the 2013 Best of the West award for investigative journalism. Brown also has covered the Colorado Legislature, the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and child welfare reform. She co-led the coverage of the most deadly food-borne illness outbreak of the past century, the cantaloupe listeria illnesses of 2011, with Michael Booth.

Part One: Should We Be Afraid of Our Food? 1: Sick:It's What's for Dinner. Is Anybody Keeping Our Food Safe? 2: Too Many Cooks, Not Enough Test Tubes: Why a Broken Food-Safety System is Failing to Protect Us 3: Tracing to Safety: The Real-Life "CSI" of an Outbreak 4: The Whole World in Your Kitchen: That Hamburger Came from Five Nations 5: Dirty Dishes: What Happens to the Perpetrators? Part Two: How to Feed Your Family Safely and Sanely 6: Handle with Care - and Bleach - How to Avoid Illness, from the Shopping Cart to the Compost Heap 7: Killer Sprouts and Slimy Spinach: The Most Dangerous Foods May Surprise You 8: Dances with DNA, and Reconsidering Radiation: Will Mad Science Ruin Food or Save It? 9: So Now You're Sick: How to Tell the Difference Between a "Touch of Food Poisoning" and Deadly Illness 10: Eating Healthy and Eating Safe: No, They Aren't the Same Thing