This Film Exposes the Truth Behind the U.S’s Food Safety System and the Casualties That Have Come from Eating a Single Meal
Despite what many experts claim, the food safety system in the United States is far from safe. This Netflix documentary highlights the truth behind many companies who fail to conduct proper inspections on the foods they export; leading to bacteria and diseases being released to the consumer which can sometimes pose a life-threatening risk.
Still image from Poisoned: The Truth About Your Food / Netflix
Most people probably don’t stop to think if the next meal they plan on eating will contain bacteria or diseases that could lead to death. Why? Because most people expect the food they buy and consume is fully safe to eat so that shouldn’t be a concern they should have, right? Contrary to this belief, the recent Netflix documentary “Poisoned: The Truth About Your Food” exposes the reality behind the food safety system in the United States. It contains information and stories that are so shocking, it made a lot of audiences fearful of simply going to the grocery store to buy lettuce.
Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer, is a primary figure in the documentary who explains cases he’s handled where someone will become infected due to contaminated food products ranging from cut fruit, chicken, to even Lucky Charms. According to the film, the CDC investigates up to 36 outbreaks per week associated with bacteria or disease found in food. The most common cases talked about in the documentary are situations where a person fell incredibly ill and died from E. Coli or Salmonella. Marler investigated these cases to find which product or food specifically made the person sick and try to get the company at fault to suffer the consequences.
It all started when a young boy died from E. Coli which was linked to a burger he ate from Jack in the Box. Following his death, Marler and the boy’s parents spoke out about the tragedy and following a lawsuit and discussion with those in power in including the president, the beef industry changed forever. Laws changed in the state of Washington declaring that meat had to be cooked in every establishment at a minimum degrees of 155, higher than the previous law of 140 degrees. While this was a good solution, there is still potential risk of becoming ill from eating meat due to the risk of it containing E. Coli. The film also explains how different types of meat like ground beef are processed in a way where meat from multiple animals (in some cases even 400) are ground up together into a single product. This means a tray of ground beef could have traces of E. Coli even though most of the animals it was sourced from were healthy. This revelation that the documentary makes suggests it is nearly impossible for consumers to know for certain if the products they are buying are free from E. Coli. This then begs the question that if companies properly ensured no E. Coli was in their products, would consumers no longer face the risk of dying from eating a single meal?
Marler also explains that a major reason why this is happening all over the country is because food companies are more focused on making a profit of their food rather than taking the proper measures to ensure the food is handled safely and conduct inspections. The documentary reveals multiple examples of companies that failed to properly investigate the food being exported, whether that was a lack of an employees attention in an assembly line, or the CEO of a peanuts company ordered shipments to be sent out even though he was aware of a rat infestation in their factory.
Interestingly, the interaction gap between food companies and the food safety regulation organizations (such as USDA, FDA, etc.) is quite wide. Various employees at these organizations shared they don’t have authority to be going into the companies and doing their own investigation or inspections; they simply write out the regulations and expect companies to follow them. USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Sandra Eskin commented how her position didn’t give her the authority to conduct investigations on these companies or question their practices. She said several times how her department of regulation doesn’t have the responsibility over the food practices inside companies. This is a dangerous system to have in place because as the documentary proves, many companies and employees of food companies fail to meet these regulations and therefore export food with harmful bacteria or diseases.
Another important point the film makes is that when there is a foodborne illness outbreak, there is no single food safety regulation organization at fault. The film uses a taco for an example, where the meat is regulated by the USDA, the lettuce/onions by the FDA, and cooking practices of the restaurant by the local health department. This makes it extremely difficult for a single organization to be blamed for an outbreak and even more difficult to track which product was the reason behind the outbreak.
About a third into the documentary, the focus switches from E. Coli in meat products to illnesses in lettuce and leafy green products. After a young girl suffered from the effects of E. Coli after eating a salad at Panera, food safety regulations were now a concern for all food products. Although she didn’t die, the effects it posed on her body are not possible to reverse and it will affect her life forever. The main reason behind the infected lettuce was where it was being cultivated. A lettuce cultivation in Yuma Arizona was where the the infected lettuce was grown, which happened to be right next to the meat processing plant. This revelation showed how the water drainage coming from the meat processing plant was going over to the lettuce plants and infecting them with E. Coli and other diseases. To audiences, this is a worrying revelation as it again, makes eating anything a risk since companies aren’t taking the proper measures to export fully inspected food.
Following the lettuce incident, the film turns to further talk about a scandal in the peanut food industry. Kenneth Kendrick, the Peanut Corporation of America’s Whistleblower, spoke on the scandal where thousands of peanut products were recalled after traces of diseases and rat fesses were discovered. He explained how the peanut factory had a food leak which washed in waste from birds, further adding to disease and pollution in the plant. The mice problem grew bigger and when he brought up these concerns to the owner of Peanut Corporation of America Stewart Parnell, he denied the claims and told him not to worry about it. He later ordered the exportation of infected peanut products which were later tested and came back positive for Salmonella. This level of a mistake was incredibly costly as it resulted in over 4,000 different Peanut products to be recalled.
The government’s response to this was promising tougher food regulations, which makes sense as the documentary pointed out previously how regulations were not enforced nearly as much as they should have been. Marler further explains how companies and the CEO’s of them tend to not think about the implications of their products and that it is actually food affecting those who eat it. Many of them see it as a commodity and are only interested in gaining a profit. After a court hearing, Parnell was sentenced to 28 years in prison due to his lack of attention to exporting safe peanut products. While this was a deserved consequence, it shouldn’t have been a problem to begin with. It’s astonishing to learn how corporations and companies knew there was a potential risk to customers’ health by exporting their products, but they chose to do it anyways. The film sets a strong tone of being knowledgeable about these practices and trying to be as cautious as possible of what you eat.
Interestingly, to keep himself safe, Marler keeps chickens at his home so he doesn’t need to rely so much on mainstream store bought products for his food, and therefore avoiding the potential risk of foodborne illness. The film then talks about egg production companies and one in particular, Perdue, shares their new innovate ways of testing for E. Coli and other infectious diseases. They’ve developed a system of testing the waste of the chickens and regularly testing for diseases. While this system works, there are some loopholes where it’s simply impossible to know for sure whether or not a product is infected. Marler also says how European nations have been able to cut Salmonella in products by over 50%, and that it’s possible for companies in the United States to do the same. Unfortunately, he emphasizes how even though the US could solve the problem, we simply don’t have the political will to do it.
It’s saddening that the corporations and food safety regulators should be taking the proper precautions to ensure safe and disease-free food only is delivered to the consumer, yet the effort is just not there. There isn’t enough work being done both by the government and the food companies to do the ethical thing and put in more effort to guarantee safe food products. Towards the end of the film, experts offer some solutions or foods to generally avoid. With meat, it’s slightly easier to avoid problems as the consumer can cook it to a certain temperature the reduces risks. Experts also say to avoid foods such as cantaloupe, sprouts, and bagged lettuce. A major thing that stood out to me from this documentary was how raw and truthful it was. With no filters, the film succeeds in laying out the information for the viewer without making it feel like a terrifying problem. With various experts from both sides of the issue, consumers can take the information and apply it to their own lives to reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses. The film urges the importance of ethics in companies and legislators to do the right thing and enforce more regulations and inspections.
This is a crucial documentary for everyone to watch as it raises important concerns about the United States’ food safety and warns viewers about the potential life-threatening risks involved in eating certain foods. I felt that the research and presentation of the information in the film was very in depth and informative, and it proved to be a topic that changed even how I view certain foods. I highly recommend this film to become enlightened about food safety and learn ways to better protect yourself against foodborne diseases, and most of all, I hope this film ignited a conversation to force legislators to pay more attention to the problem and ensure safe food for all Americans.