Food Protection Trends - November 2008 - 802

million people is directed untreated into rivers), and (iii) insanitary harvesting practices used for picking vegetables and fruits such as children infected with norovirus or hepatitis A virus accompanying parents in produce fields where they play and defecate on heaps of vegetables during the harvest season. We have learned from several outbreaks of cyclosporidiosis that by importing foods, pathogens can be moved from areas where they are indigenous to locations where they seldom or do not exist. This occurred during a 3-year period of time in the late 1990s with Cyclospora in raspberries from Guatemala imported into the United States and Canada. Aquaculture, a common practice for growing shrimp and tilapia in many Asian countries that export these products to the United States, frequently involves applying to these ponds raw, untreated domestic sewage and/or livestock manure as the primary source of nutrients. Salmonella and drug residues are frequent contaminants of fish and seafood grown under such conditions. It is estimated that at least two-thirds of the world production of farmed fish is grown in ponds fertilized with animal manure or human sewage. Economists predict that gains in seafood production will primarily come from farmed fish. Aquaculture accounted for 12% of seafood production in 1984 and for 37% in 2003. Predictions indicate that by 2014 the amount of tilapia imported into the United States will exceed salmon imports. In addition to microbiological food safety issues, many developing countries produce foods contaminated with chemical residues. As an example, farmers in China rely on heavy use of chemicals to control pests, and widely apply antibiotics to control diseases in livestock, poultry and aquaculture. This includes use of many highly toxic pesticides, some of which are banned in the United States, and excessive application of chemicals because some farmers have little understanding of correct chemical use and some farm chemicals are sometimes mislabeled. In addition, industrialization and lax environmental controls in China contribute to heavy metal contamination of foods. Shrimp, poultry, honey, frozen spinach and tea contaminated with excessive residues of antibiotics such as chloramphenicol or pesticides are examples of foods from China rejected by the European Union, Japan or the United States because of chemical contamination. Food shipments into the USA have been increasing at exponential rates. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has regulatory authority over about 80% of the US food supply, reported about 4 million food import entries in 2000, 8 million in 2005, and >11 million in 2007. In 2007, a sampling of about 1% of imported food shipments under FDA was visually inspected, with less than 0.5% of these shipments sampled for testing. A few examples of food refused by FDA in March 2008 because of Salmonella contamination include cheese from Honduras and Mexico, ready-to-eat shrimp from India, cookies from Mexico, spices such as black pepper, curry powder, and cumin from India, and peppers and chili powder from Mexico. Future trends in food exportation to the United States include more produce coming from Mexico as California vegetable production shifts south of the border and Brazil and China becoming even more dominant global agricultural producers and food exporters. Currently, China is the United States’ principal source of apple juice and garlic, and a major supplier of fish and seafood. Recently, China has been allowed to supply the United States with fully processed, ready-to-eat chicken. Considering that the single greatest cost of retail foods in the United States is for labor (ca. 38.5%), it is economically feasible for China to purchase US-grown frozen raw poultry, further process it in China where labor costs are $0.50 to $1.00 per hour, and market the packaged product in the United States with a significant profit margin. Brazil is a world power in the food export market. It is the number one global exporter of beef, orange juice, coffee, poultry, soybeans and sugar. In Brazil, land is relatively inexpensive compared to land values in most developed countries. Labor costs are relatively low, soil fertility is incredibly high, requiring little or no fertilizer, water is plentiful for crop growth, and depending on crops, two to three harvests can be obtained in one year compared to one crop harvested in the United States. Some consumers believe that organic foods are safer than conventionally grown foods so they rely on organically grown products as their primary source of food. In 2006, organic foods comprised about 2.5% of the US food market. The estimated 10,000 organic farms in the United States are not increasing quickly enough to meet demand. Hence, organic food processors are sourcing ingredients globally from locations including South Africa, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Europe. This includes countries in which food is produced under insanitary conditions. There is no assurance that organic foods are microbiologically safer than others. Current trends indicate that foods imported into the United States during the past decade have increased at an unprecedented rate, with food imports being greater than US food exports. Fresh produce, fresh and frozen fish and shellfish and tree nuts are dominant among food groups that 802 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | NOVEMBER 2008

Food Protection Trends - November 2008

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