When it comes to food safety, something being processed is a very good thing. In today’s food world, local, organic, and natural are all the rage. The big “food processors” are viewed as the evil empire. What is lost in the hype, is that with food processing comes important food safety procedures. It no surprise that companies like Chipotle that embraced the consumer demand for local/less processed ingredients, have been plagued with food safety issues. This trend will continue until consumers relearn the value of processed foods.
This belief makes me a dinosaur. Everyone knows that processed foods are killing us. Or at least that is what we are being told. It has become a common belief that complicated ingredient lines that read like a chemistry texts are the root cause of every disease from cancer to autism. Lost in all the craze is the reality is that people are living longer. Life expectancies continue to grow. (See the following chart) In the end, My position is that processed foods (with sound food safety procedures behind them) are as much of a contributor to longer life expectancy, as they are a contributor to chronic disease.
I believe in balance and common sense. Too much of anything is not good. If something is too good to be true, it probably isn’t good for you. Ignoring food safety principles isn’t good for you either.
One thing learned from working for 35 years for a major food processor, is that they have a vested interest in making their products safe. The legal liability alone, is huge if a product has a safety issue. There are policies and procedures galore to make sure their products won’t make someone sick or, god forbid, kill someone.
There is a great story about my cousins in Hawaii. They developed a business making products that used organic virgin coconut oil that they sourced from a small Company in the Philippines. My cousins raved about this company and how they made the “purest product”. At the time I ran a desiccated coconut company in the Philippines for Kraft foods. It turned out that the supplier that sold organic virgin coconut oil to my cousins was on the other side of the mountain from our plant. We asked our quality manager, with 25 years of experience in food safety, to visit the supplier. The report that came back was horrifying. There was a strong possibility that the “Purest Product” could kill someone. Did my cousins believe me? I don’t know.
There is one thing I do know, being careful with food safety is important. Food products that are local, organic, natural and less processed are not necessarily safer. Unfortunately, I expect time will tell us that they are less safe and that, when talking about food, Processed is not a dirty word.
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