大连天巳丰田:绿色、有机食品安全吗？您需要一个大大的？

那些担心食物会带来某种疾病的购物者可能把注意力转向小农场生产的或者贴上“当地生产”、“有机”或“天然”字样标签的食物，希望这些产品更加安全。但是，产自明尼苏达州的鸡蛋导致了沙门氏菌的小规模爆发，这表明没有任何食物能够避免污染。

While sales for food produced on smaller operations have exploded, partially fueled by a consumer backlash to food produced by larger companies, a new set of food safety challenges has emerged. And small farm operations have been exempted from food safety laws as conservatives, farmers and food-lovers have worried about too much government intervention and regulators have struggled with tight budgets.

然而，小生产者制造的食品销售数量增长很快，部分是由于消费者对大公司生产食品的反对带来的，一套新的食品安全挑战出现了。小农场已经为食品安全法所豁免，因为保守者、农民和食品爱好者担心政府过多干预而且监管机构的预算也非常紧张。

The government has traditionally focused on safety at large food operations — including farms, processing plants, and retailers — because they reach the most people. Recent outbreaks in cantaloupe, ground turkey, eggs and peanuts have started at large farms or plants and sickened thousands of people across the country.

根据传统，政府只关注大型食品生产者的视频安全---包括农场、加工厂和零售商---因为他们的涉及的面非常广。最近，大型农场和工厂里的甜瓜、火鸡、鸡蛋和花生导致了疾病暴发，全国有成千上万的人患病。

"While it's critical that food processors be regularly inspected, there is no way the Food and Drug Administration would ever have the resources to check every farm in the country, nor are we calling for that," says Erik Olson, a food safety advocate at the Pew Health Group. "Unfortunately, there are regulatory gaps, with some producers being completely exempt from FDA safeguards."

“食品加工厂应该受到检查，这是很关键的，食品和药品监督管理局没有办法检查全国的每一家农场，我们也没有要求那样做，”皮尤医疗集团的食品安全倡导者埃里克·奥尔森说。“不幸的是，监管者还是不够，一些生产者完全游离于食品和药品监督管理局的监管之外了。”

The FDA, which oversees the safety of most of the U.S. food supply, often must focus on companies that have the greatest reach. A sweeping new egg rule enacted last year would require most egg producers to do more testing for pathogens. Though the rule will eventually cover more than 99 percent of the country's egg supply, small farms like Larry Schultz Organic Farm of Owatonna, Minn., would not qualify. That farm issued a recall last week after six cases of salmonella poisoning were linked to the farm's eggs.

食品和药品监督管理局负责监管大多数美国食品供应商的食品安全，必须经常关注那些大的公司。一个新的关于鸡蛋的规定于去年生效，要求大多数鸡蛋生产厂家进行更多的病原体检查。尽管该规定最终覆盖了全国99%的鸡蛋供应企业，像明尼苏达州奥瓦通纳的拉里·舒尔茨·有机农场并不包括在内。在发生了六起与该农场的鸡蛋有关的沙门氏菌中毒事件后，该农场于上周宣布召回售出的鸡蛋。

A new food safety law President Barack Obama signed earlier this year exempts some small farms as a result of farmers and local food advocates complaining that creating costly food safety plans could cause some small businesses to go bankrupt. The exemption covers farms of a certain size that sell within a limited distance of their operation.

今年早些时候，奥巴马总统签署了新的食品安全法，该法豁免了一些小农场，因为地方食品鼓吹者抱怨昂贵的食品安全计划可能让一些小企业破产。该法豁免了某些规模的农场，这些农场的产品只销往农场周围不远的地方。

Food safety advocates unsuccessfully lobbied against the provision, as did the organic industry. Christine Bushway of the Organic Trade Association, which represents large and small producers, says food safety comes down to proper operation of a farm or food company, not its scale.

食品安全鼓吹者没有能像有机食品行业那样阻止这项条款。有机贸易协会的克莉丝汀·布什维代表了大小生产者，她说食品安全来自于对农场的正确管理而不是农场的大小。

"How is the farm managed? How much effort is put into food safety?" she asks. "If you don't have really good management, it doesn't matter."

农场的管理方式如何？它投入多少精力放在食品安全上？她问道。“如果你没有真正良好的管理，规模大小不起作用。”

Smaller farms do have some obvious food safety advantages. Owners have more control over what they are producing and often do not ship as far, lessening the chances for contamination in transport. If the farm is organic, an inspector will have to visit the property to certify it is organic and may report to authorities if they see food being produced in an unsafe way. Customers may also be familiar with an operation if it is nearby.

小型农场有明显的食品安全优势。农场的所有者对他们生产的产品有更多的控制能力，这些产品也不会运送到很远的地方，减少了运输过程中的污染机会。如果农场是有机的，监管者将经常参观以保证它的确是有机的，而且，如果他们看到食品的生产方式并不安全，他们就可能向当局汇报。如果农场就在附近，消费者对它也非常熟悉。

But those checks aren't fail-safe. The FDA has reported at least 20 recalls due to pathogens in organic food in the last two years, while the Agriculture Department, which oversees meat safety, issued a recall of more than 34,000 pounds of organic beef last December due to possible contamination with E. coli.

但是，这些检查是自动防故障的。在过去的两年里，食品和药品监督管理局至少报告了20起召回事件，都与有机食品中的病原体有关，而去年12月，监管肉食品安全的农业部发布了一起召回案件，涉及超过34，000磅有机牛肉，原因是可能污染了大肠杆菌。

Egg safety is equally ambiguous. While many people like to buy cage-free eggs, those chickens may be exposed to bacteria on the grounds where they are roaming.

蛋类食品的安全一样模糊不清。多数人喜欢买散养的鸡蛋，这些鸡在到处闲荡的时候可能会染上地面上的细菌。

So what can a consumer do? Experts say to follow the traditional rules, no matter what the variety of food. Cook foods like eggs and meat, and make sure you are scrubbing fruit and cleaning your kitchen well.

那么，消费者怎么办呢？专家说，无论什么样的食品都要根据传统规则。像鸡蛋和肉这样的要炒或煮，确保清洗水果并清洁厨房。

Do your part, and hope for the best, the experts say.

做你能做的，希望得到最好的结果，专家说。

"Labels like organic or local don't translate into necessarily safer products," says Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "They are capturing different values but not ensuring safety."

“有机或者当地字样的标签不能被翻译成安全的产品，”公共利益科学中心的卡罗琳·史密斯·第瓦尔说。“他们的价值观不同，但不能保证是安全的。”

Bushway of the Organic Trade Association says one of the best checks on food safety is the devastating effect a recall or foodborne illness outbreak can have on a company's bottom line.

有机贸易协会的布什维说，对食品安全最好的检查之一是把召回或食源性疾病的爆发造成破坏性影响成为公司的底线。

"It's just good business to make sure you are putting the safest products on the market," she says.

“保证你投放到市场上的产品是最安全的企业才是好企业，”她说。