A Tale of Two Countries

Two big stories covering food safety today illustrate the difference in societal reactions to possibly contaminated food. First, South Koreans continue to protest (daily!) the import of US beef into that country on fears of mad cow disease, since American beef regulatory standards are, to put it mildly, lax. The protests have unfortunately turned violent.

Contrast this with the latest news on the US salmonella outbreak – CDC officials are now saying that tainted product could still be on store shelves, nearly two weeks after first announcing the outbreak. Officials have also announced they may never pinpoint the outbreak’s origin.

It should be clear to American consumers that the FDA has a greatly flawed mechanism for tracing the origin or packaging plant of any supply of produce. But here, we have seen no protests, whereas South Koreans have taken to the streets about a possible sickness – remember, no one has even fallen ill there yet.

Do South Koreans just care more than Americans about food safety?