How Green Is My Salad: Oubreaks of Food Poisoning Should put Irradiation and Genetic Modification Back on the Menu


 

Publication Date: January 2008

Publisher: Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace

Author(s): Henry I. Miller

Research Area: Agriculture, forestry and fishing; Health

Keywords: Health; Food Safety; Genetic Modification

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

In the summer of 2008, an outbreak of food poisoning due to tomatoes infected by a bacterium called Salmonella saintpaul. Shortly afterward, fresh jalapeño and serrano peppers from Mexico were also implicated. Protection from persistent bacteria and the toxins that they produce is best found in a technology known as gene-splicing (also known as “genetic modification” or GM), a solution to which the organic lobby has been historically opposed.