The food we eatClimate change linked to food safety, cost
Changing climate could make food more dangerous, add to the malnourishment of millions, and change even what we eat; for every degree the ambient temperature rises above 6 degrees Celsius — or 43 degrees F — temperature in an area, the occurrence of food-borne salmonella poisoning increases by 12 percent; drought can cause a loss in plant vigor, making plants more susceptible to disease; floods and heavy rains favor the growth of fungal pathogens on leaves, and many disease-causing organisms can spread in changing wind currents
Global warming has the potential to make what we eat more dangerous and expensive, and the world already is feeling the effects, according to experts.
A quartet of scientists reporting during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. last weekend said the issues of food safety are poorly understood, but the inference from what is known is distressing.
Inside Science reports that they fear that global warming would lead to increased levels of contamination of food, from chemicals and pesticides to crop pests and fungal pathogens, as well as faster spreading of diseases such as cholera and shellfish poisoning. These issues could also force changes in diets as some foods become less available or more dangerous and increase food prices in a world where they are already rising and causing civil unrest.
Discussions about the link between climate change and food safety are only now beginning, said Sandra Hoffman of the Department of Agriculture, and the science is not clear.
While poor countries, particularly in the tropics and subtropics, and the impoverished everywhere will fare the worst, according to Ewen C. Todd, of Michigan State University, the threat is not restricted to the developing world.
There are 38.4 million cases of food poisoning in the United States every year, mostly from noroviruses, the pathogen best known for affecting cruise ship passengers. Of those victims, 72,000 people are hospitalized and 1,600 die. Salmonella, a bacterium, now is the leading cause of food-related death.
Scientists know that for every degree the ambient temperature rises above 6 degrees Celsius — or 43 degrees F — temperature in an area, the occurrence of food-borne salmonella poisoning increases by 12 percent.
The dangers can readily be demonstrated, Todd said. In 2005 lettuce grown in Spain and shipped to Finland caused 56 cases of salmonella poisoning.
The cause was traced to farmers using untreated water for irrigation. They had to do so, they told authorities, because a drought, likely produced by climate change, restricted their access to clean water.
Another possible effect of climate change is in the news now. One of the reasons for the unrest in Egypt and Asia has been rising food prices caused by stressed ecosystems on the land and in the ocean, Todd said.
Ray Knighton, also of the USDA, said changing climate affects food production. Drought can cause a loss in plant vigor, making
