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If people would just be honest, there would be no crime. If people would work more, there would be no poverty. If they cooked meat right, there would be no illness. "They're not going to do that," said Brad Morgan, a meat scientist at Oklahoma State University. "People say they are willing to pay for food safety, but I think they expect it." Morgan, speaking at the South Plains Beef Symposium, said that when there is an outbreak of food borne illness, concern for food safety goes straight to the top of the list of things consumers fear most. A recent USA Today poll asked their readers what they were afraid of. The top five answers were, number one, being in a car crash; second, having cancer; third, inadequate Social Security; fourth, not enough retirement, and fifth, food poisoning from meat. "We have an image problem from a health standpoint," Morgan said. "One thing you have to remember is that any time there is a disease outbreak, it's a safety concern. Food safety will go to the top of the list. It's not a concern with most consumers until there's an outbreak." A Washington Post newspaper article recently ran a story headlined "Hamburger Hazards." The story was on E Coli., but the article said that of more than 200 outbreaks of E. Coli 015787, about 68 percent came from alfalfa sprouts. Seven percent came from ground beef. "We have to do some things from a marketing stand point and image stand point," Morgan said. "We have a very good product, but any time it happens to have a problem, it hits the news." But consumers also play a part in food safety, he said. "We can talk until we're blue in the face about consumers but I still say they have a part in food safety," Morgan said. He just finished a project with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and Colorado State University handing out cards in retail stores in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado. "Any time people would pick up beef out of the meat case, we'd give them a card they could mail back," he said. The object of the study was to find out how long consumers carried that meat around before they put it in the refrigerator or freezer. "We had 2,500 respondents in this project," Morgan said. "One out of every 11 people that was surveyed kept the meat in transit for three or more hours. That's why I say consumers have a part to play in meat safety." |
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