Listen Live
Donate
 on air
    Schedule

    KCRW

    Read & Explore

    • News
    • Entertainment
    • Food
    • Culture
    • Events

    Listen

    • Live Radio
    • Music
    • Podcasts
    • Full Schedule

    Information

    • About
    • Careers
    • Help / FAQ
    • Newsletters
    • Contact

    Support

    • Become a Member
    • Become a VIP
    • Ways to Give
    • Shop
    • Member Perks

    Become a Member

    Donate to KCRW to support this cultural hub for music discovery, in-depth journalism, community storytelling, and free events. You'll become a KCRW Member and get a year of exclusive benefits.

    DonateGive Monthly

    Copyright 2026 KCRW. All rights reserved.

    Report a Bug|Privacy Policy|Terms of Service|
    Cookie Policy
    |FCC Public Files|

    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    How Safe Is America's Food Supply?

    Recent reports of chemical and biological contamination have raised troubling questions about food safety in the globalized economy. America imports four times as much food as it did ten years ago, but a reduced staff of inspectors can look at just one-percent of nine million shipments from overseas.

    • rss
    • Share
    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    Recent reports of chemical and biological contamination have raised troubling questions about food safety in the globalized economy. America imports four times as much food as it did ten years ago, but a reduced staff of inspectors can look at just one-percent of nine million shipments from overseas. Food shipped from Mexico, India and China has been tainted with illegal fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics and industrial chemicals, and the Bush White House has formed a working group on imported food. But just this week, meat products from Georgia were recalled because of an "urgent health threat" from deadly botulism, and E-coli bacteria were found on California produce just last year. Wherever it comes from, how safe is America's food? How do consumers know what to buy?

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    How Safe Is America's Food Supply?
    1. 1:37Committee Issues Contempt Citations against Presidential Aides
    2. 7:31How Safe Is America's Food Supply?You’re reading this
    3. 41:58Sarkozy in Libya Following Release of Medics
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Andrea Brody

      Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast

    • KCRW placeholder

      Vanessa Romo

      LA School Report

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Frances Anderton

      architecture critic and author

    • An older woman with white curly hair smiles at a glass patio table, wearing a blue sweater and floral scarf, garden behind her.

      Marion Nestle

      Molecular biologist, nutritionist, public health advocate

    • KCRW placeholder

      Joe Pezzini

      Vice President of Operations for Ocean Mist Farms

    • KCRW placeholder

      Joseph Mendelson

      Legal Director of the Center for Food Safety

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    How Safe Is America's Food Supply?
    1. 1:37Committee Issues Contempt Citations against Presidential Aides
    2. 7:31How Safe Is America's Food Supply?You’re reading this
    3. 41:58Sarkozy in Libya Following Release of Medics
    Back to To the Point