Extension Spotlight

A food emergency occurs when there is an adulteration or contamination of food, actual or threatened, that affects or may affect human health and requires immediate attention. There can be several causes of a food emergency; natural, technological/accidental, adversarial/human-caused. Some examples of these include animal disease outbreaks, wildfires, chemical spills, dam failures, cyber-attacks and biological terrorism attacks.

When a food emergency first arises, a lot is going on to figure out the cause. There are investigations to see if the situation is out of the ordinary, where the problem originated, and the cause of the problem. During this time the health department is asking those who are sick questions about what they ate and where they got the food from. This will help the health department to trace back to where the issue is originating. Once the origin has been determined, then authorities can focus on what caused the issue with the food and how to stop the problem from continuing to spread.

Some ways that the public can help in food disasters is to help properly dispose of possible contaminated food and be careful when shopping to make sure there are no recalls. The FDA has three different classifications of recalls. Class I could cause serious health issues or death, Class II are products that might cause a temporary health issue and a slight threat of serious nature and Class III are products that are unlikely to cause issues but don’t follow labeling or manufacturing laws. Those that work in businesses with food can help make sure employers are following food recalls, pulling food off of shelves if need be and making sure they are labeled.

For any type of emergency, it is always good to be prepared. FEMA has a disaster supply kit that they recommend people build for an emergency. They recommend that in a disaster kit, there is one gallon of water per person per day and enough non-perishable food for at least three days. Emergencies are not something to be afraid of or panic about when you are prepared.

If you have any questions please contact Josilyn at [email protected] or (970) 474-3479.