KBIA is hosting a series of community engagement events across Missouri.
Last week, we brought that conversation to Jefferson City, and we focused on food safety, following multiple foodborne illness outbreaks over the summer.
Ashley Wiggington, a Foodborne/Waterborne Illnesses Epidemiologist from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services epidemiologist and Jennifer Bean, a dietitian with the Missouri Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, joined KBIA’s Najifa Farhat. Community members also had a chance to ask their own questions.
This is a snippet from the event and the story has been edited for length and clarity.
Najifa: Missouri had the fourth-largest amount of cyclospora cases nationwide. So were we able to identify a hotspot for Missouri?
Ashley Wiggington: We were included in that investigation because we did have cases reporting those exposures to the recalled products. So that would be we had a lot of cases reporting Taco Bell or some other retail exposures. I think Walmart was one of those as well that had sold recalled iceberg lettuce. So we had cases reporting that. We did see more cases reported in some of our metro regions. But again, it's just because there's a higher population. So there's more people getting sick because there's just more people there.
Janet: I wondered if there's a better place to source your food. I was sort of hoping that because I buy food from Trader Joe's, it sourced well and I'll be OK. But I was pretty sure that was not correct. So can you let us know?
Jennifer Bean: The American food system that we have, the way that it has developed over the last hundred years, it's actually a pretty young food system compared to other countries, there's really not a lot of diversity. So if I can use ground beef as an example, I believe there's only five ground, like mass-produced ground beef companies in the world. There's hundreds of brands, but they're all gonna go through those five companies. I'm not fear mongering because know your risk. But I mean, it would be great if we can know where our food comes from, if we can support our local farmers so that they can have a livable wage.
Mike: I work in private industry, but I work with a lot of people at other agencies, federal and state, and I've been hearing an awful lot about cuts to programs and things like that. [Have] the state health department, health and senior services, been impacted by such cuts?
Ashley Wiggington: Our budget has been stable for this fiscal year but again I know that there's discussions about the next fiscal year. I think a lot of the potential budget shortfalls or cuts that we would see would happen next fiscal year.
Christopher: Are there extra regulations on foods served in school cafeterias?
Jennifer Bean: You are correct. There are extra regulations on what foods are served in schools because bright young minds are at schools and we want to do what we can to make sure we're providing appropriate nutrition for school and breakfast. There are a lot of kids that their main consistent meals happen at schools. And so that's why school lunch and school breakfast have regulations on how much energy they have to provide, as well as how much protein, which are the building blocks for our body, have to provide.
Caroline: I think that I remember this summer when the news of the outbreak was coming out, and I remember seeing a lot of headlines and reading articles about how climate change seemed to be increasing the prevalence of these foodborne illnesses. And so guess my question is just like, is that another thing to add to the long list of climate changes, doing all of these different things?
Jennifer Bean: Warmer temperatures will affect plant maturation as well. so having your plants be healthy enough to resist spores and things like that is also a part. But it's it's still difficult tell right away if that's something to be concerned for. I think for other conditions outside of food, food safety, we're seeing the effects of some of the potential climate change expanding.
We’re traveling across Missouri to hear directly from communities about the health issues that matter most to them. If there’s a particular health issue you’d like us to explore or discuss with your community, we’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at news@kbia.org.
