SCIENCE LITERACY WORKING WITH DATA

30-21

These two graphs represent data on meat recalls from 1998 to 2011, in pounds. Graphs are based on data from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (www.fsis.usda.gov).

Interpretation

Question 30.17

What type of meat was recalled most, and what is the most common reason for recalls?

Beef is the most often recalled. Listeria is the most common reason (after miscellaneous).

Question 30.18

For each type of food recall, calculate its percentage of total food recalls.

Total: 479,112,408 pounds, therefore:

Beef = 240,569,571/479,112,408 = 50%

Pork = 75,527,952/479,112,408 = 16%

Poultry = 107,023,462/479,112,408 = 22%

Combination = 47,024,890/479,112,408 = 10%

Other = 8,966,833/479,112,408 = 2%

Advance Your Thinking

Question 30.19

We are most likely to be exposed to Listeria by eating cold cuts like lunch meat. What is it about this type of food that increases our likelihood of getting sick if it is contaminated? Where does Listeria rank as a source of contamination?

Lunch meat is typically eaten without further cooking; additional cooking might have killed any bacteria that happened to be on the meat. Listeria is the second leading cause of meat recalls and the largest single contaminant category of recalls (the only other category larger than Listeria is “miscellaneous” which likely includes a variety of pathogens).

Question 30.20

Salmonella is responsible for more cases of foodborne illness than E. coli or Listeria. Why might this be true when it trails them on the list of recalled meat by the pound?

It could be that Salmonella is more likely to cause illness than E. coli or Listeria if ingested. Perhaps it is more virulent (smaller amounts can make you sick) or perhaps meat contaminated with Salmonella typically has greater levels of contamination than meat contaminated with the other 2 pathogens. It could also be that more Salmonella contaminated meat is escaping detection and is not recalled.

Question 30.21

Does the use of CAFOs increase or decrease the likelihood of meat recalls? Explain your answer.

Answers may vary. It could increase it because fecal contamination of the hide is more likely in CAFOs (animals are reared in closer quarters that are less sanitary); it might decrease it if more efficient methods for cleaning animals before slaughter are used at CAFOs as opposed to smaller operations.