SEATTLE (FNS) -- Many Seattle-area consumers expressed concern, if not alarm, about food safety. Even some who said they considered the food in their supermarkets clean and fresh told SN they are taking more care to wash it before cooking. Several others
expressed fears the diseases that have afflicted European livestock could spread here.
Kasia Egan, 42, accountant, Seattle
Everything is suspect. I just don't believe food items are as fresh as they can be. I am afraid of mad cow and concerned with the beef I buy. Nothing is safe. Poultry has a lot of hormones, and beef can have mad cow. These are things I can't see when I am buying food. The only thing I can do is look at items and check expiration dates.
David Placo, 40, cook, Seattle
I am most definitely concerned about food safety. I wash poultry prior to cooking and I cook meat to well done. I'm looking how stores package meats more now. I look for quality and I go to supermarkets that pay attention to clean work areas.
Randy Poole, 26, customer service representative, Seattle
Right now I am not concerned with any problems. The problems with mad cow and foot-and-mouth are in Europe and on the farms. These are problems that can't be stopped with handling. I feel our supermarkets offer good food and I feel comfortable.
Nicki Gorski, 34, vocational consultant, Bothell, Wash.
Yes, I am concerned with the foods I buy at the supermarkets. I am careful about what I buy because I am concerned about the health of my family. I now cook everything well and wash all the vegetables and fruits I buy. I watch meat expiration dates more carefully than I have in the past. When selecting items at the supermarket, I pick through them to find the freshest. I don't buy the shiniest apples, for example, because I know they are coated with wax. Sometimes, I buy organic just to make sure there are no pesticides on the food I feed my children.
Jeff Evanson, 46, entrepreneur, Seattle
It would be unwise to say there is no food safety danger. Proper precautions need to be taken. While we are safe now, it may not always be that way. The problems that have sprung up in Europe can happen here.
Frank Merritt, 72, retired, Seattle
I'm not really concerned. When I go shopping I buy what looks good to me. If I see something and I want it, I buy it. I am not really concerned about diseases or illness from foods. The food always looks fresh at my store. I live by myself, and I am in control of how everything is handled once I get it home. I scrub up after handling meats and wash my produce.
Harry Stowell, 59, program coordinator, Shoreline
I don't think there is a food safety problem. I have not changed how I shop or prepare food. I feel the food in the United States is totally safe and I've never had a problem.
