One thing that may not cross each of our minds could be Food Safety, when ever we prepare foods in the kitchen; until recently when we started hearing more about recalls and E. coli contamination in our food supplies.

Our main concerns when we prepare food may include what we are giving the children, whether it is nutritious, contains fats or less or that they are accepted to eat. I want to convince you to understand that Food Safety is very important to all of us, no matter where we live.

All of us should believe that the proper food preparation processes are necessary to prevent a family member from becoming sick from foodborne illness caused mainly by bacteria called E. coli that we are hearing much about these days in the news.

Food Safety precautions revolve around knowing how to select foods in the grocery stores, how they are handled that can include storage methods at home or at our service business, how we cook them, and how much cleaning is done in between preparations and afterwards. "From Harvest to Our Dinner Table," at this site (www.atlasbooks.com ) can provide each with needed basic ideas to protect our foods, also with innovative suggestions to help us prevent foodborne illnesses in our individual homes and in public eating places we call food service business.

Now let us understand a little more about E. coli. Shiga toxin-producing (STEC) 0157 is a pathogenic strain of E.coli bacteria ( we formally called or classified as E. coli 0157:H7). This specific bacterium is clearly known to live in the intestines of healthy cattle and other ruminating animals. Some humans infected by this pathogen often are having bloody diarrhea and some will develop a life threatening form of acute kidney failures known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

We know now that human infections are mainly due to the consumption of food that has been contaminated by STEC 0157 during improper food processing or handling. It is clearly brought to our understanding nowadays that illnesses and outbreaks caused by STEC 0157 (pathogenic E. coli) continue to be associated with a varity of our foods that include raw beef, meats from other ruminants, unpasteurized milk products, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, unpateurized applejuice and cider.

The Food and Drug Administration may currently be inspectiong less than 1% from a total of 70% at least, of our consumption as imports. Now you know part of the numerous stories behind the over whelming recalls. Food Safety for all us is an individual responsiblity, that cannot be left completely in the control of manufacurers and government agencies any longer.