Will an apple a day keep the doctor away? Or will it leave you retching and reaching for the doctor's phone number? Worried consumers are no longer sure which foods are healthy or even safe. Recently, we have been asked to search our cupboards and throw away certain cans of Heinz spaghetti, certain jars of Panda peanut butter, and certain tinned tomato soups . . .
Looming over everything is the spectre of BSE and E.coli 0157. Our food vocabulary now includes such terminology as aflatoxins, maximum residue levels (MRLs) and specified risk materials (SRMs). You'll find none of these in any reputable cookbook, but, if you're unlucky, you may find you have inadvertently added them to your menus.
How worried should we be? Dr Wayne Anderson, the chief specialist (food science) with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), spends his time assessing risks and working on strategies to reduce them.
Back with the recalled spaghetti: he explains it had tin levels in excess of the 200mg/kg limit. The UK Food Standards Agency found levels up to 300mg/kg in some tins. Acid products such as tomatoes can be corrosive over time, leaching the tin out if the protective lacquer on the can is faulty.
"It can be difficult making a call as to whether you ask a company to make a public withdrawal of a product," he says. The health risks to the consumer - in this case, susceptible individuals develop short-term gastro-intestinal symptoms - must be balanced against causing unnecessary alarm.
In general, canning is a safe process and has been around a long time, says Dr Anderson. A French chef, confectioner and distiller, Nicholas Appert, established the principle of modern-day canning back in 1810, when he found a way of preserving soups, fruits and jams by sealing them in jars or bottles which were then immersed in boiling water for several hours. Appert won a prize from the French government, which was worried about feeding the armies it had scattered about Europe.
Today, problems with canned food are rare relative to the sheer volume produced, says Dr Anderson.
"Over the past 20 years, there has been a huge increase in processed food consumption," he says. "People are increasingly divorced from their food supply. Processes have been developed to produce food that is attractive, tastes well and lasts during transportation. "On the plus side, price-wise, people are spending far less on food than they did 40 years ago. The question is: has the processing gone too far?"
Asked to identify major public health issues, he says: "While BSE is a huge issue, we are worried it has overshadowed the problems with E.coli 0157. This is found in meat products, particularly minced meat, and can kill. We've had one death in Ireland, of a child. It's a very nasty bug and can cause kidney damage and severe bloody diarrhoea. Vulnerable groups, such as the very young and the very old, are particularly at risk . . . It will always be an issue as it is endemic in cattle. "Canada has just had a large outbreak due to water which is believed to have been contaminated with slurry, and which was inadequately chlorinated."
Salmonella is still a food-poisoning risk, but a bigger threat may yet come from campylobacter, he says. The FSAI has recently completed a survey of chicken meat which looked for campylobacter, salmonella and hormones. The genetic make-up of any campylobacter found is now being analysed and cross-checked with bugs that were known to be causing problems in humans. This approach should give an insight into the whole continuum from foodstuff source to human health, says Dr Anderson. Results of the study are expected soon.
There is an ongoing debate about going back to nature, eschewing chemicals and eating organic foods. "One of the major concerns expressed anecdotally about organic food is the possible contamination with E.coli 0157 from manure and slurry," says Dr Anderson. "However, a UK FSA survey of organic vegetables did not find a single case."
For the FSAI, the issue is how to ensure that all produce is safe, whether it's produced conventionally or organically. Organic foods are more expensive, and food elitism should not be allowed to develop, says Dr Anderson.
There is a lot of anxiety about pesticide residues in conventional produce. He says there is some misunderstanding about MRLs, which are based on a "no effect" level, which is then reduced by a factor of 100 to 1,000. A breach of an MRL is not necessarily a safety problem, he says. Last year, two or three breaches were found out of nearly 350 tests carried out.
There are also concerns about mycotoxins (toxins produced by fungi), he says. The scientific committee on food in Europe has found that there is no acceptable level of intake, but there is no way it is possible to remove all traces of mycotoxins from cereals and peanuts. Mycotoxins, including aflatoxin, can have chronic cumulative effects.
"We are worried about carcinogenic effects on the liver. So, the options are to ban all cereals and peanuts, and you can see where we are going . . . There wouldn't be a lot to eat . . . Or coming up with limits," says Dr Anderson. The end result was to set legal limits.
This year, the FSAI has embarked on four national surveys, so bakeries, delis, corner shops and supermarkets beware. The surveys will concentrate on the quality of cream in cream cakes, the quality of cooked chicken meat in sandwich bars, the microbiological content of smoked fish (this is an EU-wide survey) and the quality of soft whipped ice-creams.
"This is the first time we are undertaking national surveys," says Dr Anderson. "With these surveys, we can do a lot more samples, as they are targeted. The reports of all of these surveys will be available to the public, both in hard copy and on the website. If it goes well, we will take on more next year."
The FSAI was set up in 1999 and, as monitoring and surveillance is increased, the number of incidents of food withdrawal, food poisoning and breaches of regulations will also increase. "It's a catch-22 situation. But if we didn't look at anything, we wouldn't know there were problems," says Dr Anderson. "But foods still wouldn't be safe. Over time, the volume of problems should decrease, and this will be the test of the FSAI - but we have to be given that time.
"We are on the consumer's side and the consumer, over time, will learn to trust us. But that doesn't absolve the consumer of responsibility for storing, handling and cooking food properly and for avoiding certain foods when pregnant. I'm a big believer that you can't just rely on a nanny state."