Author: Kit Redwine

For many, the rows of home-canned vegetables and preserves lining a pantry shelf represent a deep sense of accomplishment: the taste of summer captured, a family tradition upheld, or a step toward self-sufficiency. Yet, within these seemingly innocuous jars can lurk one of the most potent natural poisons known to humanity. Botulism, a rare but fiercely dangerous form of food poisoning, remains a clear and present danger, a threat that emerges not from carelessness but from a fundamental misunderstanding of an invisible, formidable foe. This danger is Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium as common as the soil it inhabits. Its threat…

Beneath the sweeping skies of America’s farmland, a microscopic threat moves with the water, the wind, and the very soil meant to nourish us. For decades, public attention on foodborne E. coli has focused on the kitchen: undercooked hamburgers and unwashed produce. However, a growing body of scientific evidence reveals that the story of contamination begins long before food reaches a plate, in the interconnected environments where our food is grown. The journey of a dangerous bacterium from an animal reservoir to a human illness is a complex tale of ecology, weather, and modern agriculture, exposing critical vulnerabilities in our…

The kitchen is often called the heart of the home, a place of warmth, creativity, and shared meals. Yet, beneath this comforting image lies a startling and often ignored public health reality. A growing body of evidence suggests that for many people around the world, the home kitchen is the most likely place they will encounter a foodborne illness. In Brazil, data spanning a decade shows that 37.2% of foodborne illness cases originated in domestic kitchens, more than double the percentage linked to restaurants. This pattern is not unique to one country; studies in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere…

In a gleaming kitchen deep within a cruise ship, a chef checks a digital thermometer. The reading for a dairy dessert shows 56 degrees Fahrenheit, well above the safe threshold. In a storage room, a water purification system drains directly into a tank of gray waste water. On a pool deck, six guests crowd into a whirlpool built for four. Each of these incidents, observed on different ships during recent surprise health inspections, represents a small crack in a complex fortress of food and water safety. They are individual data points in a massive, ongoing effort to protect tens of…

In a world dominated by the steady hum of the refrigerator, a quiet counter-revolution is taking place in kitchens, farms, and food labs. It is a return to methods older than recorded history: the bubbling crock of fermenting vegetables, the salt-rubbed ham aging in a cool cellar, the fragrant smoke curling around strips of drying meat. For millennia, techniques like fermentation, curing, smoking, and drying were not culinary trends but essential acts of survival, allowing our ancestors to store nutrients beyond a harvest or a hunt. Today, as we grapple with food waste, energy consumption, and a desire for sustainable,…

In a nondescript federal building, and in health departments across the country, multiple investigations are always underway. Its subject is not a criminal syndicate, but something that strikes a more intimate and universal fear: contaminated food in our kitchens. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) CORE Response Teams are the detectives in these cases, managing a rotating roster of outbreaks linked to pathogens like Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli. A single page on the FDA’s website, updated weekly, serves as the public ledger for this ongoing work, listing outbreaks in various stages of resolution. As of mid-October 2025, this list reveals a continuous cycle of…

Every day, a precarious relay race takes place to deliver the fresh food on our tables. From the moment a head of lettuce is cut or a salmon is fileted, it enters a delicate life-support system known as the cold chain: a synchronized network of refrigerated trucks, warehouses, and display cases designed to keep food within a narrow, safe temperature range. When this chain holds, we enjoy crisp produce and safe meals. When a single link fails, the consequences are far more severe than a spoiled dinner. Breaches in the cold chain are a leading, yet often invisible, contributor to…

The enjoyment of cheese, a culinary staple for centuries, is shadowed by a persistent microscopic threat. Recent recalls of soft cheeses, including a major Class I recall of Camembert and other soft cheeses in September 2025, have highlighted ongoing public health concerns about Listeria monocytogenes. This pathogen poses a particular danger to vulnerable populations and has been repeatedly linked to cheeses that are often central to cultural traditions and artisanal food movements. The challenge lies in balancing the appreciation for traditional cheese-making, especially with raw milk, with the implementation of rigorous scientific controls to mitigate a known and deadly risk.…

A series of multistate foodborne illness outbreaks stretching into late 2025 has sickened hundreds of people across the United States, leading to hospitalizations, deaths, and widespread product recalls. Federal and state health agencies are actively managing investigations involving a range of pathogens, from the familiar threats of Salmonella and E. coli to the persistent danger of Listeria, which has proven particularly deadly in a recent outbreak linked to prepared pasta meals. These concurrent incidents highlight the ongoing vulnerabilities in a complex food supply chain, even as investigative technologies become more sophisticated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the…

In the ongoing battle to ensure food safety, government agencies continuously adapt their strategies to combat pervasive pathogens like Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria. The evolution of these regulations reflects a complex journey from reactive outbreaks responses to proactive, science-based prevention, driven by advancing technology and a deepening understanding of microbial threats. The current landscape is marked by sophisticated surveillance, targeted enforcement, and new scientific discoveries that reveal how these pathogens evade the body’s defenses. The Scientific Underpinnings of the Threat The relentless pursuit of food safety is driven by the significant public health burden imposed by pathogenic bacteria. Among…