Word: often
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...troubling facts remain. As much as 50% of fruits and vegetables come from abroad where the restrictions on pesticide use are generally not as stringent as in the U.S. Imported produce often carries not only higher levels of chemicals than domestic supplies but also residues of DDT and other pesticides banned...
Modern-day eating habits make it hard to be careful. Many Americans rely on restaurant or supermarket salad bars -- places where the food is left to sit for many hours and handled by many people, often in slovenly fashion. Notes dietitian Bettye Nowlin of the American Dietetic Association: "I've seen people at take-out stores who don't seem to have a problem sneezing on food and then offering...
When people decide to cook for themselves at home, they often do not know exactly what to do. Instead of thawing food in the refrigerator, they leave it out on the kitchen counter where the exterior will warm up faster than the interior, thus promoting bacterial growth. Novice cooks also make the mistake of slicing raw meat and chopping vegetables on the same cutting board, encouraging the transfer of contaminants from one food to another. Dr. Robert Tauxe, of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, points out another no- no: "Sometimes people will take chicken out to the barbecue...
Banta regularly reports on the rigors of life behind the Iron Curtain, and much of his appreciation for such tribulations comes from his personal experience. Trains with no heat. Telephones often on the blink. Sources too scared of eavesdroppers to talk except in person -- and in private. Even getting into some countries can be a trial. After presenting his perfectly legal visa to the passport officer on entering Rumania, Banta was taken to the departure lounge for the next flight out. But the kindly officer did give Banta enough Rumanian lei to call the U.S. embassy to protest...
...daunting, and have been made even more so by the budget slashes of the Reagan era. The FDA, for example, can assign only 910 staff members -- in contrast to 1,105 in 1977 -- to monitor food, including imports. Some foreign growers easily circumvent the process; produce from Mexico is often trundled across the border at Nogales, Ariz., on the inspector's day off. And the USDA last year fielded only 7,000 inspectors -- down from 10,000 eight years ago -- to examine the carcasses of nearly 120 million cows, pigs and horses and 5.6 billion chickens...