Four journalists were honored for excellent food science reporting at the Institute of Food Technologists' (IFT's) 1999 Annual Meeting & FOOD EXPOR in Chicago on July 24.
One winning story from 1998 in each category (newspaper, consumer magazine, and television) was selected by a panel of judges based on compelling interest, sound science, effective communication, and objectivity. Each judging panel was comprised of two food scientists, a journalist, and a communications professional.
Martha Groves, staff writer in the Metro Department at the Los Angeles Times, won the newspaper category with her story "Less-Than-Glowing Image Hampers Food Irradiation," published on March 15, 1998. She reported that public misinformation about irradiation, fostered by activists, has precluded food processors from utilizing this time-tested technology, which has the potential to enhance the safety of ground beef, fresh produce, and other raw products associated with foodborne outbreaks. This situation, Groves noted, is ultimately the public's misfortune. "Scientists claim that irradiation can do for beef what pasteurization did for milk," she wrote--that is prevent harmful microorganisms from sickening thousands of people.
John Wasik, special projects editor of Consumers Digest, was the winner of the consumer magazine category. His story "How Safe is Your Produce?," published in September/ October 1998, revealed after a six-month investigation that U.S. government inspection of produce at the border is less than desirable, in fact, practically non-existent. Wasik noted that the Food and Drug Administration, which only has 113 inspectors for 309 ports, is unable to ade-quately inspect and regulate the conditions under which imported produce is grown and shipped.
"Although a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report found that there is no evidence to suggest that imported produce is less safe than domestic produce, more than 98 percent of the imports are untested for pesticides and pathogens," Wasik wrote. Consumers can reduce their risk of getting foodborne illness by washing and carefully handling produce, he noted.
"Dateline NBC" Producer Bob Gilmartin and Consumer Interest Correspondent Lea Thompson won the television category as a result of their investigative story "Where's the Beef?: Adulterated Ground Beef," which aired on NBC Television Network on June 8, 1998. This investigative report revealed that when it comes to ground beef, what one sees on a label may not be what one gets.
Twenty-nine out of 100 samples of laboratory-tested ground beef, labeled as 100 percent pure beef and randomly purchased at grocery stores in 10 major U.S. cities, were contaminated with 12 to 29 percent of pork, lamb, and/or poultry. Thompson and Gilmartin reported that while some stores broke the law by not sanitizing their meat grinders in between uses with different animal products, other stores deliberately threw in pork, lamb, or poultry trimmings to try to save money. But not only is adulteration illegal, the story noted, selling mixed meats can be a health hazard, and in some cases, deadly.
The journalism award winners received $1,000 per category, a trophy, and trip to IFT's Annual Meeting in Chicago July 24-28. For more information about the 1999 or 2000 contests, contact Angela Dansby at 312-782-8424 X127 or via e-mail at aldansby@ift.org .
Founded in 1939, IFT is a non-profit scientific society with 28,000 members working in food science, technology and related professions in industry, academia and government. As the society for food science and technology, IFT brings sound science to the public discussion of food issues.