A lot of people have handled your food: The geo-commercial realities of eating in a shrinking world.

Most of us have heard that the "world is flat" but little does the average person likely realize how really inter-connected we are in our meal-to-meal lives with the food we eat that comes from other countries.  Annually the Centers for Disease Control claim that 17% of Americans become ill from contaminated food--over a span of six years all Americans can be expected to be touched by the problem.  

Each year food contamination puts 128,000 people in the hospital and actually leads to the death of 3,000 of those affected.  While compromised food can come from any source, an increasing percentage of food sources for U.S. citizens comes from abroad--where food manufacturers and government regulators have a greater challenge maintaining standards long-adhered to here.  Indeed, there is recent legislation [The Food Safety Modernization Act, 2010] that empowers the FDA to reach beyond it's normal boundaries to control international sources of supply.  

More comes from abroad than you might think.

But how much of what we eat is really affected by suppliers outside of the U.S.?  Here are a few stats may surprise you: 75% of seafood and half of fruit consumed in the U.S. is imported; furthermore, according to Businessweek, something as ordinary as frozen pizza can have up to 50 ingredients from more than 10 different countries.  

Here's an even better example: With more than 100 ingredients in a cheeseburger, over 65 different countries of origin are represented; Businessweek offers a stunning graphic that shows this.

The big question, of course, is whether the federal government is prepared to carry out the new Food Safety Act, but at the moment question is up in the air.  With the assistance of other, private mechanisms and firms, the problem can be addressed, say, with food auditors like NSF International.  How it all eventually works out, only time will tell.  

In the meantime, think about all the touch points that are represented in the next mouthful you eat--you might be surprised at what you used to consume rather matter of factly!  Not any more.  
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Follow Keith's biz blog on Twitter for updates and see more of what he's reading about on his Facebook Page. If you are inclined, you can write him at kmurray@bryant.edu.