Farmer’s Markets are a breeding group for food borne illnesses. Think of how many people touch those peaches or how long that hand milled cream has been sitting in the sun! You should never, ever, frequent these places!
Or so someone would think if they glanced at Dr. Marc. F Bellemare’s initial research and New York Times article published on this research. In a recent presentation at the University of Georgia, Dr. Bellemare went through his results in depth to explain what he actually found.
Over the past 20 years, farmers markets in the United States have been on the rise, with a five-fold increase. The food sold at these markets typically isn’t regulated like the food bought in grocery stores and convenience markets and fresh produce has been a growing cause of food-borne illnesses like Campylobacter.
Dr. Bellemare and his research team set out to research the relationship between farmer’s market and food borne illness rates across the nation. They began by looking at a survey study by Lusk et. al, in which 45% of participants reported that they did not know if the food at farmer’s market was safer or not than grocery store products, 27% thought it was more dangerous, and 27% thought it was safer. In other words, no one really knows. From there, the team set out to give everyone a definite answer.
Using CDC and USDA data on food borne illness cases and outbreaks and the density of farmer’s markets in each state, Bellemare collected the data needed to find a correlation. The research team did control for spillover in other states and regions and utilized state-specific, year-specific, and region-specific linear trends to make sure nothing out of the usual had occurred to skew data. They also recognized that food borne illness rates are typically under-reported to the CDC, as not everyone who gets sick got to a doctor for treatment.
Norovirus
So after evaluating data for year, what did the Bellemare team find? A positive linear relationship exists between the number of outbreaks and individual cases of food borne illnesses, especially Norovirus, and the number of farmer’s market in any given state. They confirmed this as a causation by using weather data and noting that lower average temperatures usually meant lower numbers of markets and in turn outbreaks. But this isn’t inherently the fault of the farmer’s and suppliers of the markets, instead it is most likely due to what happens after the transaction has taken place. Food borne illnesses are typically the result of errors in food preparation, such as cooking at incorrect temperatures or leaving food exposed for too long.
This information can be used to inform consumers on how to properly handle food. Practitioners can make sure that their patrons are not only selecting the best foods from these local suppliers, but also serving them in the safest way possible. Eat local, but be mindful of temperatures!