Here are a few of the Food and Drug Administration's most recent recalls.
| 06/04/2016 | MaraNatha | Sunflower Seed Butter | Listeria monocytogenes | MaraNatha |
| 06/04/2016 | PediaSmart | Dairy Vanilla complete nutrition beverage powder packaged in 12.7 ounce cans | Possible under-delivery of nutrition using included scoop | Nature's One |
| 06/03/2016 | Mountain Thins | Trail Mix | Listeria monocytogenes | Brown & Haley |
| 06/03/2016 | Hostess | Snack cakes, donuts | Undeclared peanut | Hostess Brands LLC |
| 06/03/2016 | Kashi, Bear Naked | Snack bars, granola, granola bars | Listeria monocytogenes | Kashi Company |
| 06/03/2016 | Jarlsberg | Cheese spread, cookies and cream dessert | Undeclared eggs | Chelsea Food Services |
| 06/03/2016 | Hickory Harvest, IM Good, Sheetz, and others | Sunflower Kernels | Listeria monocytogenes | Hickory Harvest Foods |
| 06/03/2016 | Atkins | Various Bar Products | Listeria monocytogenes | Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. |
| 06/03/2016 | Bayou Brothers | Creole sauce | Undeclared fish | Bayou Brothers |
| 06/03/2016 | Hy-Vee | Salad topping, trail mix, trail mix bars, protein bars | Listeria monocytogenes | Hy-Vee, Inc. |
110 years ago, the FDA came into being (via then-President Teddy Roosevelt). It's task has always been to protect the public (public safety).
And a number of things fall under its scope including cosmetics and medicine.
But what we're concerned with for this piece is the issue of the food.
Food safety.
101 bad dystopian novels and films -- usually geared at 'young readers' -- have gotten attention in recent years despite the fact that they've lacked even 1/4 of the power of Margaret Atwood's novel ORYX AND CRAKE.
That novel paints a world no one should want to end up in but a world that's not really that far removed from today.
Our food safety is a serious issue.
At some point, maybe so-called serious political candidates could start addressing the issue?