I also want to commend your work because my experience in having grown up on a farm has made me intimately aware of the importance of safe food handling and good nutrition. The Important Place of Food in Our Lives Food is a necessity to live. Not only that, it is a universal source of pleasure, in addition to being a source of health and strength. Families eat together. Business deals are made over lunch and dinner.
Love affairs begin and flourish around meals.
Even religious ceremonies like the Last Supper involve food. So even the remotest threat to the safety of our food supply is a threat to nearly every facet of our lives. However, there are far too many threats and illnesses from food consumption. It's difficult to know exactly how many people become ill or die from foodborne illnesses each year, but we believe somewhere between 33 million and 81 million people suffer from foodborne illnesses each year. We have difficulty reporting the numbers because many people who get foodborne illnesses often do not report it.