Consumer Responsibility in Food Safety

I think that the responsibility for such food outbreaks in which the product should have been cooked the product more thoroughly or handled in a safer manner is on the consumers. I think that the manufacturer of the product does have the responsibility to make a product that is safe when cooked properly, and free of contaminants that would affect consumer safety regardless of how well it was cooked. An example of this would be a physical contaminant, like a piece of plastic or metal, that would hurt the consumer even if they handled the product appropriately.

I do not see the point in spending the extra time and money to rid the meat of microbes that would be killed anyway when properly cooked. I do understand that people like to eat some beef raw or undercooked, I think that the manufacturer should be required to disclose what temperature the meat should be cooked to as well as a warning about consuming uncooked meat. If these warnings on the label are present, I do not think the manufacturer should face damages if the consumer eats undercooked meat knowing the possible consequences and gets sick.

Often restaurant menus have a warning about undercooked meat at the bottom of the menu, but still allow customers to order raw beef. Since there is almost no one eating undercooked chicken, I do not see the need to rid the chicken of pathogens when everyone should be cooking their chicken appropriately. No restaurant would even let you order undercooked chicken since the risk of getting sick is very high and does not improve the product’s taste

The food industry should take steps to make the food as safe as possible, but it is unrealistic to expect the manufacturer to make raw products completely free of pathogens. Consumers must take responsibility for proper handling and consuming the products.