FOODS AND PUBLIC HEALTH 



By James E. Fuller, Research Professor of Bacteriology 



In recent years the American people have been made "food conscious" 

 as they never were before. We are being bombarded constantly with 

 food propaganda by radio, newspapers, and magazines. Most of this 

 publicity is intended to promote sales, and the "health information" that 

 is thus placed before the public is frequently misleading and undepend- 

 able (1). There is, however, a considerable amount of legitimate pub- 

 licity by authorities who are sincerely interested in promoting public 

 health by improving the nutrition of the people. Not much of this legit- 

 imate health propaganda, however, is concerned with the part foods play 

 in spreading infectious diseases. 



An infectious disease is caused by a microscopic germ, frequently some 

 kind of bacteria, that may be passed from person to person by direct 

 contact, or through some intermediate agent such as water or milk. An 

 example of direct contact is the spread of the common "cold" by the 

 spray expelled from the mouth or nose of one who is ill, when he coughs 

 or sneezes. Typhoid fever, on the other hand, is spread from person to 

 person by an intermediate agent, usually water or milk, which becomes 

 contaminated from the excreta of persons who have the disease, or have 

 had it, and those who drink the contaminated water or milk are Hkely 

 to contract typhoid fever. Most of the diseases that infect the digestive 

 tract of man are spread by something that he eats or drinks, while many 

 of the diseases of the respiratory tract may be spread either by direct 

 contact or through food and drink. There are other ways of spreading 

 infectious diseases. Mosquitoes, for instance, spread yellow fever and 

 malaria. This bulletin, however, is concerned only with diseases spread 

 by food, including milk. 



The public, generally, is not very well informed as to the importance 

 of foods in the spreading of infectious diseases. Most people know that 

 typhoid fever can be contracted from milk or water, and tuberculosis 

 from milk. They know, also, that the eating of spoiled foods, especially 

 meat, may result in an attack of an intestinal ailment commonly called 

 "ptomaine poisoning". Public knowledge of food-borne diseases does 

 not go much further than these examples. It may be well to point out 

 here that it is incorrect to say that foods cause infectious diseases. Foods 

 can cause disease only if they themselves are poisonous, or if they lack 

 necessary nutritive substances such as vitamins; and in either instance, 

 the diseases so caused are not infectious. Germs alone can cause infectious 

 diseases, and foods act only as agents for carrying the germs and spread- 

 ing the diseases. 



The statements made in the pages that follow are not intended to 

 frighten anyone, and there is no reason why they should. It hardly needs 

 to be said that one is in a much better position to protect himself if he 

 knows where his enemies are to be found and how they behave. It sliould 

 he a relatively simple matter for people, most of them at least, to avoid 

 food-borne infections by the exercise of intelligent care in selecting food 

 in the market and handling it in the home. 



The writer claims no originality for any statements made in tins 



