Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today

5. Meat and vegetables

Eating is hazardous to your health

Smoking, drinking, eating, gambling, skiing, swimming, jogging, sitting still, playing computer games, watching TV, having sex, and taking narcotics are all hazardous to our health—although we usually are lectured only about those that aren’t respectable. Despite the exaggerations of the antismoking lobby, most deaths in industrial nations are associated with being overweight from eating too much and exercising too little. Here we worry not about overindulgence, but rather the safety of our food supply. In particular, our focus is on the contamination of food and water by microorganisms.

Contaminated meat, especially processed meat such as sausage and hamburger, is the major cause of ...