If you are in the United States and you eat anything at all purchased from a supermarket you are most likely aware of current food scares.  These scares involve food contaminated with harmful bacteria such as E.coli and salmonella.  We have had many in the past year involving foods such as ground beef, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, peanuts, pistachios and white pepper.

These are frightening events seeing as in 2008 an estimated 325,000 Americans were hospitalized and more than 5,000 people died from tainted food.  Unfortunately the Food and Drug Administration currently has the resources to only inspect less than one percent of the food imported into the United States.  No wonder consumer confidence is falling. There is hope on the horizon for food safety.  A bill is currently in the House of Representatives that will give the FDA more power and funding to implement better safety standards, establish a better inspection program, and allow easier tracking of tainted food products.

In the meantime one of the best ways to protect yourself and your family from pathogenic bacteria on food is to take a daily probiotic supplement.  Probiotics, or your good bacteria, found in the digestive tract have the ability to produce substances that kill bad bacteria eaten on food.  These probiotics also crowd out the digestive tract and consume all the food source that bad bacteria would need in order to survive – ReNew Life’s Ultimate Flora Adult Formula Probiotic Supplement can help.

Another means of protection against food-bourne illness is a digestive enzyme formula containing hydrochloric acid, like Renew Life’s ParaZyme.  This acid is what is normally found in a healthy stomach when we eat.  Unfortunately lots of people, as they age and for other reasons, are lacking in this very important substance.  One of the most notable functions of our stomach acid is the natural sterilization for our food.  Without proper stomach acid you are more susceptible to bacteria and parasitic infections.

So protect your family and always have a probiotic and enzyme formula available.