Not that it’s any surprise that food is not safe, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, our nation’s food safety is not improving.

“This highlights the urgent need to overhaul our food-safety system,” said Erik D. Olson, director of food and consumer product safety at the Pew Charitable Trusts. “In some cases, there are early indications that progress may be reversing for some diseases. The children and elderly in our families are most at risk, and it is our duty to better safeguard them.”

Roughly 76 million people in the United States suffer food-borne illnesses each year, 300,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die, according to estimates by the disease centers. Children younger than 4 are sickened by food more than those in any other age group, but adults over 50 suffer more hospitalizations and death as a result of food-related infections.

The fact that the food we may be buying in grocery stores could kill us is scary as hell. I’ve never wanted to plant my own garden so bad in my life (and, as a matter of fact, I will be this summer once I’m home from school!). People should be furious at the government for not protecting us better – it is the FDA’s responsibility to protect us from dangerous food products, and they aren’t doing a very good job. Especially when they can’t figure out where the diseases are coming from much of the time.