Your food can kill you. Every year, about 3,000 Americans die from salmonella and other foodborne illnesses, and an estimated 48 million are sickened. Recent scandals over abysmal sanitary conditions in food processing plants that led to large disease outbreaks in eggs and peanuts have pushed Congress to overhaul the food-safety system for all foods except meat and poultry. A last-minute hitch, however, has left the fate of that bipartisan legislation uncertain, despite support from an unusual alliance of industry and consumer advocates. If it wins enactment, advocates may push for revamping meat regulation. Far more disagreement exists on the controversial genetic frontier of food safety. Scientists can now genetically modify fruits and vegetables as well as livestock and other food animals. But debate over the safety of genetic modification among lawmakers, food safety officials, consumer groups and the food industry shows no sign of quieting down.

Peter Katel is a CQ Researcher contributing writer who previously reported on Haiti and Latin America for Time and Newsweek and covered the Southwest for newspapers in New Mexico. He has received several journalism awards, including the Bartolomé Mitre Award for drug coverage from the Inter-American Press Association and awards for investigative and interpretive reporting from the New Mexico Press Association. He holds an A.B. in university studies from the University of New Mexico.