The following op-ed was written by GAP Food Integrity Campaign Director Amanda Hitt.

Last week, the Utah House passed legislation outlawing the act of taking undercover video at farms, dairies, and other food production facilities. Now before the Senate, the proposed law is similar to six other states' draft legislation, known as "ag gag" bills.

This legislation poses a threat to public health. Why? Because all individuals, including workers who witness gross wrongdoing and food safety violations, would be silenced. This bill criminalizes whistleblowers.

The following op-ed was written by GAP Food Integrity Campaign Director Amanda Hitt.

Editor's Note: While the Iowa Senate amendment did remove the specific language restricting undercover video, the bill is clearly aimed at holding whistleblowers who use such means to convey the truth legally accountable (More on this here).

Some things people just have to see to believe. Travesties that can take place behind food production facility walls are some of them.

Yesterday, the Iowa Senate passed legislation that illegalizes the act of taking undercover video at farms and similar facilities. Iowa is one of at least six states that currently have pending similar bills, commonly known as "Ag Gag" legislation, which would extend to all individuals – including plant workers who witness gross wrongdoing and threats to public health.

The following op-ed was written by GAP Food Integrity Campaign Director Amanda Hitt. Versions of this op-ed also appeared in the Xenia Daily Gazette (OH), Bristol Press (CT), New Britain Herald (CT), Herkimer Telegram (NY), Little Falls Times (NY), Union Daily Times (SC), and Wayne Independent (PA).

Food safety is running afoul in Springdale — in more ways than one. First, meat and grain agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. recalled 36 million pounds of ground turkey linked to a salmonella outbreak and temporarily shut its turkey processing plant in the Arkansas city in early August. Then, a Tyson Foods driver died after being pinned between two truck trailers outside a Springdale poultry plant.

The following op-ed was written by GAP Food Integrity Campaign Director Amanda Hitt. Versions of this op-ed also appeared in the Burlington Record (CO).

Americans are becoming too familiar with imported foodborne illnesses.

Remember the tainted dog food from China and those salmonella-laced hot peppers shipped from Mexico? Now a virulent strain of E. coli is racing across Europe, possibly heading toward our shores.

We're not ready for this new strain, if it comes to that. The government bulkhead required to keep it out is weak.

This op/ed by GAP Food Integrity Campaign Director Amanda Hitt appeared in the Bristol Press, Common Dreams, the East Texas Review, the Madison Capital Times, and Marshfield Mail.

In May, E. coli-laden romaine lettuce sickened dozens of Americans in five states, and a food-related listeria outbreak has killed at least two Texans. An endless deluge of foodborne illness outbreaks demands reevaluation of our current food system.

Americans must broaden their evaluation of food safety, however, beyond the finished product, and take the quality of the overall production cycle into account. While outbreaks and hospitalizations grab headlines, there are unseen costs to our current production system. We must start putting a premium on food integrity and reevaluate the entire process – from soil to plate.

Written by GAP Food & Drug Safety Director Jacqueline Ostfeld

Note: Versions of this op-ed have also appeared in the St. Petersburg Times, Baltimore Sun, Cincinnati Post, News & Observer (NC), China Post (Taiwan), Providence Journal (RI), Salt Lake City Tribune, Madison Capital Times (WI), Dayton Beach News Journal (FL), Greensboro News & Record, The Ledger (FL), Asheville Citizen Times (NC), Eugene Register Guard (OR), Tallahassee Democrat, Fargo Forum (ND), Topeka Capital Journal (KA), Virginia Free Lance Star, Traverse City Record Eagle (MI), The Argus (CA), Waterville Morning Sentinel, Vail Daily News (CO), Keene Sentinel (ME), Montana Standard, Key West Citizen, East Texas Review, Amsterdam Recorder (NY), Yankton Press and Dakotan (SD), Central Kentucky News Journal, Aurora Sentinel (CO), and Daily Sun News (WA).

In the shadow of the Chinese import scare, US consumers have won a victory. The retail giant Safeway, responding to pressure by public interest advocates and members of Congress, last week pulled carbon monoxide (CO) treated meat from its shelves.