Nicols Fox, interviewed by Jim Motavalli

About the author: Jim Motavalli is the editor of E: The Environmental Magazine. Nicols Fox is a journalist and the author of Spoiled: The Dangerous Truth About a Food Chain Gone Haywire.

Food-borne illnesses are often the result of factory farming, the mass production of animals for food. The unsafe techniques used at these farms can often lead to contaminated hamburger, vegetables, and eggs. Hamburger is ground from many different cows, so one contaminated cow can infect a significant amount of meat. Animal waste can contaminate meat and vegetables. Unclean commercial hen houses produce eggs that contain the salmonella bacteria. Consumers can reduce the threat of food-borne illnesses by purchasing organic products.

Like a lot of other Americans, journalist Nicols Fox, a former editor at the Washington Journalism Review and a correspondent...