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FDA Secret Lab
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With the holidays quickly approaching, countless kitchens across America are gearing up for yet another opportunity to prepare turkeys and bake pies. But there is one kitchen where chefs prepare food, but no one is allowed to eat it. It’s a government program intended to serve all of us. |
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SCRIPT:
Welcome to one of the Food and Drug Administration’s secret laboratories.
Dovie Lanos: “I like to do the veggies.”
It’s in an unexpected location …
Martha Twente: “It’s quite an operation really.”
… the basement of Belton United Methodist Church in Belton, Mo.
“It says bake according to instructions, and this is lasagna, and we will bake according to instructions.”
For 15 years, the FDA has been paying church members to cook up a menu of just about anything you’d find on the average dinner table.
Martha McKarnin: “Generally, everything is just like we’d do it at home.”
The purpose is to test food products bought randomly across the U.S. The food is shipped here, prepared, bottled, tagged and sent back to a Kansas City lab with the goal of ensuring good health.
Kevin Cline / Food and Drug Administration: “The program is set up to make foods that are bought in a local grocery store all across the country. We test it for pesticides and heavy metals, and it’s just like if you were going to the store yourself.”
For most of the participants, just having a good excuse to get together is enough.
Dove Lanos: “I enjoy the fellowship. We have a good time doing this.”
The women also feel satisfaction, knowing that they are helping to make meals this holiday season a bit safer coast to coast.
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The ladies get together 16 times throughout the year and most of the money they raise either goes back into the kitchen or is used to support church-sponsored missions around the world.