Nov. 21, 2003
By Nancye Willis

BELTON, Mo. - Unlike cooks across the United States who roast turkeys and bake pies for the approaching holidays, the chefs of CrossRoads United Methodist Church know no one will eat what they cook.

That's not because their dishes aren't tasty, but because their cooking efforts have a greater purpose than just stuffing a few faces. For 15 years, the church kitchen has doubled as a Food and Drug Administration laboratory, preparing common grocery-store products and submitting them to an FDA lab for testing.

"The program is set up to prepare foods that are bought in local grocery stores all across the country," says the FDA's Kevin Cline. "We test it for pesticides and heavy metals, and it's just like if you were going to the store yourself."

CrossRoads cook Martha McKarnin agrees. "Generally," she says, "everything is just like we'd do it at home."

The difference between this and home cooking is that the women don't get to eat what they prepare - nor does anyone else. After they prepare the food, they bottle and tag it and send it to a Kansas City lab, one of several state-of-the-art FDA facilities strategically located nationwide, for testing.

"It's quite an operation when you think about it," says Martha Twente, another of the women who cook at CrossRoads.

The FDA operates more than 90 research projects around the development of test and sampling methodology, according to an agency report. The FDA-wide effort involves scientific experts on staff as well as partners like CrossRoads in strategic research.

The CrossRoads test kitchen reflects the FDA's increasing concern over identifying sources and preventing outbreaks of food-borne illness. In the late '90s, in the wake of several severe food-borne outbreaks, the FDA stepped up its efforts to monitor the safety of the U.S. food, developing faster methods to detect adulterated foods.

The women at CrossRoads understand that their efforts are helping guard the health of U.S. citizens, but for most of the participants, the excuse to get together is enough to motivate them to show up 16 times a year to cook. "I enjoy the fellowship," says Dovie Lanos. "We have a good time doing this."

They contribute most of their FDA earnings to support the kitchen or church-sponsored missions around the world.

In a bulletin, the FDA is warning that "because holidays present a number of unique food safety challenges, consumers should take appropriate precautions in handling, preparing and cooking foods." The bulletin, including a list of tips to reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses, is available at the FDA Web site at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/lrd/tpholid.html.

More information on CrossRoads United Methodist Church is available at http://www.crossroads-umc.com/.

United Methodist News Service
Nancye Willis is editor for the Public Information Team at United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tenn.
NOTE: A television report is available at www.umtv.org.