Healthful Food for All​—Soon!

YOU can take practical steps to enjoy safer food. However, many factors are beyond your control. For example, you cannot personally inspect all food before you buy or prepare it. You may have to purchase food that has been processed and shipped from afar. And some of the food that you buy may be contaminated by dangerous chemicals in the air, water, or soil.

In a report entitled “Foodborne Disease Control: A Transnational Challenge,” officials from the World Health Organization state that some food safety problems “cannot be resolved by national governments alone; they require international cooperation.” Foodborne diseases are a global problem!

Understandably, many will question why we can confidently say that soon there will be healthful food for all. It is because “Jehovah, the Lord of the whole earth,” promises a solution to man’s food problems. (Joshua 3:13) Some may claim that unsafe food proves that God cannot be trusted. But think: If a waiter carelessly allows fine food to spoil, would it be proper to blame the chef? Of course not.

Similarly, humans​—not the Creator—​are responsible for spoiling the earth’s supply of fine food. The prevalence of unsafe food is a  man-made problem. God’s promise is that he will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”​—Revelation 11:18.

The fact is, God has already proved that he cares about the quality of our food. He is the One who formed the earth and made trees that were not only “desirable to one’s sight” but also “good for food.” (Genesis 2:9) Even after sickness infected the human family, Jehovah God gave his people specific guidelines that would protect their food and their bodies.​—See the box “A Code of Rules of Health.”

What kind of food does God want us to enjoy? The Bible tells us: “He is making green grass sprout for the beasts, and vegetation for the service of mankind, to cause food to go forth from the earth, and wine that makes the heart of mortal man rejoice, to make the face shine with oil, and bread that sustains the very heart of mortal man.” (Psalm 104:14, 15) The Bible also states that “every moving animal that is alive may serve as food.”​—Genesis 9:3.

Regarding our future, his Word promises: “He will certainly give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and as the produce of the ground bread, which must become fat and oily. Your livestock will graze in that day in a spacious pasture.” (Isaiah 30:23) Yes, today’s foreboding headlines will soon be replaced by the announcement: “Healthful food for all!”

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The Creator promises us a bright future with plenty of good food

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“A CODE OF RULES OF HEALTH”

About 3,500 years ago, Israel received the Mosaic Law. That Law protected the Israelites from many foodborne illnesses. Consider the following instructions:

● Avoid unclean utensils and dishes that touched a dead animal: “Any vessel of which some use is made will be put in water, and it must be unclean until the evening and then be clean.”​—Leviticus 11:31-34.

● Do not eat an animal that died of itself: “You must not eat any body already dead.”​—Deuteronomy 14:21.

● Eat leftovers within a short period: “On the next day what is left of it also may be eaten. But what is left of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day is to be burned with fire.”​—Leviticus 7:16-18.

A. Rendle Short, M.D., expressed surprise that the Mosaic Law​—compared with the contemporary laws of surrounding nations—​should contain “so wise and reasonable a code of rules of health.”