Comments on: Are Contrarians Helping or Hurting the Food Movement? Pork Op-Ed in NYT a Shill for Big Ag

By: Eric Milano

Eric Milano — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:18:48 +0000

The thing that everyone’s missing is that the term “free range” is highly unregulated. You can keep your pigs crowded into a windowless warehouse with a tiny door to a 10′ fenced in PAVED area and still be able to call your farm free range. As a result of this, the conditions on most “free range” farms is identical to on a factory farm. Same at many farmer’s markets I would guess. Often the only difference might be that they don’t use antibiotics on these “free range” farms, so of course they’ll be more diseased! (or more seropositive as the case may be which of course makes the point moot anyway). However, when you have a TRULY free range farm, the pigs are so clean that the farmers no longer need to even have a vet any longer! We need to demand strict regulation of terms like “free range” and transparency of our products. It is in the industry’s interest to hide these things from us as much as possible. Educate yourself. Read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. See “Food Inc.” when it comes out soon, and best of all see the film “Fresh” directed by Ana Sofia Joanes when its playing in your area in a few months. As far as I can tell there are so few actual “free range” farms in the world that most people have no access to free range meat whatsoever, farmer’s market or not. Joel Salatin’s farm (featured in TOD) is one. http://www.polyfacefarms.com.

By: FoodieTots.com » Blog Archive » Free Range, Grass-Fed Beef (and Pork and Chicken)

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:08:40 +0000

[...] for animals and which I am sure you have heard about elsewhere. (If not, read this, this, and/or this.) Other benefits [...]

By: Civil Eats » Blog Archive » Memo to NYT “Free-Range Trichinosis” Editorialist: Food Safety Advocates Can Handle Transparency

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:25:27 +0000

[...] food policy wonks leaped, quickly exposing the holes in McWilliams’ alarmist piece. (My two-cents is here) It seemed that leaving out the important details above left the author without a leg to stand on, [...]

By: Pork Washing at The Kitchen Garden Network

Pork Washing at The Kitchen Garden Network — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:30:19 +0000

[...] Civil Eats [...]

By: Walter Jeffries

Walter Jeffries — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:47:33 +0000

Don't be sucked in by the Trichinosis scare. It is false. Read this article. Basics: they didn't find Trichinosis. What they found were two pigs on pasture with “seropositive for Trichinella” which is a totally different thing and could have been triggered by exposure to non Trichinosis causing species. Not only was it not Trichinosis but it is not even statistically significant. The difference between other disease exposures were also insignificant and there is the little fact that at slaughter all animal carcasses are assumed to be dirty so they have HACCP procedures for dealing with that. The problem comes from the Mega-Processors not following their own HACCP routines. Virtually all food borne disease comes from Big Ag, a little detail McWilliams chooses to ignore.

By: Jerusha

Jerusha — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:13:28 +0000

Thanks, Paula, so well put. I was reading the article and thinking “I smell a rat!” When I scrolled down and saw the title of his upcoming book, “Just Food: How Locavores Are Endangering the Future of Food …” it all started to come into relief.

By: Amerigo

Amerigo — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:41:32 +0000

James E. McWilliams does make one valid point. It is more likely for outdoor pigs, on minimum medication, to contrtact Trichinosis, than a heavily medicated pig living in a controlled environment where humans have to wear biohazard suits to protect themselves from the ammonia and the pigs from communicable diseases. (due to their weakened immune systems from all the medication). Personally, I’ll take the outdoor pork and COOK IT WELL DONE. This isn’t beef, people. Medium rare loins and chops are a recent phenomenon.(Apparently freezing for one month will also kill Trichinosis.) Traditional dishes such as slow cooked ham, ribs, or pulled pork, all take care of any potential infections by cooking thoroughly. Citing Trichinosis as a reason not to eat pork is a classic scare tactic aimed at a confused public too helpless to cook thier own food properly.

Thank you, Paula, for so well articulating everything that was wrong McWilliams’ argument.

By: Marsha Weiner

Marsha Weiner — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:45:22 +0000

Great article ! Thank you. Crisp, clear, and deliciously considered. THEY are very crafty and well – crafted. WE need to be as well- and better; and in this piece you ARE!
Tx again.
mw

By: Carrie Oliver

Carrie Oliver — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:59:50 +0000

Great article and I agree with your points and conclusions. Once I saw yesterday that Marion Nestle had responded to the sloppy “science” side of the Op-Ed (which you frankly bring home even more clearly above) I realized that what really got under my skin about this article was the cynical if not mean-spirited positioning of free-range farmers as disingenuous hacks. He also between the lines insulted me and others who’d prefer to find an alternative to eating pork from large CAFO operations. Frankly he is likely building on the debate raging over at Ethicurean about how much one should charge a customer for well-raised pork (or food in general). Anyway, thanks for sharing your perspective and let’s keep working at helping the folks who are doing things well get properly rewarded for their efforts.

By: N

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 06:03:06 +0000

Great piece. Thanks so much for calling all of our attention to this.
For those in the DC area, this upcoming conference (sponsored by Monsanto) promises to be a fascinating look at how the industrialized food sector is attempting to combat citizen movements for a fairer food system, as represented by this website. Hope someone can attend and write about it, I cannot:

http://www.informaecon.com/WashConference.htm