We’ve made a list and checked it twice: Here are more than two dozen books to read, gift, and cook from.
February 2, 2010
Consumer Reports’ latest tests of packaged leafy greens found bacteria that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination, in some cases, at rather high levels. The story appears in the March 2010 issue of Consumer Reports and is also available free online. Consumers Union today also issued a report [PDF] urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to set safety standards for greens. FDA food safety legislation pending in the Senate, and passed last summer by the House of Representatives, would require the FDA to create just such safety standards.
The tests, which were conducted with financial support from the Pew Health Group, assessed for several types of bacteria, including total coliforms and Enterococcus—“indicator organisms” found in the human digestive tract and in the ambient environment that can signal inadequate sanitation and the potential for the presence of disease-causing organisms. While there are no existing federal standards for indicator bacteria in salad greens, there are standards for these bacteria in milk, beef, and drinking water. Several industry consultants suggest that an unacceptable level in leafy greens would be 10,000 or more colony forming units per gram (CFU/g).
Consumer Reports found that 39 percent of samples exceeded this level for total coliform, and 23 percent for Enterococcus. The tests did not find E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes or Salmonella—sometimes deadly pathogens which can be found in greens, although it was not expected given the small sample size. According to Consumers Union, the goal was to investigate other markers of poor sanitation that should be used in the food safety management of produce.
“Although these ‘indicator’ bacteria generally do not make healthy people sick, the tests show not enough is being done to assure the safety or cleanliness of leafy greens,” said Dr. Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “Levels of bacteria varied widely, even among different samples of the same brand. More research and effort is needed within the industry to better protect the public. In the meantime, consumers should buy packages of greens that are as far from the use-by date as possible.”
For its latest analysis, Consumer Reports had an outside lab test 208 containers of 16 brands of salad greens, sold in plastic clamshells or bags, bought last summer from stores in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. Among the findings:
CU is calling on the Senate to pass pending FDA food safety reform legislation that requires the agency to set performance standards as well as develop safety standards for the growing or processing of fresh produce. It’s also asking that FDA formally declare certain pathogenic bacteria—such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and Listeria—be considered adulterants when found in salad greens.
Until packaged salad becomes cleaner, consumers’ best line of defense involves following these procedures in stores and kitchens:
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I also read a great tip on a blog the other day: Do grocery day kitchen prep. So, if you buy a head or two of lettuce, wash it up and chop/tear it and put it in your own plastic zip back or a bowl covered by a damp paper towel. Instant salad! You'll also probably use it faster that way, though it will go bad more quickly.
For more information you can visit the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service at http://attra.ncat.org/food_safety.html
The sustainable community has been supporting the addition of Growing Safe Food Act (S. 2758 ) which is designed to provide food safety training, education, extension, outreach, and technical assistance and create an information clearinghouse for farms, with a special emphasis on small and medium-sized farms and small-scale processors.
I am all for food safety. However, my distrust for the USDA runs deep...even deeper for politicians making policy laws.
The USDA has shown itself to being too often on the side of "Big AG". In personal experience, The USDA inspectors have always made it harder on us when we process our beef. They create paperwork and delay on a consistent basis while "rubber stamping" the larger producers. AND the inspector always moves the feedlot guys to the head of the line with just a perfunctionary inspection of a large number of animals. My 2-3 animals have to wait, sometimes up to 10 days (which creates stress and weight loss), and then he inspects EACH one....ugh!
I know what it costs me in both time and money, but I cannot fathom what the "salad rules" will do to the average truck farm.
support of the government's plan for "financial reform," we'd all be a
little suspicious, right?
So isn't it also a little suspicious that the corporations lining up
in support of "food safety reform" include Dole, Chiquita, Monsanto,
McDonald's, Kraft, PepsiCo, ConAgra, and many others?
I hope that everyone reading this is not so desperate for "food
safety" that they will accept anything by that name. Giving a stinker
of a bill a good title does not make it stink any less (see the
PATRIOT Act). Check out the Cornucopia Institute for some
ideas on how to make food safety safer.
As you can see here, industry lobbyists like the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the United Fresh Produce Association, and the National Restaurant Association, among others, have all
thrown their support to the existing bill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=441KnMW4jqc
I do not think that the food safety bills constitute an elaborate Monsanto conspiracy, and I wish people would stop saying that it is. They're overshadowing the many legitimate reasons to fear the bills.
With that said, Monsanto is an important member of an agribusiness lobby group, the United Fresh Produce Association, which has by its own admissionworked closely with Congress on writing the food safety bills, one that has passed the House, and one that will come up in the Senate very soon. If you're concerned about the language of the bills, please let your Senator know!
Is it possible that the contamination is coming from produce grown in soil amended with biosolids/sludge from municipal sewage plants?
-Grow the greens yourself, if you can, and pick fresh for your meal. Wash it first.
-If you don't grow them, buy leafy greens in fresh bunches or whole heads direct from a farmer that you know. Wash those greens.
-Support growers who support biodiversity and healthy, microbially-rich soils that naturally suppress pathogenic bacteria. Sterilized farming only supports the opposite (kill off the good & watch the bad run rampant)
-Don't support any one-size-fits-all approach by the FDA nor USDA or it will eliminate small and mid-size producers or force them to stop growing leafy greens.
-Realize that the illness and death caused by food-borne pathogens is considerably less than getting struck by lightening and therefore does not warrant the overly-regulated hysteria that is occurring right now.