The Non-Believers Were Right

You shopped at Whole Foods and brought along the Sheryl Crow designed reusable bag. You opted for the cage free eggs and the unbleached organic flour. You even stood on that endless line at the Union Square location, kicking yourself for yet again going at 3pm on a Saturday with the rest of Manhattan instead of the far more sane 11am on Sunday. At least I did all that and for nothing. Apparently getting an “organic” label from the USDA simply requires a Staples Easy button.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) oversight of organic food has been lax since the agency’s organic program was launched in 2002, according to a recent Inspector General report. 



The findings, published earlier this month by the USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), confirmed what organic watchdogs had been saying for years–that the enforcement of federal laws governing organics is abysmal.

‘None of the four certifying agents we visited conducted periodic residue testing of the approximately 5,000 certified operations for which they were responsible, and there is no assurance that certifying agents performed regular periodic testing at any of the approximately 28,000 certified organic operations worldwide,” said the report. “Without such testing, the potential exists that an operation’s products may contain substances that are prohibited for use in organic products.’ ”

So apparently oversight standards aren’t just low, they’re “abysmal.” And Americans are overpaying by 20 to 100 percent for organic products, trusting their government regulates food manufacturers well enough that the consumer can believe the organic sticker on the package means the product is actually organic compared to it’s conventional counterpart. Alas, duped again.

No Research on Anything to Make an Informed Decision About Everything

As much as we wish foodbourne illnesses were easy to detect—given that food is a vital part of our existence—nobody really knows the extent of foodbourne illnesses and what long term effects it might cause. Why is this? Because even though such an important issue that affects everyone across the country, regardless of race, religion or social status, should be properly reported, have adequate research and follow up at the very least, it turns out it doesn’t. The government dropped the ball again, shocker.

The FDA called a meeting earlier this month on how they can improve their food traceability systems and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has released a report that covers how to trace foodbourne illnesses, how to reduce then, and the best ways to pinpoint the source of contamination along the supply chain.

Considering that nobody, not the food manufactures, the raw food suppliers, farmers, nor the governing bodies (FDA and USDA), had any idea until now how to accurately pinpoint the source of a contamination without causing a panic among consumers is upsetting extraordinarily absurd. Dependable research is an extremely overdue baby step but, nonetheless, still a very big step toward our peace of mind. Until then, stock up on Pepto Bismol.

An Organic Preservative: The Vegan Tree-Hugger Story

Your favorite leave you with a headache and only smelling like Mountain Fresh scent for 2 days household cleaning products may soon have a new competitor. Biosecur, an organic, broad spectrum preservative and disinfectant, has received official certification from the USDA, National Organic Program, and Ecocert, an organic control and certification group.

Who came up with it? America’s hat, the Canadians. It’s derived from 100% organic citrus fruit, kills bacteria in 30 seconds with just a 0.5 to 2% concentration, and can also replace harmful food additives used in food production that we know and love to read on the side of a box such as sodium nitrate (typically found in processed meats) and potassium metabisulphite (most common use is to help maintain color and flavor of wine). Not only will the counters we prepare food on be safer, disinfectants and preservatives used on fresh and processed food before retail distribution will be healthier to consume as well.

Be on the lookout for some green-tinted Biosecur concoction fashioning a Clorox sticker and proudly overpriced at the local Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s in the not-so-distant future.

E.Coli—It’s What’s For Dinner

The game of food safety is a risky balance of luck and knowledge. Unfortunately, it takes many years of large-scale contaminations and tragic deaths/illnesses to get the proper regulation ball rolling.

Prohibition of the sale of E.coli tainted meat started after 4 children died in 1994 from contaminated burgers from Jack in the Box. I couldn’t even conjure up a creative idea as to why tainted meat was approved for sale before then.

An article in the NY Times chronicles a 22-year-old dancer teacher’s E.coli contamination from a backyard BBQ hamburger patty, causing seizures, a coma, and ultimately paralysis from the waist down, and ties it into the government’s lax beef inspection policies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=e.%20coli&st=cse

The most common food you can catch E.coli from: ground beef. And it’s not just a cut of meat from one cow run through a grinder. That savory beef patty is actually made up of different grades of meat, different parts of the cow, even different slaughterhouses and up to 30% fat trimmings, according to USDA standards.

Combining different sources into a clump—surprise, surprise—saves money. In fact, Cargill, the food giant responsible for the contaminated hamburger patty that poisoned the woman above, cut costs by 25% with this practice.

The lower grade cuts of meat are more likely to have been in contact with feces, a popular hangout spot for E.coli. Most meat companies rely on the slaughterhouses to test the meat and only test it themselves after the beef is ground up together.

The USDA, using a healthy dose of logic, prefers meat companies test the separate meats first before combining, so that any contaminated meat can be targeted more efficiently. But apparently handshake agreements with some meat companies allow slaughterhouses to sell various cuts of meat only if the grinder agrees not to test it for E.coli.

Since waiting around for social responsibility on the parts of the slaughterhouses and the meat companies could take longer than the 2^nd Ave Subway construction, the best way to ensure you kill off any possible lingering bacteria, whether already present in the product or contaminated after purchase, is to cook the ground beef until the center temperature is 160F. And a brown center doesn’t mean the temperature reached 160F so use a thermometer to be sure.

Now you know! And knowing is half the battle.

Back to the US Government We Loved to Hate

Apparently after a successful yet brief stint as the food police, the federal government “failed” (a.k.a. forgot) to tell schools that the food they were serving students had been recalled.. 2 years ago.. once again dropping the proverbial ball and bringing them back to square one in terms of accountability.

The Government Accountability Office (ironically) concluded that millions of schoolchildren have been at risk for food poisoning from salmonella-tainted peanut products, meat from ill cattle, and canned veggies with possible botulism contamination.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32989396/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

Kids just can’t catch a break. First half of their class is home sick with swine flu. Now the other half is home sick with E.coli poisoning.

Agricultural Secretary, Tom Vilsak, is trying to cover up the mess with his very poignant and not very believable solution of “streamlin(ing) communications among departments, agencies, and State partners to yield a more effective and integrated approach to handling recalls.”

I guess this is a good time to mention that the FDA and USDA are launching a food safety website that will list the latest food safety and recall information because, according to Vilsak, “protecting the health and well-being of the American people is a fundamental responsibility of the federal government.”

“Fundamental” is starting to look more like those words politicians throw around when they talk about pretending to care about our “well-being.”