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YOU CAN THANK
INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE FOR E. COLI – by Abrahan Paulos The recent E. coli bacteria scare has
had grocery stores, both local and nationwide, pulling spinach off their
shelves and throwing it away. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the
State of To date, 183 cases of illness due
to E. coli have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC)–-including 29 of a form of kidney failure called Hemolytic Uremic
Syndrome (HUS)–-as well as 95 hospitalizations and one death
(FDA). E. coli is usually a harmless
bacterium that is abundant in the digestive systems of healthy cattle and
humans, and if your spinach salad happened to be carrying the average E.
coli, the acid in your gut is usually enough to kill it. Although most
healthy adults can recover completely within a week, some people can develop
HUS. HUS is most likely to occur in young children and the elderly, which was
the case of the only death in the recent outbreak, of a 77-year-old woman in E. coli O157-H7 is a by-product of
grain-based feeding to dairy and beef cattle in an attempt to fatten them up
quicker at a lower cost. The cow's digestive system and acid balance is
designed to break down grass, not high-production, refined rations that is
the practice of large-scale, industrial agriculture. Irrigation water can
also carry E. coli contamination; fields can be contaminated with raw sewage
from flooding. This recent outbreak, and past deadly problems with
contaminated meat, are a direct by-product of producing cheap, unhealthy
cattle. The agricultural area of The nine bags of baby spinach now linked
by DNA testing to outbreak were "conventionally grown spinach and not
organic." They came from one of the farms that supplies spinach to
Natural Selection and were sold under the Dole label, according to Samantha
Cabaluna, spokeswoman for Natural Selection. This problem is suggestive of
large-scale, industrial agriculture. The concentration of much of the
nation's food supply in a given region, and the accelerated increase in
imports from developing countries, puts our nation's food security and health
at risk. Also many of the pathogens now penetrating the food chain due to
industrial agricultural practices are becoming resistant to many antibiotics
due to their widespread use in livestock production. This industrial farming
is the reason E. coli quickly spread to 20 states. The safety that a locally based
food system provides is clear. Not only could the spinach have been tracked
and the outbreak contained quickly if it was locally grown, local farmers and
their facilities could have been visited and assessed in a much more timely
manner. Regardless of scale, all organic
food has a compulsory inspection required, so tracing back a product in the
event of food contamination or questions of certification are achievable.
This compulsory inspection trail does not exist for conventional food. When
growing organic food, the application of raw manure is strictly regulated and
sewage sludge is prohibited. Most organic manure is composted prior to
application, a practice that greatly reduces risk and improves environmental
protection. Can E. coli-free spinach be grown
locally, safely, and healthy much of the year? Yes indeed, it is now being
done by small and medium-sized producers in the -- Abraham Paulos is the communications assistant at WHY
(World Hunger Year). Founded in 1975, WHY is a leader in the fight against
hunger and poverty in the # # # # # |
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