E-coli : Don't blame the spinach, industrial agriculture to blame.

October 11, 2006

THE latest outbreak of food-borne illness, traced to a virulent bacterium in bagged spinach, is being called a watershed moment for American industrial agriculture, a time of reckoning for industry and government and the public. Critics say the factory farming system needs an overhaul, with produce farmers and processors being subject to the same sorts of mandatory rules as the meat industry to protect against E. coli O157:H7 and other harmful bacteria. More outbreaks of disease are now traced to produce than to meat, poultry, fish, eggs and milk combined. The dangers can be compounded once produce is taken home. The casual way many consumers treat bagged, cut up fruits and vegetables — not washing them, leaving them unrefrigerated — increases the likelihood that even a low level of harmful bacteria can multiply and cause illness. Some scientists say the sealed bags add

protection; others believe the sealed bags, if mishandled, actually help bacteria to proliferate. The source of the E. coli O157:H7 blamed in the current outbreak is unknown. It may be irrigation water reclaimed from sewage treatment. It may be unsanitary conditions on the farm. But there is increasing suspicion that the cause may be water runoff from the many cattle farms near the fields in the Salinas Valley of California, where produce tainted with the E. coli has caused eight outbreaks of illness since 1995. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/27/dining/27well.html?ex=1160712000 & en=1a84b9d8a97de1bd & ei=5070 "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from

life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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