RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—No one can really argue that we have a major food-safety problem in this country. Recalls due to pathogenic contamination have been big news, and unfortunately, have sometimes even been fatal. Sources working closely with members of Congress in Washington, DC, say the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510 in the Senate and H.R. 875 in the House), landmark food-safety legislation, is "changing by the minute." The vote has been postponed several times as health care and financial reform took precedence during the last few months, but as it stands, Congress could vote as early as next week. The problem is, pending laws don't seem to really get to the heart of food-safety problems—industrial food production.
THE DETAILS: On a hopeful note, Christine Bushway, executive director of the Organic Trade Association, says that many lawmakers are trying to craft the new rules in a way that will not put organic farmers out of business. The legislation will likely include mandates for stricter one-up, one-down traceability. In other words, "where did I get this ingredient, and where did it go to," explains Bushway, who notes that the organic program already requires stringent record keeping and traceability. Which means smaller organic growers might have to duplicate inspection and record-keeping efforts—tasks that aren't a problem for multinational food companies, but could be too much for smaller operations to handle. "Many local, organic, sustainable growers are literally the safest providers of food in our country," says Mark Kastel, codirector of The Cornucopia Institute, an advocacy group supporting sustainable family farmers. "It would be a travesty to make it harder or impossible for them to earn a living."
Another frightening concept for local, organic food supporters is the fact that the government is considering expanding the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement to a national level. The 2006 spinach E. coli outbreak (which also affected organic spinach) prompted this "voluntary" agreement that stipulates farmers cut down trees and level wildlife corridors on their farms because, the theory goes, wildlife feces caused the outbreak. (So far, researchers have not been able to produce any evidence that this is true.) Since large wholesalers won't buy from farmers who don't agree, farmers are in effect forced to remove natural areas from their farms to stay in business. Taking out these wildlife buffers, which have been used for centuries in farming to prevent soil erosion and flooding, eliminates sanctuaries for beneficial birds and insects that control pest problems naturally on organic farms.
WHAT IT MEANS: We need better food-safety laws, but not at the expense of safe organic food. "Family-scale farms already have a highly unique testing protocol which cannot be replicated on the larger scale," says Kastel. "When you go out in the morning in the cool dew to harvest your most fragile crops, those are on your dinner table at noon for your family, your workers, and yourself. I guarantee you if there was a food-safety hazard, they'd know it right away."
Here's where Congress is missing the mark on food safety—and what you can do to make sure your food is safe.
• Mistake # 1: Not cracking down on CAFOs. "This is the elephant in the room that no one's talking about," says Kastel. CAFOs, or concentrated animal-feeding operations, place huge numbers of animal in a small space, often leading to illness. This is part of the reason why antibiotics are routinely administered to factory-farmed animals, which, by the way, produce most of the meat people eat in this country. The combination of filth, a concentration of animals, and overuse of medicine is making the medicines less effective on humans and accelerating the spread of hard-to-treat, and sometimes fatal, infections, including MRSA. These tough-to-kill germs are commonly found in factory farms, flying off the trucks hauling animals from CAFO to slaughterhouse, and even in supermarket meat you take home to your family. Food-safety concern? We certainly think so.
Aside from that, researchers have found that a virulent form of E. coli develops inside cows when they are fed unnatural diets of corn and soy, as they are on feedlot operations. This can spread from cow to cow and contaminate groundwater that is used to irrigate vegetable crops. (This is a leading theory regarding the cause of the spinach outbreak in 2006.) Despite all that, CAFOs are not addressed in the bill.
Protect yourself: Visit LocalHarvest.org or EatWild.com to find sustainable farmers in your area who sell grass-fed (and preferably grass-finished) meat and cruelty-free chickens and eggs. At the supermarket, understand what labels like "grass-fed" really mean.
• Mistake # 2: Threatening the climate. Putting burdens on organic farmers not only makes it harder for safe, healthy food to reach the market, it also inhibits one of our best weapons against global warming. Climate change is already contributing to, and will likely cause, 11 major health threats, according to new National Institutes of Health research released this month. These ailments range from more Lyme disease and allergy aggravation to increases in lung cancer and mental-health ailments. And farming with agrichemicals is energy- and emissions-intensive, accelerating global climate chaos.
On the flip side, organic farming creates healthy soil that acts like a sponge and reduces erosion and flooding (things taxpayers often foot the bill for). Because pesticides and chemical fertilizers don't kill the beneficial microorganisms in the ground, the soil can do what it naturally wants to do—store carbon. That keeps CO2 out of the atmosphere, instead of releasing it where it will contributing to our climate problems. Organic farming also avoids the carbon emissions used to produce and transport chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
Protect yourself: Buy from local farmers who grow using organic methods, and if you're buying food at the supermarket, look for the USDA Organic seal. That way, you're supporting people who are also combating climate change…one organic field at a time.
• Mistake # 3: Treating poison as if it's safe. New studies are coming out every month linking agrichemicals to everything from autism to certain cancers. And as Maria Rodale, CEO of Rodale Inc., points out in her new book, Organic Manifesto, those chemicals aren't just on the food, they're in it, too. Beyond that, genetically engineered seeds often used in chemical farming have been tied to accelerated aging and to the huge spike in food allergies and digestive disease seen in the last decade.
"No one's talking about agrichemical contamination of our food and water supply. [Congress] is looking at food safety, but only in the narrowest of ranges," says Kastel. "The organic community in already in the pollution prevention, cancer prevention, and true contamination prevention business."
Protect yourself: Contact your elected officials and urge them to make sure food-safety legislation is aimed at cutting problems where most of the problems arise—the industrial food system—and does not create a financial or record-keeping burden on sustainable family farmers. And buy organic whenever you can—it's a vote with your dollars for safe, tasty food, and a healthier future.