I’m thankful that we planted lettuce and spinach in our hoophouse in September. Now we have a supply of greens that will take us into the darkest days of winter, so our family won’t be deprived of these favorite foods.
Last year, we didn’t get our greens planted in time and we had to eat commercial lettuce and spinach all winter. Those clear plastic boxes of baby salad greens were always available at the supermarket, and they were surprisingly inexpensive, even the organic brands. This year, though, they have lost their appeal.
The more I learn about industrial-scale salad production, the more distasteful it seems. I covered this in last month’s issue, but there’s more to report now. On November 15, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on food safety. Dr. Kevin Reilly of the California Department of Health Services testified about the outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 on spinach in late summer.
“The Salinas Valley appears to have systemic E. coli 0157:H7 contamination in the environment that has led to a number of fresh produce associated outbreaks over time,” Dr. Reilly told the committee.
Since 1995, there have been 20 outbreaks of E. coli 0157:H7 contamination in fresh produce, causing five deaths and 610 reported cases of illness. Although tracebacks were not completed in all 20 incidents, nine were traced back to the Salinas Valley.
Since June 2004, investigators have found “extensive periodic contaimination in waterways,” Reilly said. In the recent spinach case, the E. coli strain that caused illness was found in waterways, cattle and wild pigs. Investigators don’t know whether it was spread to the spinach fields by irrigation water or by wild pigs, but they found signs of wild pigs in the field, including feces and rooting among the vegetables.
In mid-summer 2006, FDA and the California Department of Health Services kicked off a joint lettuce safety initiative with Salinas Valley lettuce growers and processors to assess the use of Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices recommended by FDA.
“Preliminary findings on the farms showed that many growers were not implementing GAPS, and several were not aware of recommended GAPS,” Reilly testified. The effort was underway only a few weeks before it was suspended because of the spinach E. coli outbreak.
Let us not forget that the FDA has been worrying about this deadly E. coli strain for more than a decade. In 1996, federal and state health officials started working with the California produce industry to develop standards to prevent E. coli contamination of fresh produce. In 1998, using the input from industry, FDA developed guidelines for Good Agricultural Practices. And in the summer of 2006, the state found that some lettuce farmers were not even aware of Good Agricultural Practices? It boggles the mind.
Another news item comes from Ohio State University, where researchers now suspect that E. coli 0157:H7 is getting inside plant tissue, where no amount of washing will get it out. They suspect that plant disease may be a contributing factor in carrying the pathogenic bacteria into plants.
How all this will affect local growers remains to be seen. At this point, many consumers see local growers as being a safe alternative to the industrial produce system. The last thing we want is to lose that trust. Food safety is an issue for farms of all sizes.
All of us here at Growing for Market wish you a happy holiday and a season of rest and rejuvenation. The controversies that plague the food system suggest that local farmers will be busier than usual next year.