Fearing Your Food

After just catching up with Tuesday's Syracuse Post-Standard newspaper, I am sitting here doing deep breathing exercises to control my frustration.

The headline on the front page of Tuesday's Local section read: 

Don't Eat Any Fresh Spinach

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

The article, written by staff writer Pam Greene, begins:

Don't eat any spinach from a garden.  Don't eat any spinach from local growers.  Don't eat any fresh spinach--period.  That's the message that Onondaga County Health Commissioner Cynthia Morrow and FDA emphasized Monday.

I read on, waiting for the punch line...but there was none.

Apparently on Sunday the FDA had increased the spinach recall to include all fresh spinach--not just the prepackaged kind.  Somehow I missed that.

I hardly know where to begin.  Well how about here:  why would I trust the FDA to tell me not to eat the spinach growing behind my house that I've been lovingly tending throughout the growing season?  I'm just trying to operate with a little common sense here.  I understand that the known facts were few earlier this week, but why would I worry about locally grown spinach (if we could get it at this time of year) when there wasn't any evidence of people getting sick from locally or garden grown spinach?  And while I appreciate Pam Greene's reporting of the warning, she would have done well to flesh out the information a little more.  I want to know WHY my garden spinach should not be eaten?

Now of course, we are in a different place then we were Sunday or even Tuesday, and have a better understanding of the source of the E.coli problem--I'm still waiting for the big headline telling me it's okay to eat MY spinach.

Okay, I'm being a bit cheeky here but I hope you get my point. 

As an aside, allow me to mention that yesterday's Post-Standard Business section led with a story that Few Farmers in CNY Grow Spinach; Crop Has Shrunk.  Now I don't know those statistics but it is interesting that Bobbie Harrison from the Cornell Cooperative Extension is quoted as saying, that so few grow spinach locally that he couldn't name a single farmer who planted the crop.  I can and it's not my job to know.  A cursory search on the Local Harvest site reveals several farms in our area growing spinach--I believe our beloved Green Rabbit is one of them.  But I digress.

This whole spinach episode is a case of the worst kind of fear-mongering.  It is not helpful to tell folks not to let local spinach touch their lips without giving solid reasoning.  A few sentences explaining the connection between California-produced bagged spinach and the local CNY soil based spinach crop would have done us a great service.  And if that connection can't be made DON'T TELL ME NOT TO EAT THE FOOD I GROW!

Furthermore, if the FDA really wants to protect the public from possibly tainted food, it might begin by putting appropriate warning lables on the industrial agriculture/factory-produced poultry and meat, and pesticide laden produce that pass for groceries in most supermarkets.  THAT would be doing the public a favor. 

Okay--I'm putting away my soapbox now.

For some solid information about growing prepackaged spinach, read this piece by an organic farmer in California from Chez Pim's blog.  Thanks to Jen at Life Begins at 30 for alerting us to this post.

Also, check out the great letter Stefanie from Couteau Bonswan wrote to the local media.

Comments

[Jill Hurst-Wahl]

Thanks for the pointer to the post from Chez Pim. It is amazing how we can over panic. And amazing how the news media can mix words and get things wrong.

BTW looked for you at the Westcott St. Fair on Sunday. Now that I know you from this blog, I'm looking forward to meeting you someday face-to-face.

[Denise]

This whole thing is fear-mongering at its worst. The FDA and the County Health Department has no right to tell me I can't eat the food I grow in my garden. At issue here is not properly grown produce, but this country's industrialized agriculture. Last time I checked, E.coli came from cow's intestines... which says to me that the bagged spinach in question was "fertilized" with improperly dried manure. Since I don't use any form of "fertilizer," it isn't likely my garden is going to harm me. I guess it's too much to ask reporters to actually do investigative research before they write or say anything.

[art-sweet]

What utter idiocy.

My partner and I refer to the PS as the Post-SubStandard. That article is an excellent example of why it has earned that title.

I also looked for you at the Westcott Fair!

[Jack]

I actually rec'd email from the FDA saying not to eat any spinach (including what's grown in my garden). What next? Air pollution kills 3 in Arkansas and the FDA will tell the entire country to stop breathing?

[Charlotte]

Joel Salatin was a guest on On Point yesterday:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2006/09/20060920_a_main.asp

as usual, he made some great points about the ridiculous-ness of telling people not to trust their local farmers.
Marion Nestle was also a guest, as was some agri-business dude who was completly out-gunned by the good guys :)

[Jennifer]

Jill, you're right--the panic is not helpful. I was only at the Westcott Fair for a little bit--I'm sorry we didn't meet.

Denise, I afraid that real investigative reporting is a rarity these days but given the impact of this scare on our health and economy, you'd think it the press would take the time and money to dig a little deeper.

Art-Sweet, I'm so sorry I missed you at the Westcott Fair too--sounds like we ought to have another blogger gathering so we can all meet up.

Jack, did the FDA give any reasons for you not to eat the spinach in your garden? I'm hoping that your email had more detail that what actually got reported.

Charlotte--thanks for this link!