Local can be safe - prove it
Food safety lawyer Bill Marler got verbally beaten up a bit by daring to say that local food needs to be safe food.
Devra Gartenstein, the owner of Seattle’s Patty Pan Grill and the author of two cookbooks, Local Bounty: Vegan Seasonal Produce and The Accidental Vegan, wrote on something called The Green Fork yesterday that,
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“It’s certainly true that food purveyors at every level should be scrupulously clean and conscientious about how they handle their food. But it’s patently untrue that farmers’ market prepared foods are unsupervised, at least here in Seattle, where both Mr. Marler and I live. Prepared food vendors are permitted and inspected by the health department. When health inspectors aren’t personally on site, the market managers act as their proxies, checking temperatures and handwashing stations. We’re also required to take classes in proper food handling procedures.”
That’s great. But what about local food that isn’t prepared or processed? The author seems to be playing semantics, jumping from prepared foods – which are clearly under local health folks supervision – to other local foods, like produce that isn’t processed.
The author recites the usual food porn about how she knows the grower so it’s safer, but I’m looking for data: water quality results, data on soil amendments, evidence of compliance with handwashing and safe handling.
It isn’t about local, small or big. It’s about what will make folks barf. And that requires control of dangerous microorganisms, regardless of politics.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/admin/trackback/103487
There were also:
http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/2009/1/7/is-the-debate-over-raw-milk-doomed-to-remain-stuck-in-the-qu.html
http://www.ethicurean.com/2009/01/03/bill-marler/
http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-much-oversight-of-small-food.html
http://blog.foxxtrot.net/2009/01/food-safety-and-accountability.html
If I had feelings, I guess they would be hurt.
It seems to me that the issue of whether locally produced food is safe or not is rather like the issue of wearing seat belts in a car. You need to wear one whether you are 200 miles from home or 200 yards.
Foodborne pathogens don't know how far they are from someone's home. But if they are present in a food, then there's a risk..... whether the item is locally produced or not.
J. Philip Coombs, Ph.D.
Independent Consultant
Avalon Group LLC
Golden, CO
Doug, did you notice how this article refers to you as an "expert"?
"I’ve read quotes from experts (links to Barfblog) saying that, even though locally produced food can be just as contaminated as industrial food, outbreaks don’t occur on as wide a scale, and they’re easier to trace."
Is it true that you believe that it's easier to trace outbreaks from local producers? This does not sound to me like something you would say.
It is also unfortunate that the author had to say: "I've read quotes from experts" rather than: "I've read scientific research providing good evidence".
Ok, interesting conversation... Up here in my Canadian community I can go to my local farmer/rancher and pick out the animal I want to eat, the local butcher can process it and I know how they do it and how clean there small facility is. Mapleleaf Corp. for instance I don't.
Our local farmers have recently been shutdown with new government regulations that have come into play to ensure our American cousins that our meat is safe. Now local butchers can not legally sell the local chicken from the farmer that had 100 birds but only from large scale farms with 60,000 plus birds that somehow meet nicely these regulations. I will continue to seek out local food and I don't care if it is inspected meat as long as I know the farmer, how and where it is processed, and that it is not Mapleleaf. Our local farmer's have never killed anyone, that I know.