Recent E. coli-spinach outbreak has sickened over 200 people, with two confirmed death. For the past two weeks, entire country was declared a “spinach-free” zone.
The FDA has finally lifted a two-week warning on fresh spinach, but the questions over the cause of this outbreak remain open.
Even FBI got on the action; they are currently investigating Growers Express in Salinas, CA and Natural Selection Foods in San Juan Batista, CA for a possible violation of Federal laws in connection with this incident.
While we still do not know the cause of E. coli outbreak, according to Life Science, the facts seem to be clear: blame cheap beef and complex food production – – is that what they are really saying?
To prevent future E. coli-spinach outbreaks, local farms and grass-fed beef seems to be the answer. I am all for grass-fed beef, but the reasoning behind some of the claims seems dubious. According to Life Science:
Spinach from small, local farms could very well be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. It simply wouldn’t spread to other states, or to other cities for that matter. Health authorities would be able to identify the source of the bad E. coli within hours.
I wholeheartedly support local farming. Whenever possible I buy locally manufactured products.
Having said that, it would spread to other cities anyway, unless each city in the United States would be restricted to growing and consuming its own spinach, which is obviously not realistic.
I suppose it is true, that it would not spread to other states, although, the same or even greater amount of people could be sickened by a similar outbreak. As for identity of the source in the case of E. coli-spinach outbreak, it takes more than a few hours just to run all of the necessary tests.
Thus, such a short response time is just wishful thinking. In the case of the recent E. coli-spinach outbreak, health authorities have identified the source as quickly as it was humanly possible.
Then, they go on to connect grass-fed beef with “the epidemic of obesity and diabetes and the clear link between high beef consumption and colon cancer.” Well, why not to blame global warming and perhaps low SAT scores on grass-fed beef? There is about the same amount of credible evidence [zero] to support either of these claims.
Look for Band-Aid solutions touted in the weeks to come, such as irradiation, with its cute, deceptive nickname of cold pasteurization. […] But with the unnatural process of irradiation […] we can continue the unnatural process of consuming lots and lots of this modern invention called the cow.
Ah, so now we seem to be getting to the real issue here – they just do not want us to eat meat! It is pretty funny how they try to masquerade this behind E. coli-spinach outbreak. The fact is – radiation is natural. We are exposed to natural radiation every second of our lives.
Now, do not get me wrong, I do not like the idea of irradiating our food. However, it is worth mentioning that FDA, USDA and the World Health Organization, long time ago, have approved irradiation as safe and effective.
The irradiation process does not make food radioactive. This process utilizes extremely low levels of radiation, which kills the bacteria and passes right out of the food.