Is environmental protection at odds with food safety?
After the spinach E. coli outbreaks of 2006, a conflict between environmental protection and food safety arose. There’s no decisive information about the best agriculture practices to avoid E. coli contamination in leafy greens, but many of the proposed solutions and buyer regulations are expensive, impractical and contrary to environmental values. A survey of Monterey County farmers by the Resource Conservation Distict revealed that “buyers, auditors or others had suggested to [farmers] to either discourage and/or eliminate the presence of non-crop vegetation, waterbodies, and wildlife around fields. In many cases growers had lost points on their food safety audits, the basis for which their crop is approved and purchased, due to the presence of non-crop vegetation, waterbodies, and wildlife near their crops.” When environmental practices are pitted against food safety, what are ecological farms to do? And does removing wildlife make food more, or less, safe? Learn more: http://www.rc
