Imagine chopping a delicious salad full of delicious leafy vegetables and decorated with raw vegetables such as tomatoes and shredded carrots for lunch. You ’re very healthy, right? You feel good and tap your back about food choices. But what if you say that your healthy lunch may contain real animal dung that can cause food poisoning? The salad is probably unattractive and looks like a high-risk option.
Scott Faber, Senior Vice President of Government for the Environmental Working Group, said: “The main way pathogens invade these foods is through irrigation water. [used on farms] It’s full of animal droppings. “
That’s right, animal droppings. shit. So what is the possibility that your lunch contains poop particles?
First, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in six Americans (about 48 million) suffers from food poisoning each year. Food-borne illnesses (also known as food poisoning) result from the lurking of dangerous and sometimes deadly bacterial strains in certain foods, such as Escherichia coli, Listeria, and Salmonella. Of the estimated number of people who get sick each year, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. And they are just approximate numbers.
Contaminated animal proteins such as chicken, beef, eggs, milk and cheese can cause food poisoning, but raw produce accounts for almost 50% of the causes. According to the CDC, leafy vegetables such as romaine lettuce and spinach are often the most criminal of raw vegetables and are a major cause of E. coli contamination. Over the past few years, recalls of various batches of spinach and romaine lettuce seem to have flooded the headlines.
“Previously, I washed the vegetables three times, [pathogens] Jade Hanson, head of policy at the Food Safety Center, said he felt the need to warn people to “cook lettuce,” albeit at the extreme. It.
And don’t miss that one in four people contaminate their food when cooking with this ingredient, new research shows.
Pollution process
If you have an agricultural farm next to an animal farm (chicken, cow, pig, etc.), there is more feces around and you are at increased risk of contaminating your irrigation water. And if you think that fertilizing plants with fertilizer means that produce poop isn’t that big of a deal, think again.
According to Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture under the Obama administration, the process of composting fertilizer involves adding heat to kill many pathogens.
Also, thankfully, there are restrictions such as not being able to use raw fertilizer as fertilizer within 120 days after harvesting. “The problem is … raw fertilizer flows from a nearby feedlot and either reaches the field directly or the pathogen turns into silver. [agricultural] Give water and apply directly to the field. “
Poop loophole
More than a decade ago, Congress passed a Food Safety Mitigation Act to protect Americans from food poisoning. The FDA has been working to implement all the regulations stipulated by law. However, one area that has not been fully addressed after 11 years is the safety of ag water used in production. Authorities proposed several standards in 2015, but many consumers and food safety advocates said they were inadequate.
“The FDA was supposed to set a standard for how much feces could be put into irrigation water and sprayed for lunch,” Farber said. “After the extraordinary pressure from the farmers, it is now entirely up to the farmers how much poop you can have for your lunch.”
Test problem
The problem is related to the test.Survey results published through a one-month survey by Politico If a farmer uses a microbiological test on a morning water sample and it comes out clean, it reveals that it does not mean that the evening or next day sample of the same water will also be clean because the agricultural water is constantly changing. Did.
There are environmental factors to consider. Birds, wildlife, and wind can also increase the level of contaminated feces in crop fields, Ronholm said.
“We found that test levels did not correlate with water safety,” said Dr. James Kincelloe, Food Safety Campaign Manager at the Center for Public Interest Sciences (CSPI).
Another problem, according to Ronholm, is that the FDA does not have jurisdiction to inspect animal feeding businesses and check for pathogens. He believes that a law is needed to authorize the FDA to perform these tests.
In December 2021, the FDA proposed a set of new guidelines for agwater under the Agricultural Safety Regulations. According to an FDA spokesperson, the FDA then held two public meetings and several webins to explain the proposal and seek stakeholder comments (the comment deadline ends in April). bottom).
“We promise to work diligently to consider the comments,” said a spokesman. “The proposed rules are thorough and are based on scientific developments and lessons learned from recent agricultural outbreak surveys (especially with regard to problems arising from adjacent and neighboring lands). Authorities, if finalized We believe that it will help bend and serve the curve of food poisoning, which will benefit future generations. “
Some people still find the new guidelines too flexible. “Consumers do not always have the best food safety practices in the kitchen. I think they are not, so I would like to make sure that the food that goes into the kitchen is safe. “Why he and others are fighting for strict guidelines,” Kincelloe said. In his opinion, “guidelines need to be said, these are the criteria that everyone should meet.”
How to protect yourself
First of all, don’t panic. Eating leafy vegetables has tremendous health benefits. There are some examples of food poisoning caused by contaminated produce, but it is by no means epidemic.
However, there are some things you can do to protect yourself until stricter guidelines are implemented.
- Practice safe food handling and preparation. The FDA recommends washing hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling raw food.
- Weigh the risks and identify the one with the highest risk. According to Ronholm, romaine lettuce tends to be the most dangerous leafy vegetable, just because its rugged texture makes it more susceptible to pathogens. That doesn’t mean you should avoid romaine, just make sure you wash it thoroughly before eating it.
- Ask a local farmer. PIRG’s food and agriculture advocate Daniel Melger said local farmers know if they are near animal breeding businesses or feedlots. So, if you are in the farmers market, feel free to ask the farmers about their farming conditions and choose accordingly.
- Consider an indoor grower. “In traditional agriculture, water is usually not tested before it is used to irrigate crops, which means it contains external pesticides and pollutants such as animal manure, which can pose a threat to public health. “There is,” said Christopher Livingston of the Bowery Farming General Council. It is mentioned in a recently published report. “Indoor growers like Bowery usually use filtered urban water, regularly test the irrigation water for contaminants, and use reverse osmosis to further clean the water. Ensure cleanliness. “
- Grow your own food Balcony or roof, backyard, or community garden. Melger said he knows that if he grows his own food, he knows to be aware of other contaminants such as lead in the pipes of buildings that feed water to garden hoses. “It’s a balance,” she said.
- Wash the leafy vegetables even if you “washed in advance”. Brian referred to a Consumer Reports study that determined that there was no difference in bacterial levels between the entire head and packaged romaine lettuce that had been washed three times. According to the CDC, “The best way to wash leafy vegetables is to rinse them with running water. Studies have shown that this procedure can remove bacteria and dirt from leafy vegetables and other vegetables and fruits. There is no cleaning method that can get rid of all the bacteria. “
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