A post comparing airlines and food safety got me to thinking: In general, is large-scale-produced food more safe than smaller-scale production?

One factor that is often not considered when we evaluate small-scale production food safety is “assessment bias”. If Joe’s 2 bushels of homegrown tomatoes from the farmer’s market are tainted with Salmonella, it is likely to go undetected or reported. Even if people got sick and reported the illness it is unlikely his tomatoes would be identified as the source and even less likely it would make national headlines.

I don’t think we have good statistics on real safety measures of small versus large production. Yet, food safety, especially for meat, ranked above quality and price in a survey of local food purchasers in the upper midwest.

There are some things “small food” has going for it with regard to food safety:

• Accountability. All producers, large and small are accountable. Small producers are usually directly accountable to the consumer. We put our livelihoods on the line each time we sell an inferior or unsafe product.
• Known source (sometimes). I say sometimes here, because many farmer’s markets sell produce obtained at large terminal produce hubs. Here in Texas, that means that unless you know that your market vendor is growing their own, you may be buying jalapenos and tomatoes from the Rio Grande valley or Mexico (one of the sources for the recent salmonella outbreak).
• Direct relationship with consumer. Having to look my customers in the eye when they buy my beef or ask me questions about my production, quality and safety practices is more effective than a whole slew of federal regulations.

On the other hand, “big food” is often under more rigorous scrutiny and regulation to ensure food safety. Many types of food have mandatory testing not requred for small and local producers. Many of the regulations and production practices in use were put in place to ensure food safety. Small producers often do not have food safety training or food safety plans.

So, don’t presume that local = safe. Ask questions of your local producer about productions practices, food safety, etc. Ask about sources for produce, handling and refrigeration practices for meat and eggs. When purchasing from a small producer it is up to you to be your own “food safety authority”.

The Troublemaker Mom: From Science Women. I’ve sooo been there, and it seems particularly hard for moms in the hard sciences where there’s not much room for the warm-and-fuzzies integral to parenthood.

The chocolate genome: Mars (the confection company, not the planet) is investing $10 million to help sequence the genome of the cacoa tree (from which we get cocoa). The project is in conjunction with the USDA.

Food and Environmental Justice named as a Church issue: In support of core prinicples regarding the environment and human rights, the Unitarian Universalists (of which Thomas Jefferson and Susan B. Anthony were members), have name Ethical Eating as a primary issue of study and action for the next four years.

Ranch Wife Guide 101: From Chewing the Cud. Funny tips on how to maintain your ranch AND your marriage. Hmmm… but maybe my husband would say I’m the “he” referred to in this post?

Number of women farmers growing: Some insights about women farmers and ranchers in the West, for Suzanne, who asked about it in this post about women farmers in the Northeast.

10 Tips for Homemade Ice Cream Success: From Serious Eats. What would the 4th of July be without icecream? And I staunchly maintain that if you make it yourself, you can consider it a “local food”!

The Small Screen With a Big Impact: from Blogher. Some scary statistics. The average child in the US sees 15,000 commercials annually that promote candy, highly sweetened and processed food and fast food. One more reason to get the kids off their duff and out into the garden!

Best and Safest Sunscreens: Just in time for the long weekend, Environmental Working Group has released a comprehensive review of sunscreens based on UVA and UVB protection, as well as presence or absence of harmful chemicals.

Cow Fat Motor Oil: from EcoGeek. Another cool green-geek find from one of my favorite sites. This motor oil is made from animal fat, biodegrades sufficiently that it can be safely poured on the ground and is non-toxic!

Common livestock production practices coming under fire. from Advocates for Agriculture. Procedures such as castration are coming under fire as being “mutilations”. Being a big proponent of preventing unwanted pregnancies (in any species), this seems like a slippery slope to me.

WIC-ensuring buying power through prohibiting organic: From US Food Policy. There’s no arguing that organic foods are generally higher priced. The Michigan WIC program has placed limits on foods in an effort to increase the nutritive buying power of food stamps. Along with many convenience items, organics are specifically prohibited on many foods.

Nourishing Frugal Food: found via the Nourished Kitchen . The Nourishing Gourmet is having a frugal food festival. July 11th is main dishes and July 18th is sides and salads. Hmm, I’ll have to post a recipe from here to contribute. With two growing boys, I sure know about stretching the grocery dollar!

In honor of our blogger-on-the-road, Lisa, we’re going geeky with this week’s Earthlinks.

Should Biotech companies Blog? Are blogs by biotech companies a good idea from a corporate standpoint? Maybe if more companies had open blogs, there might actually be some real communication.

Animal Research, Giving the Gift of Life: a guest post on noted Ethicist Terry Etherton’s blog, by Barb Glenn, (a wonderful woman and friend from the Bio Industry Organization) .

Guaranteed Tender Steak: from Feedstuffs Foodlink. Technology to the rescue–University of Nebraska scientists have developed a method of identifying tender beef while it is in the processing plant.

Plants have Social Lives: also from Feedstuffs Foodlink. Plant behavior is more complex than you think. If plants are sentient, does that affect how we should grow, harvest and eat them?

Kudzu-A Potential Biofuel: from Ecogeek. The “plant that ate the South” may be the answer to Suzanne’s biofuel headache.

And as always, one slightly less serious link to end:

Make your own icecream drumsticks:  Does this make icecream count as “local food”?

My boys love raw tomatoes or “menos” as they were first dubbed by a toddler that would position himself in front of the cherry tomato section of a salad bar and eat until chased down by one of his humiliated parents.

So should they or shouldn’t they (and we) be eating tomatoes these days? Since mid-April, 167 people in 17 states have been infected with a rare strain of bacteria known as Salmonella Saintpaul, which has been linked to several kinds of raw tomatoes. Most of the cases have been in Texas and New Mexico, and 23 of them have required hospitalization.

McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Burger King, Outback Steakhouse and Taco Bell have even voluntarily pulled tomatoes from their offerings.

Perhaps most scary — the FDA has even warned consumers to stop eating raw tomatoes – traditional, round, Roma or plum. Although the FDA website says there haven’t been problems with 19 states and 4 countries, it does say if you don’t know where the tomato came from, you shouldn’t eat it.

Of course, the North American tomato industry is absolutely gut-punched and the Florida tomato growers say the entire system is on the verge of collapse. Number one tomato producer Florida says $40 million worth of tomatoes will rot in the next few days unless the U.S. FDA traces the source of the outbreak and clears the produce.

Pretty scary stuff. My feelings? There will be no more toddler “meno” salad bar attacks in the near future. But, made of rough stuff as I am, I did actually eat all the tomatoes in my salad today. No tummy rumblings yet. I’ll let you know if I make it.

And — minor screed — some people (we like) are bashing the FDA, but I really think Congress is the problem. Since the early 1990s there’s been a strategy afoot to cash starve the agency to limit its ability to “meddle”. First put into place when Kessler started to take on the tobacco companies in the 1990s, this unfortunate but successful strategy is working.

Don’t blame the agency. FULLY AND APPROPRIATELY FUND THE U.S. FDA so they can quickly handle these sorts of matters. My bet is that these tomatoes are coming from abroad, but the poor FDA inspection service is so poorly staffed and funded, how would we know? Yet domestic agriculture is taking the hit.

Other tomato conversations:

Shakesville, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

I guess this places bruschetta and BLT’s on the endangered species list for the time being until the safe tomato population gets its act together.

Alana Kellogg, food editor on BlogHer, It’s Summer Tomato Time — Or Is It?

Are you thinking it’s much ado about nothing, that hey, life is risky and what’s a little tomato compared to stuff like global warming, skyrocketing food prices, $4 a gallon gasoline, healthcare and education issues, childhood obesity, earthquakes in China, floods in the Midwest, who the Bachelorette’s going to knock off this week?

Wine Before Dinner, The Salmonella Tomato Scare

If American establishments would buy tomatoes grown in America, this Salmonella Scare would have never happened. This is nothing against Mexico, it’s hard working people, and their farmers. I just think that produce being shipped from that far away has to go through many hands, trucks, crates, etc. The farther these things travel the better chance they have of becoming contaminated.

Wall Street Fighter, The 2008 Tomato Scare

If some film studio decided to make a major motion picture about ‘Tomato Scare ‘08″, I bet there will be a dramatic scene in there where someone runs into the Tomato factory and screams at the top of their lungs, “Stop the picking and packing machines!” Then he’ll probably slam on some bright red emergency stop button, which should be in the shape of a large cartoon tomato.

Eating Safe, Locally: “local” does not equate to safe. Barfblog has some good questions and suggestions about making your local food purchases are safe to eat. “Whether your food comes from down the street or around the globe, you want to verify that producers and processors are actually doing what they are supposed to be doing.”

FDA Warns Consumers in New Mexico and Texas Not to Eat Certain Tomatoes: From Food Poisoning Law Blog. Being a Texan, I had to include the recent warning on Salmonella in tomatoes. Current advice is to avoid large and roma tomatoes unless attached to the vine or homegrown. Rep. Rosa DeLauro is calling for reform.

And, hey, it’s just in time! June 9 through 13 is Food Safety Week! Coincidence?

Natural Cosmetics, what’s in a name? From Enviroblog. 78 percent of women think “natural” personal care products are regulated. Actually, FDA has no authority for pre-market review of cosmetic product formulation and labeling.

Beer for Greenies: From Ecogeek. Just in time for summer, eco-conscious beer. And I thought green beer was only for St. Patrick’s Day. Unfortunately, it’s from the UK, leaving the question of food miles still a big one.

This isn’t food-related, but it’s still eco-conscious: Enviroblog wrote about GreenPrint, a software program that helps your computer print less paper. How cool is that? Any little step is a good step, and there isn’t a person out there that doesn’t waste computer paper once in a while. Another way: Buy recycled paper! There are lots of price and brightness options, so no worries about your beautiful memos.

Vets Uninterested in Pet Food Safety?, via YesBiscuit!: Pets are often considered a part of the family, so should we pay attention to the safety of their food too? A study from Petfood Industry Magazine finds that our vets need better information and to be more interested in the issue, period.

And, in a related story, some pet owners are having trouble feeding themselves and their pets thanks to current food prices and the economy. Having to choose between putting food on the table and keeping Fido? Heartbreaking.

Oh yeah, like I’m going to be able to address that in a single blog post….

When you get down to it, what we eat and how it is produced is the Meta-issue of this blog. Our questions about food safety, technology, health, environment, food prices and availability, environmental impact, etc. all end up being answered by the choices we make as consumers (what we buy), and as producers (how we grow it).

So much of what I read is narrowly focused on a single problem or single solution. In a larger context there is an entire web of cause and effect around each of these single issues. We have a food system that cannot be separated from our economic, environmental, political and ethical/religious systems.

If we were to design a food system from scratch, what would it look like? Let’s start by creating a wish list. Please give us your opinions about what should be on our list, and in what order of importance.

• Safe: By most accounts we have the safest food supply in the world, in terms of food-borne illnesses. How do changes in how our food is produced affect safety (i.e. locally produced without USDA oversight, non-pastuerized milk, intensive/monoculture vs. extensive/mixed systems).
• Affordable: Americans spend less of their disposable income on food than almost any other country. Can we/should we be willing to pay higher prices in order to achieve some of our other food goals? What about the impact on those with lower incomes?
• Nutritious: The basic purpose of food is to nourish us. In reality, flavor, convenience and price probably play a larger role in our choices.
• Sustainable: We need to produce our food in a way that doesn’t rob Peter to pay Paul. Can we be truly sustainable without decreasing our food supply and having devastating effects on some of the other issues here?
• Environmentally responsible: Notice the avoidance of the term “friendly” here. If we really were going to be environmentally friendly, we’d choose not to perpetuate our species. Given that we choose to exists, how can we care for the earth and still meet our food needs?
• Practical: It’s common knowledge that fresh is best, but let’s face it, most of us ‘give’ on other issues for convenience. I bet most people wouldn’t put “easy” high on the list of food priorities, but voting with their dollars shows otherwise.
• Ethical: Food issues are tied at a gut level to our belief system. Don’t try to talk an ethically-motivated vegan out of their position through scientific arguments. What is “ethical” in food production? Do we hold our food production system to a higher ethical standard than we do our other consumer goods (sweat shops in India for textiles, environmental impact of steel/plastic/transportation)?
• Feasible: I”m a big local food supporter, but realize that a totally local food system is not currently feasible in many areas of the country. Many of the production methods I use myself on my own ranch are difficult (impossible?) to implement on a national scale.

What did I miss? How do these rank in importance relative to each other?

There was a very uplifting article in the New York Times this week on inner city gardens. (discovered via Chow). I find these kind of projects inspiring for so many reasons; making fresh produce available, beautification of formerly derelict spots, providing work opportunities for youth and the homeless. Not least of all, is reconnecting people with food at its roots.

I think one of the biggest wasted opportunities of the Bush administration’s tenure was Hurricane Katrina. Wouldn’t it have been a great chance to reconstruct the most devastated areas with community or rooftop gardens? My favorite chapter in “Good News For a Change” (by David Suzuki and Holly Dressel) is the one about Cuba’s move toward more urban food production, forced by their isolation from global food sources.

I spent an afternoon with Dan Rather last year during an on-site interview on cloned animals in the food supply. The best part of the afternoon was talking with him about his views on people’s disconnects with agriculture and the source of their food. He said he thought it would be great to have a series of “Ag Disneylands” where people could come and see plant and animal agriculture as it really is. Perhaps that would help bridge the chasm of understanding between producers and consumers.

When we think of fresh-from-the-garden vegetables, the image we get is the picture of health. Barfblog reminds us that whether it is a 10 x 10 backyard garden or a 1,000 acre commercial enterprise, food safety is still important. Thanks to them for pointing us to the UC Davis Home Garden Food Safety publication list.

Some safety tips for your home garden:

• Prevention of contamination is much more effective than washing or cleaning up the produce after it is contaminated.
• Gray water use for edible plants should be carefully monitored, to make sure it is not a possible source of microbial contamination. Foliar (leaf) watering should be by municipal water, or other pathogen-free source.
• Properly composted animal manures or green manures (plant-based) are safe. If using fresh manure, mix it into the soil and maximize the time between application and planting.
• There is a food safety risk to allowing chickens in the garden during harvest season.
• Avoid keeping piles of composting plant matter or rotting vegetation close to the garden; they can harbor rats and mice which can be vectors of human disease pathogens.
• The recommended method for washing produce is with a brush under running water. They tested a range of commercial products and found they were generally not more effective than washing with water alone.

Happy growing and eating!