WP,pg1: Outbreaks Reveal Food Safety Net's Holes: Produce Growers Balk At Calls for Regulation

[DeepModem Mom]

Outbreaks Reveal Food Safety Net's Holes
Produce Growers Balk At Calls for Regulation
By Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 11, 2006; Page A01

First it was spinach. Then tomatoes. Now possibly green onions.

Over the past three months, fresh produce has been the culprit in one episode of food-borne illness after another, the latest an E. coli outbreak that appears to be linked to green onions served at Taco Bell restaurants in the Northeast. More than 60 people have been sickened in that outbreak.

The patchwork of federal and state regulations that is supposed to ensure food safety has become less effective as the nation's produce supply has grown increasingly industrial. Three months after the spinach scare, there is no agreement on what should be done to reduce health risks from the nation's fruits and vegetables even as each episode of illness has heightened a sense of urgency.

The number of produce-related outbreaks of food-borne illness has increased from about 40 in 1999 to 86 in 2004, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Americans are now more likely to get sick from eating contaminated produce than from any other food item, the center said....

Consumer advocates think that tougher mandatory food safety standards and stepped-up enforcement are the answer. The country's largest food distributors and restaurants are pursuing self-regulation, arguing that government rules can take years to put in place. Produce growers and packers have suggested a voluntary system with elements of mandatory oversight. But even the industry proposals are months away from taking effect....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000903.html

[4morewars]

1. This is so easy to fix.

Stop eating this shit !

These corporations don't care about us. They prove that every day.

Buy local, grow your own, support CSAs, co-ops, etc.
Don't eat fast food, including the adult fast food chains.
Be more picky at the supermarket, avoid the products from big agra.
Like that log of chopped meat for $2.99, that can't be good for you, more like a bio-hazard !
Genetically modified food ? No thank you. Food that's been treated with radiation ? I think I'll pass on that too.

We need to pay more attention to what these big corporations and their advocates (repuke congressmen) are doing to the food supply.

[OneBlueSky]

2. a cornerstone of the BushCo "vision" has always been complete deregulation . . .

of corporations . . . and they've taken massive steps in that direction . . .

this is precisely the opposite of what is needed . . . if we don't restore citizen authority over corporations, none of our other problems will ever be solved . . . because corporate capitalism, in its current form, is largely responsible for EVERY major problem we face today . . . for example . . .

corporations that make ghastly profits from the Iraq war -- and from increasing oil prices . . .

corporations that pollute the air, water and land with no regard for the environment or for the future . . .

corporations that cavalierly move jobs overseas to increase shareholder profits, regardless of the impact on American workers . . .

corporations that create all kinds of new chemical compounds that pollute the environment and cause diseases like cancer . . .

corporations that degrade the food supply with genetically modified crops . . .

corporations that overfish the oceans to the point of destroying fish stocks . . .

corporations that endanger consumers through horrific factory farming practices . . .

corporations that make healthcare in the U.S. the most expensive and inefficient of any developed nation . . .

corporations that literally (and secretly) control the voting process and, more importantly, the vote counting process by which we "elect" our leaders . . .

corporations that write the laws "regulating" their own industries in ways that pretty much allow them to do whatever they wish in pursuit of bigger profits . . .

and on, and on, and on . . .

unless we recognize how toxic the current system of corporate capitalism is, and take drastic steps to reign it in by strictly regulating corporations, their behavior, and their profits, the problems we face today will seem like mere annoyances in future decades . . .

http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org