Wow. Imagine That - Using Untreated Animal Manure Sludge On Crops Might Contaminate Food

[hatrack]

The spread of food-borne infection is one of the main health risks resulting from the use of untreated slurry on agricultural fields, according to two experts. Both scientists agreed that the practice can potentially lead to bacterial and viral infections, and that washing the produce would not necessarily eliminate the risks.

The Sunday Times of Malta sought the advice of a food scientist and an expert on public health issues from two separate university faculties on whether the use of liquid manure from animal farms carried any health risks.

Over the past month, the newspaper has reported the use of slurry from animal farms by some farmers as fertiliser. Its use is illegal, and the Ombudsman’s office is investigating the health and environmental risks. Initial findings indicate the practice is geographically “widespread”.

Vasilis Valdramidis, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Malta said the use of liquid unprocessed animal slurry on agriculture fields goes against EU rules which, if not followed, could potentially lead to bacterial and viral infections.

EDIT

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140511/local/Slurry-on-fields-may-cause-food-infection-.518478

[Submariner]

1. "Bowl Foods" marketing strategy against "Whole Foods" obviously needs some work

is untreated animal crap a problem in your salad, then just use more vinaigrette to douse the odor.

[stuntcat]

2. but with everyone wanting meat what can we do with the mechatonnage of animal poop?

Send it into space?
Of course we could cut back on meat.. but that would make people live longer AND slow down the apocalypse, both of which would be terrible for the rest of the planet's species, lol, what a problem we've made

[appal_jack]

3. Composting or fallow periods can make animal manures safer.

Composting or fallow periods can make animal manures safer. Liquid slurries of course would need a lot of dry matter bulking agent (wood chips, etc.) in order to successfully compost. A generally more economical alternative would be to apply the slurry to the field, then grow a cover crop for a few months, then kill the cover crop via herbicides (if the grower is non-organic), mowing, or tillage, then grow produce in the cover crop residue and captured fertility. Cornell studies done on manure borne pathogens indicate that a 120 day period between manure application and a food crop harvest is a reasonable mitigation practice:

http://www.gaps.cornell.edu/documents/edumat/FApdfs/AssessmentSections/09-Manure-Use.pdf

-app

[Nihil]

4. The problem isn't simply "animal manure" ...

... it is also the huge amount of artificial additives that it contains - antibiotics, grown hormones, etc., - and
that stuff lasts longer than the components of standard organic crap which rot down with time.

Yet again, people are now desperate to find "solutions" (to make money) rather than fixing (or even
facing up to) the underlying issues:
- Don't pump your food full of unnecessary chemicals.
- Don't promote antibiotic resistance.
- Don't put more lifestock onto an area than it can support.
- Don't view the concept of "cheap meat" as a right of (certain parts of) mankind.
- Don't view humans as special or separate from their environment.

"Cut back on meat"? You sum kin' of soshialist or summin'?

[stuntcat]

5. I guess I am sum kin'a soshialist or summin' lol!!

lol
The thread here last week, a 5-yr-old article about how meat's so great, lets me know I don't belong at DU. All the back-slapping, and ignoring the points made in the replies to the old article.. ah humanity just kills me!

Then today someone showed me this video! -

And when I think of all the healthy vegans I know, or all the overweight seniors I know whose doctors told them just to stop meat totally, or all the poop being dumped by "meat" factories in MY beautiful NC, or alllllll the things I've seen in almost 30 years of learning about this stuff.. nah I just don't need this crowd here at DU anymore. Guess I'm not really a Democrat anymore anyway, since for decades I haven't had the choice of voting for anyone who'll do anything for the environment, and now it's too late, oh well!

I really will miss some of you