News for August 30, 2010

Egg Recall: Salmonella Found In Feed At Two Iowa Egg Farms; Feed Mill Under Review

A state Department of Agriculture inspector will visit the Iowa feed mill where investigators found salmonella linked to the massive egg recall to check whether it is operating legally.

The mill, at Wright County Egg, hasn't been regulated by the state Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Its owners say it qualifies for an exemption allowing farmers to make feed for their own livestock.

[ READ MORE (Huffington Post) ]

Food safety bill would be bad for local farms

A national egg recall, local Umpqua milk contamination: When will it end? Isn't it about time the Senate followed the House and passed The Food Modernization and Safety Act (S 510)?

When Congress reconvenes in September, the push will intensify to get this done. But Houston, we have a problem.

[ READ MORE (Mail Tribune) ]

Is government regulation making our food any safer?

There have been a lot of unsurprising news stories lately. Rod Blagojevich going on TV. Tiger Woods and his wife divorcing. The economy racing along like an elderly tortoise. And the Food and Drug Administration saying the salmonella outbreak proves the agency needs more power.

We should have seen that coming. In the private sector, entities that fall short of doing their jobs find themselves forced to shrink. In the public sector, the opposite is typically true. Failure is an option, and often a beneficial one.

[ READ MORE (Reason) ]

Egg industry resorts to blaming the victim in recall, critics say

No more sunny side up. No more eggs Benedict. No more almost-set scrambled eggs. After of one of the largest egg recalls on record, critics say the egg industry is resorting to the worst tactic of all: blaming the victim.

More than 1,400 illnesses now appear to be tied to an outbreak of salmonella enteritidis definitively linked to eggs produced on two Iowa farms.

[ READ MORE (USA Today) ]

Cargill's ground beef being recalled

Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., based out of Wyalusing, Pa, is recalling about 8,500 pounds of ground beef that may have been tainted with Escherichia coli O26, the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced on Saturday.

The ground beef products of concern include 42-pound cases of GROUND BEEF FINE 90/10 with three 14-pound chubs each package, which was marked with "use/freeze by" date of "07.01/10" and an identifying code of "W69032".

[ READ MORE (Food Consumer) ]

Egg recall illustrates value of local food producers

This is a response to the egg recall on behalf of Terre Foods Cooperative Market:

If you’ve been watching the news, you are already aware of the national egg recall currently under way. While we are lucky that the list does not currently include any eggs shipped to Indiana, the scope is huge, and the recall list is expected to grow. When I saw the magnitude of the egg recall, I’ll admit I was completely boggled, and that was before the number rose to it’s now-current resting place of 500 million recalled eggs (as of Aug. 23, 2010).

[ READ MORE (Trib Star) ]

Boston officials crow about new chicken farm

Boston officials are crowing about the city's new free-range chicken farm on an island in the harbor.

“Boston has been in the forefront of cities using their infrastructures to increase access to healthy, affordable foods,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. “The chicken farm is another step in that direction and the perfect complement to the existing organic farm on Long Island.”

[ READ MORE (Boston Globe) ]

Organic food grows on acre of New York City rooftop

No room to garden? In New York City, farmers are looking skyward to grow fruits and veggies, turning rooftops into gardens that help feed the Big Apple's residents.

Brooklyn Grange, an organic farming business, is using a 40,000-square-foot rooftop (nearly an acre) in Queens to grow hundreds of thousands of plants. Its website says tomatoes are among its biggest crops but it also grows salad greens, herbs, carrots, fennel, beets, radishes and beans. It farms nine months of the year, using cover crops like rye, buckwheat, vetch and clover in the winter.

[ READ MORE (USA Today) ]

Death of the Lakes: The Spreading of Toxic and Infectious Wastes and Disease

Human illnesses and animal deaths have occurred recently from neurotoxins secreted by a heavy slime of blue and green algae floating on Ohio’s largest lake—Grand Lake St. Mary’s (Grand Lake) in Auglaize and Mercer Counties. This is a lake that has been deteriorating for decades, but especially so in the past 10 years as factory farms have sprung up all over the area, and more are being built.

A high concentration of factory farms and the application of composted manure from CAFO (confined animal feeding operations) manure and sewage treatment sludge (humanure, now called biosolids—a mixture of concentrated human excrement and industrial discharges) is spreading toxic and infectious substances on farmlands close by and in the watershed. CAFOs in the watershed area account for 3 million chickens; while sewage sludge spreading is permitted on 8800 Ohio farmlands—several close to the edge of Grand Lake.

[ READ MORE (Journal of Living Food and Healing) ]

The Truth About Raw Milk – Part I

Raw milk is a hot topic in the news and media these days. And with good reason. It’s a subject that is near and dear to my heart, and it’s very important to become informed about it, but not because drinking it will make you sick.

Today you will read about the history of pasteurization and the health benefits of raw milk as discussed by health professionals, two journalists, and a steward-conscientious and progressive dairy farmer. The second installment of this series will cover my family’s personal testimony of consuming raw milk, what to ask your farmer when buying raw milk, and action steps you can take to assure raw milk is available in the future for everyone.

[ READ MORE (Journal of Living Food and Healing) ]

The Truth About Raw Milk – Part 2

In yesterday’s article about raw milk, we learned about the history of pasteurization, health benefits of raw milk, and some very specific information about the nutrient-dense value of milk and how it positively impacts health.

Part II will include our family’s personal testimony of our experience drinking raw milk for the last three years, questions to ask your farmer when searching for the right place to buy raw milk, and how you can become involved in a vibrant raw milk community with passionate individuals who are committed to helping keep raw milk available for everyone to consume.

[ READ MORE (Journal of Living Food and Healing) ]