I keep seeing this girl, Samantha Safranek, interviewed in the television news stories about how she got sick from E.coli 0157:H7 in a Topps hamburger she bought at Wal-Mart. I don’t know if she’s the only person sickened willing to come forward or just the person who supposedly became most sick that the news media found out about (and thus the most sensational).
(She’s the one I alluded to yesterday who said, “I can’t believe I almost died over a stupid hamburger.” You’re right, Anna, I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I was at my sister’s house and she has the TV on all the time, so I couldn’t help see this girl come up probably four times in an hour on various newscasts.)
Anyway, what is intriguing is the way the media use the “poor girl” to lead into, “Why isn’t the government protecting us better?” Then the consumer watchdog rep comes on to say, “We need more inspectors.” And finally, the lawyer—“We blame Wal-Mart for allowing this hamburger to be sold. They must pay the penalty.”
No wonder the bureaucrats are so afraid and defensive. They’re supposed to PROTECT US, even if they can’t.
What I’d really like to see is a U.S. Department of Agriculture official or head of a major grocery chain, say what some of the readers here said following my previous post: “Look, if you eat meat that comes from Wal-Mart, you are taking a much bigger risk than if you eat meat from Whole Foods, and if you eat meat from Whole Foods, you are taking a bigger risk than if you eat meat you buy directly from a local farmer you know and trust. By risk, we’re not just talking about E.coli, but salmonella and other pathogens, along with antibiotic residues, saturated fats and quality of proteins. It only makes sense—to make food cheap, companies have to cut corners. The more you investigate your food sources and the closer you get to the producer, the better your chances of finding producers that don’t cut corners. And regardless of where you buy your meat, you will reduce your risk by using probiotics, including raw milk, to build immunity to pathogens. We all feel badly for Samantha, but her parents took a bigger risk than they needed to by buying cheap frozen burgers at Wal-Mart. Next time they’ll know, and maybe do things differently, understanding even then that there is no absolute protection.”
What would be the reaction to that kind of explanation? Actually, I think many people could relate to it. They know that quality tends to vary with price. If you take the Chinatown bus from New York to Boston for $15, the chances are greater it will go up in flames (as a number have) than if you take a Greyhound Bus for $25, which is probably riskier than taking Amtrak for $50.
Mark McAfee tried to say something like this when the Food and Drug Administration asked him to draft a press release about listeria being found in his raw milk, but his statement never was allowed to see the light of day (except on this blog, where it was well received).
We’ve been indoctrinated that food that is ultra-cheap (because it’s mass produced using the genius of American technology) will be as safe and nutritious as food that is more expensive (because it’s been raised humanely with attention to detail). We’ve been indoctrinated that the food served by the fast-food chains will have the same nutritional value as the food from an attentive locally-owned diner of the type described by Anna. And we’ve been indoctrinated that our government has ensured we won’t become ill from pathogens in food, regardless of the state of our immune systems. It is provocative stuff, and there’s some agitated discussion about it in response to a Miami Herald article describing Samantha that sounds remarkably similar to previous discussions on this blog.)
Maybe I’m just getting too libertarian in my old age. The people Mary McGonigle-Martin quotes (following my previous post) at S.T.O.P. are barking up the wrong tree. They mean well, but they can’t stop believing that the USDA and FDA can protect us, if we just give them more money and more bureaucrats.
If you know your meat supplier, you’d just as soon not have the USDA involved, because all it does is increase costs, making it tough for small high-quality farms to compete. (For more on the difficulties small producers of beef and chicken face, see Joel Salatin’s book “Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal”.)
I try to reduce my risk by not eating meat I don’t know the source of (which is nearly all beef and chicken in restaurants). Yes, I make exceptions, like this evening, when my sister served a roast beef that I knew came from Wal-Mart or some equivalent. I try to respect other people’s food choices when I’m a guest in their homes…and understand I’m assuming more risks than I usually do. (If I don’t show up here again, blame my sister, or rather blame Wal-Mart, or…just get me a good lawyer!) I think what I’m saying is that I as an adult assume such risks, whether from beef, spinach, or raw milk. Why is that so terrible to say?
As this unfortunate event shows, it is critical to know the source of your food.
This is the result of a culture that believes that all food is created equal. The food industry has worked hard to foster this belief. There is no difference between one box of Cheerios and another. A few years ago the University of Co. ran DNA tests on a pound of supermarket hamburger. They found the DNA of 1082 animals in that pound of meat. That is about as equal as meat can get: Equal taste, equal nutrition, equal chance for pathogens.
In reality, food is artisanal. We raise and sell grass-fed and pastured meat and dairy products. Each animal we butcher is different from any other. Genetics, type of grass, amount of rainfall, heat and cold stress, temperment, age of animal, and quality of butchering all combine to create a unique eating experience. To combine the meat, from many animals is akin to mixing the paint of many artists and trying to sell it as art.
I’m afriad that until many more families experience close calls like Samantha, people will be unwilling to give up the lie that all food is created equal.
That is a great point and I love the: food is artisanal!
Question for anyone out there…so far I only see Samantha’s family stating just e-coli. No 0157:H7?
Anyone know? Anyone know the time frame or did anyone read how long it took her to get sick after she consumed the burger…inquiring minds are asking since the reaction is usually quick with hamburger meat…maybe because there is more of the bacteria all throughout? She was a sole case for a while, wasn’t she?
Educate me someone since I do not watch the news too often. Dave??? Can you e-mail me the info if you get a chance? Appreciate it.
"And hamburger is especially deadly because with a steak, the bacteria is on the outside and the outside sees the highest temps. Hamburger patties, made 2000 miles away, have the bacteria mixed throughout the patty, just waiting for some luke warm temperature and a warm intestine. Party time."
Organic from Walmart is an oxymoronthe business attitude of the latter doesnt jive with the meaning (at least the old meaning) of the former..
A different method of getting good, dense, clean food is necessary. People need to start depending on farmers rather than supermarket purchasing agents. Relationships between consumers and producers must be accentuated. The CSA model, the cowshare, are perfect ways for this relationship, which needs to be based on trust, to flourish. Having a stake (steak?) in a herd can solve much of the uncertainty with meat as well as milk. This is the way that a true food revolution can occur, and in its wake can come the social change that is required for it.
The food safety crisis will continue to worsen. The food quality crisis will also. We can undertake the monumental task of radically altering the food delivery system.or the minumental task of creating a new and separate one. Concentrating our energies on alternatives is the fastest way to get peoplethe ones who WANT better food.to gain control over their food supply. But first it must be legal to do so.
The movement is spending much energy going from state to state trying to put out fires. Focusing our energy on national legislation, which would legalize herd ownership rights, would be a more prudent way to go. The history of agistment agreements is long and established. The Congress and the Courts must be convinced that the rights of an individual to procure their own food is greater than the rights of corporations to profit from monopolization of the supply.
Know your farmer, know your food….
I’ve started to think of ways to get this conversation going with people, wihout coming across as a nut, zealot, or fringe element (or at least as much of one :-). I sponsored my son’s recreational soccer team when they didn’t have a commerical sponsor (full disclosure, it was also a tax-deduction, so that was part of the incentive). The back of the team jersey is printed with Community Supported Agriculture (my son nixed some other slogans I considered :-). It has raised great questions at practice and games and doncha know, I have some answers :-).
I long ago gave up wearing advertising, alma mater, and concert t-shirts, etc., but recently bought some great t-shirts from a link I found on Nina Planck’s website – http://www.ninaplanck.com. One has a nice artisitic cow silkscreen graphic with the words "Grass Fed". The other one, which generates the most comments and questions, is "You Got To Know Your Chicken" and a nice silkscreended chick graphic. The graphics are nicely done (not dorky or cutesie) and the women’s shirts are a nice shaped women’s cut, not generic baggy unisex shirts, so I enjoy wearing them and don’t feel "dressed-down" (it beats wearing a "Pink" t-shirt any day). My son’s shirts have "Free Range" text on a simple black shirt, "Wild & Local" (with an abstract salmon icon), as well as a "You Got To Know Your Chicken" graphic. My 9 you old can (sometimes) come up with some pretty good answers to the questions his shirts generate, so I guess he does pay attention to me :-).
What to you folks do to raise questions, generate awareness, get people thinking, asking, talking, doing? I admit freely, I’ll shamelessly borrow any good suggestions :-).
I agree, that the ordinary citizen is just beginning to get an inkling of many of these issues. I find people more inclined to talk now than they were a year ago, particularly if they determine that I speak with some objectivity and background. Few people want to talk with zealots except perhaps to humor, patronize or ridicule, and I’ve long since learned to move on to other topics if eyes glaze over at the first mention of raw milk or other similar topics that we all seem capable of talking about to great length – and I’m NOT accusing anyone here of being a zealot :-).
"raw milk revolutionary"
"I do raw, what do you do?’
"Wild fish for me please!"
"Raw, not radiated!"
Leave the anitbiotics, hormones and GMO’s out of my meat"
"I am all natural"
"I live an organic life" Or "I live an orgasmic organic life ;)"
Here are a few shirts that I have and that I have seen on bumper stickers around.
The more I read about what goes into feed, the less I want to eat of the "store" bought and/or processed foods. We have a veggie garden, and fruit trees, I get my free range eggs from my friend that has horses. Come this spring, I’ll be helping to pluck the little beggars.
I had read that "virus’ were going to be sprayed on lunch meat, to combat the Samonella (sp) and E-Coli, etc. I don’t wish to ingest any virus’. Another picture that has something wrong with it.
I know people do look at me like I am a tad strange when I mention what is in feed, sprayed on foods, etc. As someone posted, many are blinded by the beliefs that the gov will take care of them. I was just reading tonight about a court case in Canada, where the Canadian Red Cross and some MDs were exonerated (sp) for contaminating 1000s with HIV and Hepatitis over a period of years, with known bad blood. Yes indeed, govs take care of thier own…