Growers and Grocers

Unless you don’t follow the news, you’re probably well aware of the latest food scare - tomatoes tainted with salmonella.

The big question that has yet to be answered is how do thousands of pounds of tomatoes get tainted with salmonella, a bacteria that originates in the digestive tracts of humans, birds, and other animals? As of this writing, there is no answer as to how so many tomatoes from so many places became infected with a bacteria that doesn’t naturally occur in plants. At this point, the most definite answer is, according to Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner of food protection for the FDA, “a problem at a farm.”

So what are tomato-lovers to do? Personally, I don’t think people should be eating the tomatoes served in most restaurants and sold in grocery stores in the off-season solely because these factory-farmed, mass-produced fruits taste terrible. But is the recent illness outbreak an even bigger reason to avoid those tomatoes in favor of locally-grown or home-grown?

The answer is a definite yes. In the 2006 spinach E.coli outbreak, there was no official reason given for the contamination. According to the FDA, “Potential environmental risk factors for E.coli O157:H7 contamination at or near the field included the presence of wild pigs, the proximity of irrigation wells used to grow produce for ready-to-eat packaging, and surface waterways exposed to feces from cattle and wildlife.” While it’s impossible for all farms of every size to avoid, say, wild pigs, it seems to me that small farmers might have a better grasp on what animals and water come into contact with their produce, at the very least. It’s easier to monitor a few acres of tomatoes that are your livelihood, than it is for poorly-paid workers with no vested interest in the farm to monitor thousands of acres.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group that has worked for over 35 years in the interest of food safety, goes as far as to blame the FDA and their lax standards and voluntary farm inspection programs for these repeated outbreaks of produce being tainted with animal-borne bacterias.

I won’t be forgoing my fresh tomatoes this summer. That would be akin to jumping straight from spring to autumn. I won’t be partaking in factory-farmed tomatoes, though; I’ll continue buying my produce from local farmers, who I can talk to in person, and who can tell me where my food has been, what’s been with my food, and how it’s been inspected.