First, the idea that food poisoning was somehow unknown in previous eras is nothing short of insane. What in the world do you think people have spent all that money canning, freezing and generally preserving for? Fun? That contention is just ridiculous. Ever hear of a little book called "The Jungle"?
Pollan further demonstrates his total ignorance by feeling more confident about local spinach than bagged spinach. You don't think there's cow manure on local spinach? Huh? Bagged spinach, because the plastic creates a good bacteria-growing environment, has to be washed more thoroughly than typical spinach and it is. It's just not washed thoroughly enough to eat it without a second washing and nobody should.
But non-bagged spinach is filthy, with large amounts of sandy dirt coming off it when you wash it (and insects). It's much more dangerous when packed than when on the fields. I would eat a spinach leaf off a plant in a second, but once people have handled it and put it in a picking bag and a box, they've mixed the leaves with the soil and you've got contamination. Even though I know it's very clean, I never eat bagged spinach without washing - even to taste because - again, any contamination gets nicely mixed up in bag. But by and large a little bacteria from unwashed fruits and veggies won't hurt you if you have a normal immune system
Everyone in the food industry (and seemingly few consumers) knows that cold, fresh foods are the most hazardous. Washing is key, but washing is a process that must be repeated when the food is left for anything over a day or two. People get crazy about cooking meat, but even modest heat kills the vast majority of bacteria, which is enough for a healthy person's immune system to handle easily. Moreover, it's really ground meat that's almost always the problem because grinding mixes surface contamination throughout the product.
What's wrong with the "food system" is not that there are too few people involved, but that there are too many middlemen and the people who pick and lack the food are paid far, far, too little even to care how much dirt they send to the ultimate consumers. Big growers and distributors generally grow and pack a more reliable product. The produce at Costco, for example, is often very good and long-lasting because it has been handled relatively little between field and store and because the inventory moves quickly.
Pollan has a lot of prejudices and not so much science in his work, I find. Feedlots are awful places and he and other writers did everyone a great service revealing how awful they are. But he goes too far with too little knowledge.
Boddi
On 10/17/06, joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> Good article
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/magazine/15wwln_lede.html?em&ex=1161316800&en=59c7751ffa65d98a&ei=5087%0A
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>