A dangerous turn

Even before the FDA's expected final report about farming practices on the San Benito County field that has been linked to E. coli on spinach, this news report speculates about the safety of organic food versus conventional food. This angle may be explored even more in the weeks ahead, and organic marketers have no doubt been bracing for it since the identification of the transitional organic field.
Here is an excerpt from the story "E. coli Find Sparks New Criticism of Organic Foods", published by Cybercast News Service, which is a right-leaning media outlet:

A California farm in transition to organic status has been identified as a source of the E. coli outbreak in spinach last year, a discovery likely to add to existing concerns about possible safety issues surrounding organic foods.While skeptics of organic foods are stepping up criticism, the discovery should be considered in proportion, said Craig Minowa, environmental scientist for the Organic Consumers Association."If you look at the history of food-borne illness in the U.S., it almost all comes from conventional farms," Minowa told Cybercast News Service. "That's not to say we couldn't run into problems on organic farms."The California Department of Health Services confirmed last week that a 50-acre field in San Benito County farm -- two-thirds of the way through a three-year process of moving towards being officially organic -- was one source of the E. coli outbreak last year that killed three people and sickened 200. The findings affirm what critics have long believed about organic foods, said Alex Avery, director of research and education at the Center for Global Food Issues at the free-market Hudson Institute."No system of farming can assure food safety," Avery told Cybercast News Service. "This, at best, shows organic food is no safer than other foods. At worst, it shows they are significantly less safe than other foods.


TK: Familiar sources like the right winger Dennis Avery and food safety lawyer Bill Marler are quoted in this story. Whether or not the question of "organic produce safety" gets heavy play in the mainstream press, it is hard to say now. One question - how does the industry... United, PMA, or the joint Produce Safety Center, if you will - get in the middle of this story? There had better be a plan to be proactive about speaking with one voice, conventional and organic, on the issue of produce safety. At the same time, the industry has to listen to what FDA says about farming practices with an open mind and be prepared to respond.