Cooking Up Rotten Eggs, Sunny Side Up....A "Recall" Reality Check

September 23rd, 2010

One of the things that often frustrate me about people today is the disconnect between the world they feel they live in, and the rest of the world beyond their backyards. These are the people who live in a vacuum, who choose not to see the truth that surrounds them every day, who believe everything they see on television and read in the paper, who believe that those in power do all they can to serve and protect them.

But then a recall happens.

Just a few weeks ago it was the massive egg recall. Yesterday, Jack DeCoster and his son, Peter DeCoster of Wright County Egg Operations, "testified" in a hearing held by a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee about their part in the massive 550 million egg recall which sickened over 1600 people. While they pledged not to sell any fresh eggs until their farm was proven to be disease-free, the DeCosters' testimony was liberally peppered with assertions that they were proud of the work they had done thus far, despite deplorable conditions inside the egg factory, such as live rodents(infected with salmonella), innumerable flies and maggots, and mounds of manure. DeCoster has a felony conviction for knowingly hiring illegal aliens and was once named a "habitual violator" of Iowa environmental laws. Though his status barred him from expanding his state operations for 5 years, his farms still produce about 10% of all eggs in America, and have tested positive for salmonella 73 times in the past 2 years.

A few weeks ago, consumers were panicking about a milk recall in five states(New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island), due to improper pasteurization. Supermarkets hurried to remove their products off the shelves, and people checked their refrigerators to ensure they did not own any of the tainted milk.

It seems that lately, there is a recall every month. Yet the question remains: Do people truly care about the state of their food? Do these concerns melt away after the eggs are scrambled, the meat cooked, the milk poured chilled, frothy white into tall glasses? It is painfully clear during times such as these, that people are so quick to demand redress after their naive sense of security is shattered, but do not do much to research their food sources. No longer do people know where their food comes from, and it is not until a recall occurs that they care to know about the conditions on the factory farms upon which animals are raised and slaughtered for meat and milk. One need not be a member of Greenpeace or PETA to have compassion or at the very least, to be informed. There is no excuse for voluntary ignorance. When we do not demand more, we receive less and less. A recall only has to happen once in order for most people to get the message, or at least it should.

Well, we can only hope.

As a nation, we must:
1. Demand an end to genetically modified plants and seeds, herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides. Many so-called "organic farms" have adopted the name, but not the safe practices. Factory farm runoff (manure and other waste) runs off into land used for conventional farmland, and this is the source of most salmonella outbreaks, as salmonella comes from animals infected with the bacteria.

2. Demand an end to factory farms. Ensure that ruminants like cows and sheep are fed grass, not GMO grain and soy. Ladies and gents, the next time you go to the supermarket and purchase "vegetarian fed" beef, all it means is that the cows were not fed pieces of other cows mixed in with their grain, but they were fed corn and soybeans, which is bad for them. Feedlot cattle are often infected with e.coli from eating their own feces. First prize to the lucky person who guesses who eats THAT meat! Don't forget about the pigs and chickens, who are equally diseased and mistreated. Grass-fed cows, those that are raised outside on pasture, rarely get sick, unlike factory raised cattle, who need anti-biotics to treat infections from their bodies' inability to process grains, and from cross-contamination from their own feces in crowded feed lots. For information on where to find clean food, log on to http://www.eatwild.com or http://www.westonaprice.org. Write to your elected officials and remind them who they work for. YOU. 


3. Travel to local farms and farmer's markets and meet the people who labor day and night to grow our food hygienically and with love and pride. We must do our part in insuring they have a livelihood. 


4. If you are up to it and have space, explore the option of growing vegetables or fruit at home. It can help renew your connection to the earth and remind you how connected we really are. If you are more impatient, or live in an apartment, you can try an Aerogarden and have the satisfaction of a steady supply of fresh, clean veggies in a matter of weeks.


Bottom line: We all live on this Earth, and we all have to ensure our food supply is safe. Do not leave it up to someone else or assume that while you are busy living your life, that someone cares more about you and your loved ones than you do. If you do, it could be a very painful mistake, and I bet a lot worse than a bout of diarrhea.