Tonight's news regarding the deadly E.Coli outbreak in Europe was exactly what I was dreading--and I don't mean to be drab, the whole thing is tragic, so it's not like any of us wanted the problem to exist at all. But the announcement was made that bean sprouts grown on an organic farm were the source of the present highly dangerous bacterial infection.
As I explained in a previous post, American farms, to qualify for the USDA organic label, must demonstrate food processing hygiene and manure handling practices far in excess of those deemed acceptable on non-organic-certified American farms, thus minimizing the risk of E.coli from organic farms.
The bean sprouts growers which were the source of the contaminated sprouts apparently used no manure in their sprout growing, according to news reports. The sprouts were no grown with manure tea, and are not grown in any form of soil, so there is no reason to think manure came in contact with them. The source of the bacteria growing in the sprouts is therefore likely either in the water, or was in the seed stock. German investigators have not yet determined the ultimate source of the bacteria.
That said, the press has been quick to quote consumers in Germany as stating that they would not eat organic produce anymore. Press has also been quoting the German agricultural minister as saying that manure is frequently used on organic farms and has been a source of E.coli outbreaks in the past.
Small farmers, seed savers, and organic growers are under attack in the U.S. by the massive agribusiness lobby that uses the term 'food security' as a weapon to bludgeon out non-chemical agriculture competition. Unfortunately, no matter what the ultimate source of contamination may be at this one veggie sprout farm in Germany--water contaminated from another farm, poor handling practices, deliberate sabotage, whatever--organic farmers the world over better brace their feet and prepare for the wave of negative energy that will follow this tragedy.
It is a horrible irony that something so healthful as bean sprouts should be a source of death and widespread illness. My heart goes out to he families of those who died from this baffling incident--and to the organic sprout growers. I have been trying to imagine what any of my Vermont organic farmer friends would be going through were something of this ilk to have been found to have originated on their farms -- they'd be utterly devastated.
It's too early yet to be certain of the take-away lesson from this E.coli outbreak, but it's not to early to be certain that it will become yet another battleground point between corporate agribiz and small growers over the question of where better food security can truly be found. For me, no matter the outcome, that security will still be found in my garden and in the produce of my local market farmers.
As I explained in a previous post, American farms, to qualify for the USDA organic label, must demonstrate food processing hygiene and manure handling practices far in excess of those deemed acceptable on non-organic-certified American farms, thus minimizing the risk of E.coli from organic farms.
The bean sprouts growers which were the source of the contaminated sprouts apparently used no manure in their sprout growing, according to news reports. The sprouts were no grown with manure tea, and are not grown in any form of soil, so there is no reason to think manure came in contact with them. The source of the bacteria growing in the sprouts is therefore likely either in the water, or was in the seed stock. German investigators have not yet determined the ultimate source of the bacteria.
That said, the press has been quick to quote consumers in Germany as stating that they would not eat organic produce anymore. Press has also been quoting the German agricultural minister as saying that manure is frequently used on organic farms and has been a source of E.coli outbreaks in the past.
Small farmers, seed savers, and organic growers are under attack in the U.S. by the massive agribusiness lobby that uses the term 'food security' as a weapon to bludgeon out non-chemical agriculture competition. Unfortunately, no matter what the ultimate source of contamination may be at this one veggie sprout farm in Germany--water contaminated from another farm, poor handling practices, deliberate sabotage, whatever--organic farmers the world over better brace their feet and prepare for the wave of negative energy that will follow this tragedy.
It is a horrible irony that something so healthful as bean sprouts should be a source of death and widespread illness. My heart goes out to he families of those who died from this baffling incident--and to the organic sprout growers. I have been trying to imagine what any of my Vermont organic farmer friends would be going through were something of this ilk to have been found to have originated on their farms -- they'd be utterly devastated.
It's too early yet to be certain of the take-away lesson from this E.coli outbreak, but it's not to early to be certain that it will become yet another battleground point between corporate agribiz and small growers over the question of where better food security can truly be found. For me, no matter the outcome, that security will still be found in my garden and in the produce of my local market farmers.
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