Feature Article: June, 2010
In a list of the “Ten Most Dangerous Foods” published this year in Time Magazine, leafy greens (including spinach, lettuce, cabbage, arugula and kale) came in at number five, just ahead of rhubarb leaves. The reason: 363 separate outbreaks were linked to leafy greens last year, involving unsavory contaminants such as Nirovirus, E. coli and Salmonella.
According to an organization called the Environmental Working Group, leafy greens are not alone. The group publishes its own list of the “dirty dozen” foods based on levels of pesticide contamination. A person who avoids the Environmental Working Group’s top 12 most dangerous foods, according to the authors of the survey, lowers their pesticide intake by a shocking 80 per cent. According to the organization’s data, apples, strawberries, bell peppers and, yes, lettuce, are all highly contaminated. And the absolute most contaminated food? Peaches.
Increasingly, the safety of the food that we put into our bodies (and our children’s bodies) daily is becoming an issue that keeps people awake at night—and one that the media takes notice of.
One extreme example was China’s tainted milk scandal in 2008, which affected some 300,000 people and left 860 babies hospitalized. A subsequent investigation uncovered how a corrupt political system had enabled some two dozen companies to sell products containing questionable chemical additives. In the wake of the scandal, heads literally rolled: food industry executives were arrested, and two were even executed.
In the United States, as well, food safety is considered an under-regulated area. Our food system is largely open to the risk of contamination, intentional or accidental.
The inspection system is way underfunded and traceability is lacking. Genetically-engineered food, grown from laboratory-developed seeds, has many positively frightened.
Some of these problems are the result of economic changes that have occurred in recent years. Consolidation in the food industry, for example, and production on an ever larger scale, are two trends that have had increasingly unpredictable consequences for our food supply.
Last year, 363 separate outbreaks were linked to leafy greens, involving unsavory contaminants such as Nirovirus, E. coli and Salmonella.
One such consequence is the increased use of pesticides. Large-scale homogeneous crop systems and large greenhouse operations are vulnerable to diseases and insect infestations. Unlike traditional agriculture, which utilizes a diversity of crop types and seeds to fortify the overall system (much like a natural ecosystem), large-scale industrial agriculture compensates for its lack of diversity by heaping chemical pesticides on crops. Some, but certainly not all of them, are eventually washed off by the consumer.
Ironically, some of the safety measures that large commercial farms take to address underlying sources of contamination eventually become contamination hazards themselves. Well known to sanitarians is the issue of burden, the dirt that builds up in the cleaning solution and prevents it from maintaining bactericidal activity. Imagine how easy it is to have this happen with thousands of pounds of lettuce being washed. It has to be safer to not wash because your product doesn't get dirty.
Industrial produce is also transported over great distances, leaving it vulnerable to terrorism, weather-related events and sabotage. These long supply lines also make a considerable contribution to global climate change.
For many consumers, the solution to questions about food safety is to go organic. Organic food, according to the conventional wisdom, is safer than industrially grown food. With no chemical fertilizers and pesticides to worry about, organic food is much less risky.
The truth, however, is that this is just not so. Beyond the lack of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, organic food is not inherently safer than non-organic. For one thing, organic food is often fertilized by manures. When not properly managed, these can become a source of potential contamination.
Organic produce, especially when it is grown in one place and sold (out of season) in another, also tends to be transported long distances, making it just as environmentally damaging as conventional produce. And not every consumer can afford the higher price that comes with organic fruits and vegetables.
“Consolidation in the food industry...and production on an ever larger scale, are two trends that have had increasingly unpredictable consequences for our food supply.”
These days, many agricultural producers are thinking beyond the old conventional-organic dichotomy, and exploring new ways to produce food that is at once safe, affordable and environmentally sound. One school of thought now believes that the safest and most accessible food may in fact be produce grown in controlled environments, using methods like aeroponics.
According to Rick Donnan, vice president of the Australian Hydroponics and Greenhouses Association, hydroponically grown produce is better for consumers’ health, due to the fact that it does not come into physical contact with the ground. This, he says, reduces the risk of contamination by organisms living in soil and manure. “In practice,” says Donnan, “the major health problems from vegetables have been associated with the external contamination of produce, rather than from what’s inside them.”
Advocates of controlled-environment agriculture like Donnan point to a number of potential benefits of farming using these methods. Aside from the fact that soil-based contaminants are virtually eliminated, the prospect of smaller and more decentralized farms reduces many of the risks involved with large-scale production. Less water is required, as well as less pesticides.
Controlled-environment agriculture is also a better method for the home gardener. Methods like aeroponics allow just about anyone to grow food indoors, in a clean environment without the unnecessary mess caused by soil. Since weeds and weeding are taken out of the equation, maintenance is also greatly reduced. Indoor, controlled-environment agriculture is also cheaper, more productive and, according to some, even produces more nutritious food.
In this age of uncertainty regarding our food supply, agriculture in a controlled environment is simply a safer and better way to feed our families.
Other articles by Dr. Ed Harwood
