New York Times*: Farmgirl-turned-food-author Nina Planck comes out swinging in this opinion piece on the toxic spinach outbreak titled “Leafy Green Sewage.” She’s the first we’ve seen to point out that this is a new, particularly virulent strain of E. coli that’s adapted to thrive in the acidified stomachs of factory-farm cows. Switch them to a grass diet for a week, and the bad-ass bacteria retreat a thousandfold. “Taxpayers are financing a policy that only treats the symptom, not the disease, and at great expense,” she says. “There remains only one long-term remedy, and it’s still the simplest one: stop feeding grain to cattle.” (Thanks for the tip, Marcia!)
Mo’ spinach:
Lancaster Online: As expected, the E. coli outbreak has raised doubts about organic farming methods. This article helps lay them to rest.
AP/Seattle P-I: Health officials are investigating nine California farms. Officials in other spinach-growing states, such as New Jersey, are hoping that the investigation will lessen the financial impact on non-California-based growers.
Lighter fare:Albany Times-Union: Upstate New York tries out the 100-Mile Diet for a month.
San Jose Mercury News: The Bon Appétit Management Company of Palo Alto, which runs more than 400 institutional food-service operations — including Yahoo’s, Oracle’s, and the Stanford business school’s — is doing an amazing job of working with small, local farmers.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The new Whole Foods in Atlanta sounds like Organic Disneyland — a milk dispenser gives free cups of organic milk to kids; there’s an in-store beehive; and an oral-history listening station where shoppers can hear farmers talk about Vidalia onions, South Carolina rice, Sweetgrass Dairy cheeses and other topics. [DQ: This puts the tiny, cramped Berkeley store to shame.]
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