Planet Veggie Garden

The FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) passed regulation last week allowing fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce to be irradiated.

Food irradiation involves zapping the food with ionizing radiation.
The radiation damages the DNA of micro-organisms such as E. coli and salmonella and kills them. Hence, no more food-born illness issue.

The FDA has been allowing this practice with meat and strawberries.
Since we’ve had numerous outbreaks of food related illness with spinach and iceberg lettuce the last couple of years, this is their solution.

A couple of notes:

• Organic produce is NOT irradiated.
• The regulation allows processors to irradiate, it does not force them to.
• Irradiation plants are expensive. I’m not sure how quickly food processors will jump on this… and of course the cost will be passed on.

Really, this is all part of the “food security” issue.
Farming is often very big business. Just like a widget factory, “efficiency” and “productivity” heavily influence profitability.

However, food is not a widget. In reality, it’s a living thing.

The greatest advance

Back in early 2007, the British Medical Journal polled a broad section of more than 11,000 people in the medical and scientific communities worldwide.

The simple question they asked was: What’s been the greatest medical advance in the last 166 years (1840-2006).

Now think about all the possible answers… all the “breakthroughs” we’ve witnessed in our own life time.

And the winner was:
Sanitation.

Yep, sanitation was the single greatest advance… clean water and sewers.

All the E. coli, salmonella and various bacteria and consequent food born illnesses are really the result of insufficient sanitation.

Sometimes because of the water used on the growing crops. Sometimes because of flat out poor – tho efficient – processes. Sometimes because fresh food just can’t be handled like widgets.

Processing massive quantities of fresh food and transporting it from field to processing plant, plant to warehouse, warehouse to grocery store, grocery store to summer BBQ is fraught with peril.

Compare the sanitation of your home bathroom with the conditions of the too few “port-o-lay’s” at a massively crowded rock concert.
Yea, sorry for the image.

Grow your own

Buying from local small farms at Farmer’s Markets or through CSA’s and buying organic improve your odds quite a bit.
And of course – grow your own.

  Banana box insta-salad garden

Create a lettuce box and a spinach box.
For the ultimate in ease and cheap – use a “banana box”.

Produce boxes are generally pretty heavy duty. This box is used for bananas. Melon boxes are good as well.
I collect them from a grocery store and use them mostly for dirt and manure and for seed starting.

In this case I doubled it by putting the bottom inside the top. There’s a cut-out in the middle of the bottom. I keep heavy paper over it… enough to keep dirt in and still allow drainage.
It’s best to sit these off the ground to allow air flow to the bottom.

You can get a bag of potting soil if you don’t have any good soil and you’re ready to go.

It’ll last a couple of growing seasons.
When it’s looking like it won’t last through another harvest, simply dump the soil into a new box and toss the worn box into the compost or recycle.

A different – and “safer” – take on the produce box.

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