Before you blame California’s farmers for the recent outbreak of E-Coli in our bagged spinach, here’s a few things you need to know about this deadly bacteria.

I’m sure you’re asking: Why does it seem there is a new outbreak every year for the last 10 years? First it was Wendy’s, and then it was Jack in the Box burgers. No problem, just cook the meat longer, right?

Then it was Olive Garden salads, Taco Bell onions and now California’s fresh bagged spinach?

Who will be next? Are we safe? Are our children safe? How are we ever to trust our food grower’s? Shouldn’t the FDA be doing more to protect us? Somebody is falling down on their job here, and I for one don’t want me or my loved ones to become an E-Coli statistic! Somebody needs to do something!

What you don’t know is that Wendy’s and Jack’s and all of the above were also victims…victims of the decisions you as consumers make every day!

Studies now prove that this deadly strain, the one responsible for all the deaths and scares in recent years, can be traced back to the cattle industry, most specifically the feedlots where the beef you buy is raised.

Forced to meet the ever increasing world-wide demand for American beef, ranchers have resorted to raising cattle in cramped feedlot enclosures where the cattle are fed nothing but high-grain/corn diets. These cattle are not healthy and are finally passing it on to us and our environment, and endangering all our lives.

What makes this strain more toxic than others is that it is acid-resistant, which allows it to pass through our stomachs unharmed and into our intestines where it takes hold and does its damage.

In a new book, ”The Omnivore’s Dilemna”, by Michael Pollen he explains, “A concentrated diet of corn can give a cow acidosis. Unlike our own highly acidic stomachs, the normal pH of a rumen (cow’s stomach) is neutral. Corn renders it acidic, causing a kind of bovine heart burn that in some cases can kill the animal, but usually it just makes him very sick. Over time the acids eat away at the rumen wall, allowing bacteria to enter the animal’s intestines (passed in their manure) and bloodstream. These microbes (in their blood) wind up in the liver, where they cause abscesses…(passed in their urine). In this man-made (feedlot) environment new acid-resistant strains of E- Coli have evolved… (so) by acidifying the rumen with corn we’ve broken down one of our food chain’s most important barriers to infection.”

This strain can persist in soils for months, and it moves in runoff and rainfall from the feedlots into our waterways and ground water supplies, as well as seeping through the soil into our underground water tables. Recent research has shown that it is then taken up by lettuce and spinach roots and can be stored in the leaves. Root and bulb plants, such as potatoes, carrots, radishes, onions and garlic, if irrigated with this toxic water often enough are also capable of storing the bacteria. It has also begun to show up in healthy goats, sheep, and even deer.

Not only are feedlots unnatural and inhumane, but with the emergence of this deadly strain of E-Coli bacteria it is ever more apparent that this practice needs to be halted now. Spinach and lettuce are just the beginning. Even if this ill-reputed practice is stopped today, it’s going to be years before this deadly bacteria is cleansed from our water supply.

In recent years there’s been a push by wise consumers for markets and restaurants to sell and serve healthier grass fed beef. However, corn-fed beef is still by far more commonly and widely available.

You can make a difference by insisting on grass-fed beef. It costs a bit more right now, because it takes more land to raise them, but efforts are underway to force the government to stop subsidizing this unhealthy practice.

For more information: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004972.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-livestock17nov17,0,2530992.story?coll=la-home-nation

The Omnivore’s Dilemna by Michael Pollen
Pasture Perfect by Jo Robinson.

Reference article, Mother Earth News/January 2007/News from mother/Why Grass Fed is Best