The Spinach Saga

I know that I can’t be the only one bummed out about the serious spinach shortage in the U.S. Restauranteurs lament its loss. Foodies everywhere are crying into bowls of spinach-less mixed greens. Popeye must be mad with grief.

Truthfully, it hasn’t hit us all that hard since we eat a diet primarly of locally grown produce with some co-op grains and legumes sprinkled in for good measure. Buying local is a relief: good, wholesome foods and you get to know your growers. Food with a face, I guess.

Granted, we’ve missed spinach on the menus of our favorite eateries, but it hasn’t been a big deal as our favorite local growers like Round Mountain Organics and White Buffalo Farm have kept the pantry stocked with plenty of tasty veggies.

Anyhow, this post isn’t about eating local–though you should, or better yet: grow your own! Rather, it’s about my persistent suspicion that had this been the cattle or dairy industries who faced an e. coli or other outbreak of illness, we wouldn’t hear much about it at all, let alone face nearly a month without their products. The beef and dairy industries have pretty deep pockets, and pretty strong lobbiests–more so than the organic spinach industry.

On July 31st of this year, beef was recalled for e. coli contamination. Less than a week later on August 4th, more than 13,000 lbs of e. coli contaminated beef was recalled. Yet, it didn’t cause a big “let’s not eat beef” panic among those who do regularly consume beef. Just two weeks later, on August 18th, more beef was recalled again for e. coli. Even though we faced three recalls of e. coli laden beef within the course of three weeks, we didn’t experience the media scare and lack of availability that we’ve experienced with the spinach recall.

According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service, there has been five recalls of e. coli infected beef in 2006 alone. In fact, there’s been twenty-six recalls of meat and meat products in this year alone and the reasons for the recalls have not only included the old standby threat of e. coli, but have also included threats of metal shards, listeria, undeclared allergens and general “contamination.”

Additionally, investigators of the spinach situation have discovered that the e. coli outbreak has been linked to infected cattle feces, and infected cattle feces does of course come from infected cattle. They’re still investigating exactly how fields of spinach became contaminated with e. coli infected cattle feces.

I do not mean to make light of the e. coli tainted spinach (people have become seriously ill and even died as a result of the outbreak); rather, just want to put it in a little perspective. After all things are said and done, consumers face a much greater risk of contamination by eating beef and meat than they do by eating veggies and spinach.