Staying Safe from Recalls

Photo Provided by Becky Nelson
I have subscribed to a government information site that alerts me to all food recalls. There are a gazillion reasons for these recalls, but the scariest to me are pathogens like e coli and salmonella…those hidden germs that contaminate food and can be traced right back to packing houses and farms. As a farmer, these recalls send a chill up my spine. We do everything we can to keep the food we produce as safe as possible, but there is always a risk that something will travel from the soil or a wild animal trekking through our fields into the food chain.

We live in a frightening world. The potential for disaster in our lives walks with us daily. But we cannot fear the worst every day and live our lives with any satisfaction if we constantly fear the worst. Yes, we could become ill from ingesting e coli or any other pathogen, any day, anywhere. That we inadvertently or consciously lay the complete onus for food safety on our farmers seems harsh, as contaminants can be found in the soils at our schools, in our forests, in our lawns, on our pets, on our cell phones.

We farmers bear a huge responsibility to bring safe food to your tables, and we take this responsibility very seriously. We must be cautious of every step in the food making process. If we use chemicals to kill pests, we must do so using only the prescribed rates of application to protect our environment and consumers. If we fertilize the soil, we must apply only the prescribed amounts in best agricultural practice to protect our environment and consumers. When we harvest, we must handle the food with the utmost care to keep it away from contaminants and to offer it to consumers only in edible states. When we store food, we must be cautious that it is cold enough, clean enough, safe enough for everyone. It’s a big job, and we farmers eat our food, too, so we are doubly cautious.

When we offer our livestock to the public to learn about them and pat them, we try to alert visitors to the dangers of pathogens that exist in the soil, on their foods, on their coats and their noses and their tongues and their faces and ears and horns. But there the cautions and the responsibility of the farmers must end and the responsibility of the public and consumers must start to be aware of the risks and take their own precautions. Pathogens are everywhere. Just as with a door handle at your office or in your school may be harboring coronavirus and flu and other viruses and bacteria as a source of contamination and potential disaster to a person’s health, the cute face of a lamb or a goat can also be such a source. An apple picked from a tree or off the ground beneath the tree can be a source when you pick your own if a pooping bird has passed by, and the farmer should not be blamed if you become ill if you didn’t take care and wash your produce before eating.

Please practice caution when eating fresh food or visiting farms or petting animals at the fair. Please take the same precautions you take when you try to avoid illness and wash your fruit and vegetables before eating, keep your cooking area clean, cook your food to a temperature high enough to make it safe for all to consume and know your farmer. Know how things are grown, picked, packed and stored. Ask questions and handle your food safely. Bad things are out there, but if you stay clean, wash your hands frequently if you come in any contact with livestock and even pets, wash your fruit and raw vegetables before eating, use common kitchen cleanliness recommendations and recommended cooking times and temperatures and recommended practices for food safety, you will take a lot of risk off your dinner table and the apple you’re about to eat. Stay safe, eat local, eat healthy and safely enjoy your local farms.