FDA all but forcing irradiation? Check it out

Somebody has really bought into some garbage

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

You have a lot of very valid points. I'm concerned with government intrusion into our lives, too.

What do you think farmers who engage in agra-tourism should do to ensure that their products are safe?

Is asking your customers to wash their hands and not sneeze all over the product going too far?

No I don't think its a bad idea to talk about washing hands and such. But I think education on how to handle food is important as well. We had home economics in middle school and high school and learned about cooking and handling food. But now a lot of those programs are gone do to budget cuts and people have lost the knowledge on food safety. However I don't think that making a rule/law that makes food safety fall squarely on the shoulders of the farms and farmers is a good idea. This rule does just that if you plan to sell raw produce to the public in some form. ie: farmers markets, CSAs, on farm sales ect.

There are parts in this law that I just don't get. They don't want anyone under the age of 12 to be on a farm. So no more have school trips to the farm to learn where their food comes from.

There's also a lot of talk about livestock and wild animals. Example would be if livestock gets loose and run through the field, well you can't harvest that field. But draft animals and working animals are okay if they don't have contact with the produce. So what if you catch the livestock escapees right away and little or no damage is done to the crops, how is that any different then a draft animal being in the field working? You also need to monitor the amount of wild animal traffic. A lot of farmers have to do this now, I get that. But where it gets a little tricky is when it comes to compost. After a compost pile is finished, which there are rules that outline when compost is done, you have to make sure it doesn't come in contact with any kind of animal wild or otherwise, that could reactivate the pile. So if your compost is near trees, then you won't be able to insure that birds roosting in the trees won't poop on it and reactivate it. You'll have to move the pile or put a cover over it. If you don't use the compost right away, then you need to find a way to store it where it doesn't come in contact with ANY kind of animal. Use it right away or start the process all over.

Your also are going to want to talk with your insurance company and be sure you are covered for different types of crop "adulteration" cause I'm hearing that depending on the reason for having to till under or recall a harvest, you might not be covered and just have to take the loss.

Like I said though, Im still working through it so I haven't made up my mind about the rule yet. Right now I think it leaves a lot of questions unanswered and some things I feel are very restrictive and unenforceable. There is still 100 days left to comment to the FDA about the rule and MI will have a listening party with FDA in February around the 9th or 11th. You will have to see if your state has one or leave a message with FDA, there is a hotline and email, if you want to comment at all or have questions.

Very articulate and well thought out response Maverick, you make a good argument without the nonsensical hysteria.

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

Imho, there are way tooooo many wusses in this country that'd die if a germ got close to them... and, in order to keep these lightweights alive, irradiation is a necessity.

I routinely challenge my innards to do battle with microscopic evildoers.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Irradiated food is perfectly safe, it is far better than the alternative of preserving food with chemicals.

Water sterilizers that use a UV tube is irradiated water. UV radiation sterilizes the water. It's the same principle with food irradiation, the food is not contaminated the same way the water is not contaminated.

The only issues I am aware of is the radiation source and the containment of the material. However as was mentioned food irradiation is nothing new, and the materials and methods used have improved greatly over the decades.

Irradiated food is not radioactive.

I just went to Krogers and got a bunch of organic beets and carrots to juice. I'm pretty sure those aren't drained of nutrients.

Just saying.

If you've ever eaten anything cooked in a microwave then you've eaten irradiated food.

Sun dried tomatoes are irradiated.
Radiation is a fact of life, you are bathed in it all the time. All sorts of radiation. The type used to treat food doesn't harm the food.

I'd rather it be nuked than full of the chemo soup most food is preserved with.

Microwaving and Irradiation are not the same. Microwaving uses Non-ionizing radiation and Irradiation uses Ionizing radiation.

But what I have found interesting sense reading about all this, is that irradiated food must be handled in the same manner as raw foods. It can very easily become re-contaminated by environment or non irradiated foods being prepared along side it.
So if we already know that we have a problem with people understanding basic food safety, I don't see how this will help. It will just be a more expensive food that could still have issues. Still not replacing common sense.

Umm, I work on a dairy farm and have for years. It actually is rather rare for a cow to be "sick." They don't, for instance, get things like colds or the flu, like humans do. Now that I think about it, they're probably a lot healthier than most humans!

Occasionally a cow does get mastitis, but then her milk isn't put into the tank to be sold for human consumption. Farmers are paid a premium price for mastitis-free (low SCC) milk, so the protocol generally is to treat the cow with antibiotics, discarding the milk until the infection is cleared up and the drugs have left her system. Then she goes back to being milked normally again.

BTW, it's spelled "pasteurized," after the inventor of the process, Louis Pasteur: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

*sigh* I never figured this thread would turn into this. Yikes. Although I have to applaud ya'll for being adamant about your view points..... I don't think it's worth getting nasty over. There are definitely some differing views here.

I guess it is one of those situations where "I guess we'll see who is right in the end."

For me, I suppose I feel much more comfortable growing my own things and relying less on mass production. In my mind, it protects my family, but also makes me one less person taking from the store so someone who can't grow their own food can have it.

I don't think what the FDA is doing here is right. I also think a lot of this food safety business is a bunch of bunk. As Texican said above, this kind of stuff turns people into "wussies."

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“If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as a sorry state as the souls who live under tyranny." ~ Thomas Jefferson.

Yup I agree with the OP why not give this thread a rest as there really isn't much different that can be added nicely.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup........