Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
O157:H7 (CDC 2006). After a thorough investigation by public health authorities,
the source of contamination was traced back to a single farm in central California
(Jay and others 2007). Further investigation detected the same outbreak strain in a
neighboring cattle farm and in feral pigs on the spinach farm. Since the spinach farm
was in its second year out of the 3 years required for transition to organic practices
the spinach was sold as conventional produce. Based on this outbreak, it is question-
able to argue that organic practices were responsible because the farm was yet
to be certifi ed.
Summary
The continued occurrence of foodborne outbreaks due to contaminated fresh produce
is a very serious public health concern. Regardless of whether the implicated produce
is conventional or organic, it is critical for any management practices to eliminate
pathogen transmission via the fecal-oral route. The widespread adoption of good
agricultural practices (GAPs) will be essential to minimize the number of outbreaks.
However, the lack of incentives and/or regulations may limit the acceptance of
management practices intended to minimize foodborne disease.
The reevaluation of the rationale for the current organic regulations for manure use
as fertilizer needs to be conducted. This urgency not only stems from the growing
importance of organic produce, but from the fact that the current GAPs have adopted
almost the same recommendations. From the existing literature discussed in this
chapter, a reevaluation is warranted and overdue.
Some experts are now predicting a slowdown in the demand for organic foods as
consumers are now more interested in local foods and other sustainable production
systems. This consumer shift could lead to a wider diversity of management systems,
which in turn could lead to less adoption of food safety measures. We have to note
here that, to this date, organic produce farmers are the only agriculture system that
has a system of oversight as compared to most conventional farmers who have none.
The long-term prevention of foodborne disease from any management system will
depend on the adoption of comprehensive science-based production and processing
practices.
References
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