[volchef]

Are you a local produce farmer? My husband and I are both chefs and generally support the buying of locally grown and raised vegetables, eggs, meat products, etc.....however, in many parts of the country there is limited access to these products which makes mass farming a necessity. I would like to see more strict enforcement of slaughter practices and of shipping standards (aka making sure those refridgerated trucks actually work), but even after all that people are still going to get ecoli from ground beef. I for one like my burgers juicy rare, but order them medium these days because of ecoli. I think irradiation could help this.

[palmer]

Are you a local produce farmer?

No, but I buy local produce and meats from nearby farms. My own garden was mediocre last year, but I'm hoping to do better next year.

I for one like my burgers juicy rare, but order them medium these days because of ecoli. I think irradiation could help this.

I can't recommend eating ground meat from an unknown source that hasn't been fully cooked. I like rare meat when the butchering has been done properly (no dirty knives stuck into the meat) and it's been seared on all sides. I much prefer promoting freshness and proper slaughter and butchering than irradiating slop from factory farms. There's many good reasons to avoid factory farms and having no need for irradiation is just one of them.