[ET(end tyranny)]

Very true about the irrigation.

Extra info: excerpts

Food perils greater in global society

Foodborne illness statistics are staggering. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that each year more than 5,000 Americans die from foodborne illness, more than 300,000 are hospitalized and another 76 million get sick.

Globalization of the food supply, which enables shoppers to buy fresh fruits and berries in the middle of winter, also presents the potential of allowing pathogens from developing countries entry into our food supply. For example, Cyclosporia cayetanensis, a unicellular intestinal parasite not reported as a cause of disease in the United States until 1995, has recently been responsible for a number of significant foodborne-illness outbreaks related to raspberries imported from Guatemala. There was also a nationwide outbreak of hepatitis A related to frozen strawberries from Mexico, distributed from a San Diego company to 16 state lunch programs.

The Food and Drug Administration inspects approximately two of every 100 shipments into the United States. Perpetual staffing shortages and an ever-increasing workload prevent the necessary inspections that these higher-risk imported foods require.

[Liz]

There’s also a problem with “natural” foods.

A little girl died from drinking contaminated Odwalla brand apple juice....which is not processed.

The company used fruit on the ground which had been contaminated from animal waste seeping in from a nearby cow pasture.