Tracing tomatoes from field to fork _ a new system

[Chefnot]

Tracing tomatoes from field to fork _ a new system
The Associated Press - Jul 25, 2008
"That's where government standard-setting comes to play," Kennedy said, to create location codes, for instance, so that network of tracking systems "can ...

[PicBuddy]

"My impression is that before this tomato-pepper outbreak, the industry really didn't want traceback, because if they had a problem they didn't want it traced to a specific grower," said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. "Now, seeing that what can happen can shut down the whole industry, I would think it's to their advantage to enable traceback investigations to focus on the source."


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That says a lot right there. Now, my question is, who at the FDA has been getting cutbacks, and
more than likely bribes, to keep the status quo? Certainly if something has the potential to "shut down the entire industry", there has to be some money coming into play, like under the table, to prevent that.

I have a more simple solution. Hold the FDA and CDC executives criminally accountable for their actions. If the FDA and CDC heads want to perhaps ignore the fact that the Internet(s) exist and that consumers are now aware of what they are allowing, you know, with the simple things; Like Americans eating mexican sewage and feces... Hold them accountable.

Just as soon as we have another outbreak as large as the Chi-Chi's incident, and when unbiased media can get enough leaked evidence that our current situations are on a much greater scope than that prime example, charge the FDA and CDC top executives with murder in relation to the deaths they are causing, and THEN see what farmers will come to their rescue.

It wouldn't take more than a few rounds of that type of justice to get some people in place that are willing to protect us, than live lavish with the fear of going to room and board personally with Jeff Skilling. For life.

Food Lover in Tejas

[Chefnot]

Originally Posted by PicBuddy

"My impression is that before this tomato-pepper outbreak, the industry really didn't want traceback, because if they had a problem they didn't want it traced to a specific grower," said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. "Now, seeing that what can happen can shut down the whole industry, I would think it's to their advantage to enable traceback investigations to focus on the source."


----------------------------

That says a lot right there. Now, my question is, who at the FDA has been getting cutbacks, and
more than likely bribes, to keep the status quo? Certainly if something has the potential to "shut down the entire industry", there has to be some money coming into play, like under the table, to prevent that.

I have a more simple solution. Hold the FDA and CDC executives criminally accountable for their actions. If the FDA and CDC heads want to perhaps ignore the fact that the Internet(s) exist and that consumers are now aware of what they are allowing, you know, with the simple things; Like Americans eating mexican sewage and feces... Hold them accountable.

Just as soon as we have another outbreak as large as the Chi-Chi's incident, and when unbiased media can get enough leaked evidence that our current situations are on a much greater scope than that prime example, charge the FDA and CDC top executives with murder in relation to the deaths they are causing, and THEN see what farmers will come to their rescue.

It wouldn't take more than a few rounds of that type of justice to get some people in place that are willing to protect us, than live lavish with the fear of going to room and board personally with Jeff Skilling. For life.

Food Lover in Tejas

I think the tomato industry will take it upon themselves to create an accurate recall system. They lost a bunch of money and they are not in business to create loss. As I have said before that was precisely part of my job when I worked in the produce arena. I ran the plant's recall program. And as I said then I could tell you not only the farm the lettuce came from but the field. And I could tell you what distribution house it went to as well. It was not FDA that required the recall system but industry (i.e. Burger, KFC, Taco Bell, etc.) FDA does not even inspect such plants, though it looks like they have found a way in them. And I'm not sure what you mean by the CDC, as I all they do is track a few cases, apply a magic mathematical formula and give you a number.

People are going to get sick. This is the safest food the world has even know. It's tragic when someone does die, but quite frankly unavoidable, it is going to happen. Now I'm not saying we shouldn't try or get better at food safety, far from that. We have learned a bunch in this last episode and I'm sure industry without a doubt make many improvements.

[PicBuddy]

Chefnot - It sounds like you are well versed in the food industry. While I am not a chef, I worked for over 20 years in the industry for companies like Chuck E. Cheese, California Food Corp (now defunct, was a copy of Arby's called RAX Roast Beef), Dominos Pizza, Hilton, and Diamond Shamrock. I took all the food prep classes that I had to, to be licensed every year.

Our parents did teach us, like I am sure most parents do, that after using the restroom, you must wash your hands, as eating food from hands contaminated by your bottom end, will make you sick.

What I never expected to see, was the US starting to import foods from Mexico, grown in human sewage which contains human and animal urine, feces, blood of womens' menstrual periods, tampons and pads, baby diapers, and basically anything else flushed down the toilet in Mexico or otherwise. Including when Jose drank too much tequilla and actually nailed the bowl with quarts of his own personal vomit in Nuevo Lardo. I suppose anyone should ask themselves, how much money would it take, to get you to take a spoon and scrape out of black residue from under the toilet seat at a public gas station on the border, and eat that? Mexico uses this very sewage, and I am not even going to call it a -byproduct- of human waste-, it is DIRECT human waste, to fertilize their crops. Many countries do this.

So why is everyone shocked to learn that it's making us sick? And who is accountable?

The reason I mentioned the CDC is that they are just as much responsible for this ongoing set of
avoidable human disgraceful tragedies as the FDC is. They all know. And I guarantee you that people in
the upper echelon 'cush' positions at FDC and CDC do NOT allow their children to eat mexican imported produce that is cured in raw feces, bile and menstruals.

And it is NOT the fault of the Mexican people themselves. It's our fault for not bringing our 'trusted'
protectors to the chopping block for it. Well, our 'protectors' are not there for us. They are getting cutbacks and bribes to allow Americans to continue to be poisoned. Hey, doesn't happen that much so why worry, right?

Question is, how much control do any of us as individuals even have? And where do we draw the line?

Food Lover in Texas

[Chefnot]

If I may point out Picbuddy, the last spinach poisoning came from California and there has been numerous pathogen recalls concerning American beef. I'm not saying there isn't a greater risk with produce coming from Mexico, but there is risk with all regardless of its origin.

[PicBuddy]

Chefnot - Thank you kindly for your input. What you may not realize is that the contamination of
Spinach in Lodi and Salinas California was never finally determined, officially, yet the FDA did release records that both facilities MIXED product from Mexico with product from California, and that percentage of mixture was never determined. According to crop yields at the time, the likelyhood of Mexican product compared to Californian product was about 84% Mexican, 14% Californian, and 2% Hawiian (where they do not grow produce in human sewage). These distributors of a massive amount of American consumed food that went to H.E.B., Krogers, Wal-Mart, Win-Dixie, etc. were never required to account for any percentages of mixtures of US grown (NON US Waste saturated foods) and Mexican grown foods. And to this day they are still not requried to give their percentages of "mixture".

Now with beef, I don't even want to go there....

But the common factor with the spinach recalls, tomato recalls, and now pepper recalls, are all exactly the same as the Chi-Chi's outbreak where 4 people are dead, 9000 (that's NINE THOUSAND not NINE HUNDRED) had to be immunized, 650 now have Hepititus for life, one man had a simple and painless liver transplant, and God only knows how many people are sick now. That's ONLY what our govermnet admitted. So I would say it's at least ten times as bad in that situation alone.

It comes from eating food from Mexico, harvested in raw human feces, bile, excrement, vomit, menstrational blood, baby diapers, hospital, correctional facility, general public and animal waste and even the common hand towel with nasal excrement disposed of into such.

THAT is what Americans are eating. And someone needs to held criminally liable.

Food Lover in Tejas