Jalapeno Woes

More than a thousand people become sickened from salmonella poisoning. After several weeks of investigation, and devastating consequences to tomato farmers in Virginia and other parts of the country, the culprit is finally found: a contaminated jalapeno, raised on a farm in Mexico, processed in a packing house in Texas.

Almost immediately, the Food and Drug Administration issues a national warning to consumers: Don’t eat jalapenos. The next day, supermarkets in our region and around the nation begin to pull jalapeno peppers from their shelves, their hands forced by the FDA warning. Farmers growing jalapenos, including some in Scott County, suddenly find themselves without a market.

What is wrong with this picture? What possible connection could there be between jalapeno peppers raised on a small, organic farm in Southwestern Virginia and peppers raised on a large farm nearly 2,000 miles away? There is nothing about the production practices for jalapeno peppers, the nature of the plant itself, or the process of picking and packing them that makes them any more susceptible to salmonella than any other produce item. By the logic of this recall, our supermarket shelves should be bare of all produce. After all, every produce item contains some risk of contamination.

THIS LATEST food-borne illness event brings to mind Wendell Berry’s words. Paraphrasing, Berry says that big problems usually evoke big solutions.

The big problem is a food system so globalized and so concentrated that a problem on one farm can quickly penetrate stores, restaurants, and communities around the nation. Highly specialized mega-farms may indeed be able to produce jalapeno peppers and other items at seemingly low costs. However, at least part of this apparent efficiency is achieved by what economists call “externalizing” of costs. Around here, we would probably just call it cutting corners. But the end result is the same: problems with the environment, with food safety, or with the well-being of farmers and farm workers.

The other defining aspect of the global food system is the mobility of food, averaging 1,500-2,000 miles from farm to table. In the case of the contaminated jalapenos, people contracted salmonella in 43 states. Tracing the source of the salmonella, like finding how E.coli contaminated spinach two years ago, was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. That is, a haystack on a truck, in a caravan, moving across several time zones.

If we follow the impulses of federal regulators and certain agri- business interests, the answer to this problem is two-fold: imposing more regulations on farmers and farm workers, and adding tracking and labeling requirements to all types of food, in order to ensure its “traceability.” A very big solution for a very big problem.

BUT THERE IS a decidedly different, and more sensible, path to take to curb these outbreaks. Local and regional food systems, based on small to medium-size farms, including organic producers, present the opportunity to improve food safety without additional layers of bureaucracy or expensive computerized tracking systems that small farmers simply can’t afford. While food contamination can certainly happen on a small farm, its impact would be localized.

I grow a fair bit of produce on our little organic farm – or at least it seems that way to my wife and me. But I simply couldn’t grow enough to make thousands of people ill, across 43 states. What’s more, local transactions are inherently more traceable. If you buy your jalapenos at the farmers’ market you know exactly where they came from. And increasingly, you can also know the farmer who raised your produce at your local grocer, so long as you shop the local brand.

There will be always be some risk involved with eating. What we must choose is whether to reduce that risk by adding regulations and onerous requirements that further tilt the playing field against small farmers, or to continue to build a local food system in order to create a healthy, safe, and transparent food supply.

Anthony Flaccavento is a W.K. Kellogg Food and Society Policy fellow and director of Appalachian Sustainable Development. He also operates a small organic farm. Contact him at (276) 623-1121, or find out more at www.asdevelop.org.

ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO

Originally published by FLACCAVENTO.

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