Burns Best Farm

Very Interesting Detail

I blogged yesteday about the e.coli outbreak in fresh bagged spinach and I linked to a Yahoo! news piece that was time stamped from yesterday afternoon.   My blog post is still up and the link still works; however, the article about the source of the outbreak has been changed significantly.  As in, totally changed to eliminate the FACT that the source of the outbreak, as of yesterday, was centered on conventionally grown spinach. 

There was a sentence in the middle of the original article that specifically stated that conventionally grown spinach was the problem.  Which, if you read my post, is the whole point of argument.  I made a bet with my husband when this story broke a week ago that it would be organic product and it's not.  That sentence has been completely removed and the tone of the article focuses on what to do if you suspect you have e.coli. 

So my question is:  why does the AP, the orginator of the piece, go back and alter it's total substance?  Beyond making it appear that I'm linking to an article that doesn't support my argument? I can't imagine that the AP is deliberately trying to make me look stupid. 

Would it be that some PR flack from a major agricultural company called up the AP bureau chief in California and advised him/her to change the storyline and make the public unaware that conventionally grown products are dangerous, too?  To take a swipe at the organic industry by holding back evidence that would clear its reputation and allow it to build market share during this period of quarantine?

I am not a sophisticated technology person.  I cannot post pictures to my blog.  I'm good to log in and type.  But I do know there's a program out there that will take a photo shot of a webpage "as is" so that if it's altered later on for content changes, the original "photo" will hold up for review.  I just never thought I'd personally have use for it blogging on a homestead site!

Thanks for reading my vent this far.  It just makes me wonder what other news (beyond important stuff like war, foreign policy and politics in general) is sifted and filtered before it gets to me.  My conspiracy theory gene is kicking in.......if I don't post in three days, send somebody in for me!

Untitled Comment

08:40, 2006-Sep-22 .. Posted by Andrea

I heard originally, on the television news, that EarthBound spinach was one of the brands that contained the e.coli. EarthBound is an organic brand. So, are they saying now that it's NOT organic spinach?

E.coli is in dirt and anytime you package veggies in a plastic bag, with dirt, there's potential for bacteria to grow. I had heard this a long time ago.... even back in my RN schooling days (in the late 1970s). I remember my biology teacher (he has his doctorate) telling us that he would never recommend anyone buying the "fresh" turkeys in the grocery store around Thanksgiving time. He said he would personally only eat a turkey that was bought frozen, as the chances of it being contaminated are much less. I guess it's the moist, "barely above room temperature" environment that allows the bacteria to grow. That's probably what happened in this spinach thing too.

If a person buys their veggies rather than growing them, it's a good idea to buy the veggies that are not contained in any sort of bag and are open to the air. Either that or the kind that are already frozen.

Peace~ Midlife Woman

Earthbound Farms

09:14, 2006-Sep-22 .. Posted by MrsBurns

I have read on several other blogs that people have reported "hearing on the news" that Earthbound Farms was under suspicion, but in my research reading online news reports, I can find no reference whatsoever to Earthbound Farms. I have read in several places that the investigation focuses on three counties and that one of the farms has the word "Nature" or "Natural" in it's company name; however, in all of those reports it states the farm sells spinach under several different brand names, none of which are organic. So at best, the article is unclear and at worst, it's purposely misleading.

I could be eating crow totally by Monday and this could be an organic issue. But based on what I'm reading, today, I don't think so.