I actually have been following the news about the e-coli outbreaks linked to Kroger ground beef, as well as other outbreaks linked to agricultural products. I come from a really small farming community, so I see how the increased incidents with these health risks affects people both on the supply and consumer side.

In my opinion, we really need to establish a way to track agricultural products from the farm to the consumer. Right now, if I’m remembering this right, products get shuffled through approximately five different stages before it hits the store shelves, and at each stage, the distributor needs only know where they got the product and where they shipped it. As products are combined and repacked and reshipped at almost every stage it’s impossible to trace where exactly the food you’re eating came from (unless of course, you buy it locally or grow it yourself).

There has been talk of a barcode system on produce, where each individual piece of fruit and vegetable would have a barcoded sticker on it with the information on where it’s been and who’s handled it. I really support that idea, but it could take some time to implement and would be costly. With food prices already rising, implementing a costly system definitely bears careful consideration–but in the end I really think that the public’s safety is worth the extra money up front.

However, my question to you is since I notice that you covered food safety hearings while in DC, what did you observe? Have you heard of the recent e-coli outbreaks in Ohio and Michigan that they “think” is tied to ground beef, but have not released the name or source? Sort of leaves the public at risk in my opinion. In fact, the information regarding this topic has been pretty low key.

Just interested in what you may have learned while in DC in relation to this sort of topic.