If you’ve ever found yourself thinking that we’re overly critical of factory farms, take a moment to read this nauseating profile of Smithfield Foods’ hog farms from Rolling Stone magazine. 

Author Jeff Tietz reports that “Smithfield estimates that its total sales will reach $11.4 billion this year. So prodigious is its fecal waste, however, that if the company treated its effluvia as big-city governments do — even if it came marginally close to that standard — it would lose money.” That’s a lot of poop, people. 

The article goes on to tell about farms littered with pig carcasses (as many as ten percent of factory-farm hogs die before slaughter due to the conditions in which they live, according to one study), and about people succumbing to the fumes from hog waste lagoons. Lagoons, which, according to Tietz, contain a combination of toxic substances such as ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, cyanide, phosphorous, nitrates and heavy metals (not to mention  your typical gut-wrenchers: salmonella, cryptosporidium, streptocolli and giardia). 

If, like any good capitalist, you want to send Smithfield a message by avoiding its products, here’s a list of brands that sell their meat. What is Paula Deen thinking, ya’ll?

Photo by iStockphoto/Bruce Works

Today the Cornucopia Institute issued an alert, calling to action its troops in support of organic and sustainable agriculture. Three bills have been introduced to Congress (HR 875, 759 and 1322), all designed to strengthen our country’s food safety system, but all falling short. 

Like the Organic Consumers Association, the Cornucopia institute was quick to point out that none of the bills are backhanded attempts from agriculture giants to cripple organic producers, as many have been led to believe. (Read HR 875: No Need for Alarm ... Yet.) But they do urge you to visit their website to read up on the bills, and contact your representatives to make your opinions known. As always, sample message wording and contact info for members of Congress are supplied — it will take a matter of minutes to make a big difference!

ISTOCKPHOTO/MARGITA BRAZE

The bill is designed to address inadequacies in our food safety system, but it doesn’t create controls specifically for filthy factory farms. Instead it applies the typical one-size-fits-all regulations on the entire industry, which almost always spells trouble for small producers who don’t have the extra funds to implement them. 

You can learn more about the bill, OCA’s stance, and tell your representatives that revisions are needed through this handy tool. Simply plug in your zip code and all the work is done for you! Speak out for organic farming.

The Ethicurean, a fantastic blog about sustainable eating (eth•i•cu•re•an n. Someone who seeks out tasty things that are also sustainable, organic, local and/or ethical), contained an eyebrow-raising post yesterday: A report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy found that many widely consumed food products containing high fructose corn syrup also contain mercury. The connection? HFCS is manufactured with an ingredient that is sometimes still produced in outdated industrial chlorine plants that rely on mercury-based technology. The ingredient (caustic soda) becomes contaminated and in turn contaminates the syrup. 

Researchers tested 55 products and found mercury in nearly one-third of them, including Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup, Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars, Jack Daniels Barbeque Sauce and more. 

The full list of tested products and results: http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refID=105040 

The report from Environmental Health: http://www.ehjournal.net/content/pdf/1476-069x-8-2.pdf 

Wondering how you’ll live without Hershey’s Syrup? Here’s some comic relief from the guys who brought you King Corn. It’s a hilarious spoof of those ridiculous HFCS ads that were sponsored by The Corn Refiners Association.

PHOTO BY SEAN LOCKE, ISTOCK

Mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) is scheduled to take effect March 16, and while the full text of the rule won’t be published in the Federal Register until Jan. 15, final details were released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Jan. 12. The ruling has been criticized by consumer interest groups, who contend that a large majority of the meats, fish and produce available for purchase will be exempt from the guidelines, including:   

• Anything cooked, cured or smoked
• Food service establishments
• Items that have been combined with other commodities 

Also, processors in the United States that handle meat from both domestic and foreign sources can carry a “multicountry designation.” In other words, a package of ground beef may sport a sticker that says, “Contains meat from the United States, Canada and Mexico.”  For official information regarding COOL from the USDA, click here. A statement from consumer advocate Food and Water Watch can be read here.

Recent food safety scares have the American public frightened. This year it was salmonella in tomatoes, then peppers. Last year we were scared of peanut butter, spinach, imported seafood and even pet food. And, of course, our megacomplex agribiz system ensures a major beef recall just about every year.

The good news is that this big hot mess has people talking. Activists and policymakers alike are looking for a better way. The bad news is that it looks like the answer to our complicated, industrial mess of a food system is likely to be nothing more than a complicated, over-regulated bureaucracy that stands to hurt all our smallest farmers most.

There’s no better time to join the conversation. (With the Farm Bill shuttered, we have to turn our attention to something ... right?) So here are a few good places to start.

* For a refreshing editorial perspective on our food safety system, check out Local Harvest director Erin Barnett’s take in their latest newsletter.

* Read the New York Times editorial that got Barnett stewing.

* Food safety expert Marion Nestle has also discussed the potential of a food safety overhaul in her What to Eat blog. You’ll also learn more (much more!) about U.S. food safety systems in her numerous articles and books, including Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (University of California Press, 2002); Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism (University of California Press, 2003); Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Food and Nutrition (McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2004), and her latest book, What to Eat.

As always, if you have opinions of your own, we invite you to share them in our comments section below.

Still anxious about the Salmonella found in tomatoes? Although some cases have been reported as recently as late June, don’t let it stop you from enjoying fresh, seasonal tomatoes. Turn to local markets instead of industrial food to lessen your chances of getting salmonella or try growing them yourself.

Although the season is almost through to successfully grow your own tomatoes, our wonderful article on growing tomatoes in the winter by David Cavagnaro may be helpful to you if the outbreak continues in the upcoming months.

For more articles about the ongoing Salmonella outbreak, check out the following links…

• Salmonella inquiry looks beyond tomatoes
• Salmonella update: Video
• Salmonellosis Outbreak in Certain Types of Tomatoes
• Investigation of Outbreak of Infections Caused by Salmonella Saintpaul
• Salmonellosis Outbreak from Certain Tomatoes: Questions & Answers for Consumers and Industry