Time to start testing organic products for fecal contamination?

Certified-organic berries from Costco are being recalled in the United States because they’re tainted with hepatitis. Over 1,200 Canadians are suspected of having purchased this product. But rather than test organic crops in the field for lethal pathogens which are known to result from improperly composted manure, authorities in the United States and Canada will continue to rely on paperwork instead.

So says Mischa Popoff, author of a book entitled Is It Organic? here. The outbreak was either caused by someone on the production line with hepatitis who didn't wash his hands, or, more likely, improperly composted manure used on the crops.

Manure is commonly used as fertilizer in certified-organic production since synthetic alternatives are banned; however, composting manure properly is both time consuming and expensive.

Did you know that certified organic foods are not tested in the field?

That’s right folks. Certified organic crops are not tested. They’re not tested to ensure prohibited substances like pesticides are avoided; nor to ensure feces are kept out of the organic food chain, as is the problem in this case.

A remarkably similar case occurred in Germany three years ago when 44 people died and over 3,700 fell ill after eating E. coli-contaminated certified-organic bean sprouts, hundreds of the survivors requiring kidney dialysis for the rest of their lives. The source of that contamination was never definitively determined, although a nearby cattle operation was suspected of contaminating the water used to sprout the organic beans. This, unfortunately, is how these things often go; they’re never solved satisfactorily.

And so, with all of this in mind, isn’t it time to start testing organic crops in the field instead of relying on the scrutiny by federally-accredited private agencies of paperwork and nothing more?

The incubation period for hepatitis A – a lethal, lifelong disease for which there is no cure – is between two and six weeks. This means we’re still in the early stages of this outbreak. Many more cases could very well result, and lawsuits are already being filed. And yet, authorities remain silent on the most obvious preventive solution: start testing organic crops for fecal contamination.