alterum non laedere

Three days ago we were greeted with another example of the failings of the big agriculture industry, http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=NTY0MTE2OQ==. My heart goes out to those who were sickened or killed by this event.

What I wanted to say is that this is another reason I only trust my food when I can talk with the hard working people who raised it. In fact, I trust my local farmers enough that I would eat their products raw and I would not worry about catching any disease.

My second point is that we have become the McDonald's generation. Most people are completely disconnected from their source of food. We have consolidated and vertically integrated the industry to the point where only a few large players have most of the market. Not only that, but a small problem, like a few microbes of E. coli, turn into a huge problem threatening hundreds or even thousands.

Michael Pollan recently reiterated the idea "Don’t eat anything that took more energy to ship than to grow" (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/10/11/magazine/20091011-foodrules.html). This is why I eat local. By that rule eating food that was born and bred in one state, slaughtered in another, processed into a meal in yet another, and consumed in a fourth would be out of the question. So to those who claim that being carnivorous as I am is harmful to the environment I say my solution is not avoid meat but rather eat local meat that was raised the way nature intended. Check out this recent NY Times article discussing meat and global warming: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/opinion/31niman.html?emc=eta1.

Besides, eating local means my farmers are personally accountable to me. If I get sick from something I eat, chances are it is because I failed to cook it properly. If not, I know exactly who to complain to. It is between the farmer and me. I do not need to get anyone else involved, especially not any government agencies. Considering consumers like me are the livelihood of local farmers, I am sure they are committed to providing a product of utmost quality. Is anyone really going to tell me that large multi-national firms are going to care so much about the individuals they serve?