Growing your Own Greens

Is growing your own greens such a crazy idea?

Recently there has been an E. coli outbreak related to romaine lettuce harvested in northern and central California, United States. As a result, the Center for Disease Control warned consumers not to consume this green. Why did this happen?

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The Problems

Because of government deregulation in regards to the quality control of the produce. This was the second Romaine Lettuce E. coli occurred this year. The first one was traced back to a watering system in Arizona where Romaine Lettuce was grown. Why? Farmhouses and other growers aren’t required to test their irrigation water for pathogens such as E. coli. As a result, contaminated water can end up on the greens people consume on a daily basis.

When the outbreak was identified the produce was already sold to local stores and exported internationally. Many countries import these products and even though there may be no cases, many restaurants stopped offering the produce based on the CDC warning in the U.S. This impacted the selling of the healthy batches imported from other countries that do have proper regulations in place. People panicked.

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The Solutions

In the past, there was no alternative other than the import of these vegetables and fruits that could not grow on land due to the climate or due to a lack of farming land. But today, this is not the case anymore, there are technologies that control temperatures in farmhouses and allow the harvest of vegetables and other greens. Technology such as aquaponics comes to mind. And it is not an out-of-reach technology. We should promote the local production of food in our own countries where we have or can establish adequate quality controls for our food. This instance is just an example in real life that show us not to rely so much on the import of our food. And we should not accept products that are below our own quality standards.

This is why I believe blockchain technology is so important for the food industry because there will always be countries that can afford the own production of their greens. With blockchain, the consumer will be able to trace back all of the details of the food they consume. And in case of any issues, it can be easily traced back to the origin of the problem and the history can’t be altered, if done so it will be registered in the ledger. If there is malpractice like what happened recently, there will be evidence. This is a nightmare for those corporations that are not taking quality control or self-regulation seriously on a human level, it has to be enforced based on the evidence.

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Accountability and Consequences

Don’t forget that people died and others got sick because there is no regulation. The companies are continuing business as usual. Maintaining a good quality of food is important for society. It influences people’s health and increases related healthcare expenses. You are playing with our lives by putting poison in our food. Each country put this a priority and re-evaluates how to grow our own greens locally. Our lives depend on it.

Do you think it stopped? Think again! Now before the holidays, 12 Million pounds of beef are under recall over Salmonella Risk according to the Huffington Post. The affected products were packed on various dates between July 26 and Sept. 7 by JBS Tolleson, an Arizona-based beef processing plant that ships nationwide. The specific products subject to recall are stamped with “EST. 267” within the USDA mark of inspection. So the USDA mark of inspection has no value? When will this end? Countries that are large importers of the United States, should really evaluate the import of food from that country. There should be consequences.

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What better way than to produce your own food and not depend on imports that much because you may be importing your own poison?

.What do you think of these developments? Are you growing your own greens? Feel free to leave your comments in the section below.