Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser call it “the most important food safety legislation in a generation.”  Just Means has a summary of the amendment.  And Senator Tester’s floor speech makes a simple, compelling case for the benefits of buying food direct from farmers in your community.

What’s On My Food is searchable database that uses research from the USDA’s Pesticide Data Program to rank the toxicity of fruits and veggies (fresh, canned and frozen), meats, grains, dairy products and water. (via Bitten)

I’d love it if someone could turn this into a mobile tool for people faced with the choice of $8.99/lb for organic, local garlic vs. $2.99/lb for conventional, domestic garlic, as I was yesterday.  I chose the cheaper garlic because my budget is limited.  And while there’s no specific data on garlic in the database, I learned that onions, a similar crop, have extremely low amounts of pesticide residue, which made that choice a little easier.

Peaches and apples, on the other hand, are a different story.  Armed with data on the residues found in these fruits, it was an easy choice to buy the more expensive local, pesticide-free options.

As I’ve noted before, when we get cheap food, we aren’t necessarily paying for its true cost.  There are hidden costs to the environment, to individual health, and to local economies.  With an unlimited budget, I’d always choose the local, pesticide-free option.  Most of our food budgets, however, are limited.  Easy to use, data-driven tools can make it a little easier to spend wisely and eat well.

Post script on the price of garlic…

Farmers should get a fair price for their products and, more often than not, they are paid far too little.  However, $8.99 a pound for garlic is a little extreme.  This was garlic that a talented local farmer sold direct to a wonderful local retailer.  It’s good garlic.  But I needed a lot of garlic to cook with the 2 bushels of tomatoes I’m turning into sauce for the winter.

As of October 2nd, Rodale’s Price Report lists the highest price for bulk organic garlic at $99.75 for 30 pounds in Seattle, and the lowest at $79.50 in Los Angeles.  Which means the wholesale price range is $2.65 – $3.33 per pound.  And certainly, it costs more for a small scale farm to produce garlic locally than a big-ag organic farm.  But what’s reasonable?  What’s possible? And how do we make this accessible?  Any thoughts on this?

via Fayster on flickr

The best way to know your food you is to purchase it directly from the people who produce it.  The farmer who grew your salad or raised the chicken you’re roasting for dinner.  The artisan who made the cheese that’s going into the omelette you’re making with the eggs that came from the farmer who also grew the potatoes you’re going to eat on the side.

That’s why we created Local Orbit and our sellers are committed to our core standards.

However, we can’t always get to a farmers market (and Local Orbit isn’t widely available – yet!),  and there are plenty of foods you can’t buy locally.  The trick is figuring out, in the words of Good Guide’s Transparency Manifesto, three simple things everyone should know about their food but don’t: Where did it come from? How was it made? What’s in it?

As Collin Dunn writes in Treehugger, Labels on food items are as numerous as the aisles they’re sold in, and many proclaim that they’re helping you be healthy, helping the planet, or both. The truth is that there are myriad labels out there that aren’t worth the shiny sticker they’re printed on; certifications that promise to be “all-something” or “whatever-free” that aren’t under any government or third-party oversight, free to be molded and marketed by anyone who puts a product on a shelf.

You don’t have to put up with that, though. Here are seven certifications that’ll help guide you to green food enlightenment.

From Pringles to starfruit, you can learn about specific products on the Good Guide site – and you can use their mobile applications to help you at the grocery store.

For fish and seafood, the Environmental Defense Fund’s mobile seafood selector is really useful.  For fruits and veggies, check out the Environmental Working Group’s shoppers guide to pesticides.

The simplest guide to avoiding confusion: if you don’t know where it comes from, choose something else.

According to Drug Safety Hub, “The Food and Drug Administration reported that more than 100 patients have died while taking the blood thinner heparin since early 2007. Nearly 800 severe allergic reactions associated with heparin have also been reported.”

Mack writes:

What does contaminated heparin in our drug supply chain have in common with Memorial Day BBQ? [or Labor Day]

Scientific Protein Laboratories, the company that brought us contaminated, deadly heparin made from pig intestines was founded by Oscar Mayer, the company that likely will be providing the hot dogs you grill on the barbee this holiday weekend…Mr. Mayer was “apparently interested in profiting from the whole pig, and he started [Scientific Protein Laboratories] to make use of the animal byproducts of his food empire,” says Jacob Goldstein over at the WSJ Health Blog.

There are other ways to minimize waste, maximize profit and reduce the chance that you’ll even need prescription drugs.  How about eating the whole pig, locally sourced and unprocessed?

Might it be tastier and more nutritious than high fat, high sodium Oscar Meyer Weiners?

Here’s all the info you could ask for – and more – if you care to find out. (disclosure: I’ve never done this myself – but one day…)

How to Roast a Pig: Hot dogs are for weenies—for a real summer feast, go whole hog.

Going the Whole Hog

By buying direct from the farmer…you halve your costs and double his profits.

The prospect of buying a whole hog, nose to tail, with every bristle in between, is an alien concept in the modern world. Where once it was a necessity – a pig would provide both fresh and preserved sustenance for a family for months – it now seems merely excessive.

Carnal Knowledge

I wanted a proper pig, a big one. Could Paul get me a big pig? Well, yes, he probably could. His neighbor had sows, and if I ordered one before it was slaughtered it wouldn’t have to be inspected by the Department of Agriculture. This, Paul said, was a good thing. In effect, he explained, I’d be buying a living animal—“Think of it as a pet”—rather than a dead one cut up by a butcher.

The Long Awaited Pig Roast (warning – not for the squeamish)

I went to pick up my pig on a Friday, in the pickup truck, assuming it would be in box of some sort with ice. But, no! Mr. Pig, as he came to be known, was in a heavy duty clear plastic bag and nothing else. He obviously could not go into the truck bed like that…there was a moment of sheer panic and then the obvious solution popped into my head. He’d go up front with me, safely belted in like the important passenger he was.

The Whole Pig Roast

For those brave enough to tackle cooking a whole pig, this becomes an amazing summer celebration event which you will remember for years. Your friends will be impressed and, even more importantly, your taste buds will be impressed! The sight of a whole pig roasting over a fire pit is unforgettable and creates an air of celebration and good times. The glazed, golden skin is beautiful and delicious. This is truly a feast for all your senses!

Whole Pig Butchering Class (warning – really not for the squeamish)

The Whole Hog: Exploring the Extraordinary Potential of Pigs

The Rodale Institute’s New Farm just posted Malcolm Robinson’s Handle With Care, which discusses food safety and handling practices for fruit and vegetable growers.

It highlights a Post-Harvest Handling Decision Tool from Iowa’s Value Chain Partnerships. (The Value Chain site is, in general, great resource for farmers and other folks working to strengthen regional food systems.)

Handle With Care emphasizes common sense and outlines accessible actions and processes to maintain food safety.  Some excerpts:

• Good post-harvest handling gives farmers a competitive edge, additional profits and fewer food safety concerns.

• Initial costs for a post-harvest handling facility can be as low as a few hundred dollars for an open-air, outside facility.
• When investing in a packing facility growers need to envision where they want to be in 10 years and take into account their harvest-wash-pack system, labor requirements and market potential.
• The most fundamental aspect to food safety is frequent hand washing. “This is most probably one of the most controllable areas in the whole process and through this basic hygiene a potentially large contamination problem can be eliminated,” said Iowa State University Extension food safety specialist Sam Beattie.
• Equipment, tools and surfaces are routinely cleaned and disinfected.
• Quality control for produce begins in the field. Any produce contaminated with fecal matter from any animal, including birds, should be discarded.
• Tracing is critical:  the minimum requirements for traceability should include these details: date harvested, date distributed, place of distribution, and how long the product can be kept on the shelf at various retail outlets.
• Handling systems can vary greatly between farms. What’s the same is the need to continually evaluate post-harvest operations to improve efficiency, hygiene and food safety.
• Consistent progress is more important than getting it right from the start.

Additional resources for Good Agricultural Practices (GAPS):

• on wikipedia
• UC Davis resources
• a presentation by Diane Ducharme
• National GAPS network
• United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization on GAP