In: Bacon Out: Salsa

Despite a small blurb that corn prices rose due to the USDA announcing what we all knew- that production of corn will be lower than last month- the eye of the media was fixed on the continued hunt for the source of the salmonella outbreak.

Over 1,000 people have become ill, and US health officials just broadened the list of foods to avoid to include hot peppers and cilantro as well as raw tomatoes. The media instantly ran headlines such as AFP's "Salsa ingredients Suspected as US salmonella outbreak spreads," and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution took to the streets to interview restaurant owners on their plans for a potential salsa outage.

The problem with the anti salsa sentiment can be summed up with this quote from the AJC's own article:

"Ninety percent of Mexican restaurants," including his, use canned tomatoes and jalapeños in salsa, and since they are cooked, they are free of bacteria like salmonella, Diaz said. The restaurant will also offer an alternative to guacamole — a sliced avocado with extra virgin olive oil sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper.

So we can't blame salsa, but we can avoid fresh versions of salsa ingredients. All of this confusion, and an investigation that started back in May and has yet to produce the source, is becoming frustrating. A writer for the Morning Journal argued:

We need to use available technology, backed up by force of law and regulation, to answer the question "where did this stuff come from?" There is no reason, or room, to allow continuing mystery over where the foods we eat come from and whether they were handled in a sanitary, healthful manner.

All of this talk about food safety, as well as criticism from a recent recall involving food served at elementary schools, prompted the USDA to announce a change in recall policy. They will begin releasing the names of retailers who carried meat and poultry listed in Class 1 recalls. From the USDA press release:

"The identity of retail stores with recalled meat and poultry from their suppliers has always been a missing piece of information for the public during a recall," said Schafer. "People want to know if they need to be on the lookout for recalled meat and poultry from their local store and by providing lists of retail outlets during recalls, USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service will improve public health protection by better informing consumers."

In other food worries, NPR recently ran an audio story about the Plum Island lab, and how they are potentially seeking a new location- on the main land. Despite a new report saying that just building a new lab on the island would be the safest way to prevent an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, NewsDay.com reported that the region's elected officials are still opposed to it.

How worried are you about food safety? Have the recalls affected your business? Answer in the comment section below.

On the lighter side of the news, Salon.com celebrated "Pork Week." They featured articles on the bacon boom and shared news of new bacon products such as bacon salt, bacon candles, and the bacon tuxedo. Even Portland's own Voodoo Doughnut got a nod for their Bacon Maple Bar.

Their Pork Week article series:

• Bacon Mania
• Belly of the Beast
• Bacon is dead! Long live bacon!
• A wonderful, magical animal

Further reading:

The LA Times on the USDA naming of retailers in food recalls.
KOAT on salmonella not scaring people from Mexican food.
CBC News on the hunt for the salmonella outbreak source.

Bad Days for Tomatoes and Corn.

Food was front and center in the news this week. Flooding, salmonella outbreaks, and soaring oil prices topped headlines, and while wheat prices fell, the general mood on any possible relief for raising food costs was somber.

At the beginning of the week tomatoes were pulled off of grocery store shelves and restaurant menus after the FDA issued a Salmonella warning for raw red tomatoes. So far over 200 people have become ill, and the FDA is still trying to determine the source of the outbreak.

In the Pacific Northwest, grocery stores and farmers were quick to respond to the warning. The News-Review Today reported that places like Sherm’s Thunderbird pulled its tomatoes until learning their source was safe, while the Dairy Queen in Roseburg joined chains like Mc Donalds and Chipotle, stating they would keep tomatoes from their hamburgers at least through the weekend.

While Oregon's Caruso Produce was cleared by the FDA, other farmers were not having as easy of a time. Michael Stuart, president of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, spoke to NPR about the effect the warning was having on the growers:

They're extremely frustrated in that business has basically ground to a halt at this point in time. We're anxiously awaiting a determination by the Food and Drug Administration as to what the specific source of this problem is. And until that happens, quite frankly, we're dead in the water.

You can read the entire NPR piece here.

As the nation threw out tons of possibly contaminated tomatoes, commodity watchers kept an eye on corn as prices rose all week to end at $7.357 per bushel; a new record. Major flooding throughout the Midwest destroyed thousands of acres of crops, and with forecasts predicting more rain, analysts are predicting prices could surge above $8.00 per bushel.

MarketWatch reported Monday on the already decreased 2009 corn crop, and as the week went on analysts told reporters that the flooding would have major consequences. Chad Hart, an agriculture economist at Iowa State University told the Chicago Tribune that:

Given the flooding we see today, we're likely to see prices go significantly higher based on the weather....This is a significant event. We were already having production issues before this occurred, all across the Midwest. This can have gigantic implications.

Conversely, the National Corn Growing Association's president Ron Litterer released a hopeful statement about the crop:

In Iowa in 1993, record rainfall reached well into the summer months and severely affected the crop that year. That is not the long-term forecast for 2008, and there’s still a lot of the growing season left, so we are hopeful the final results will not be as devastating as it was 15 years ago. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently projected our third-largest crop ever at more than 11.7 billion bushels, we know that the final number depends on how the weather holds.

Thanks to a large surplus of beginning stocks from the record 2007 harvest, we came in with a good supply. We are watching the skies at home and tracking the updates from Washington while working hard doing what we do best – growing corn to help feed and fuel the world.

The long-term effects of the tomato and corn issues are still to be seen, but many experts are warning that we have not seen the peak of rising prices.

Further Reading:

• The New York Times on commodity prices climbing
• The Associated Press on the surge in corn prices
• Reuters on the FDA's slow moving progress on food safety