Hi folks,
After reading Kendra's post about public health laws, I was left wondering
if she is correct about the timing of the introduction of health laws. I'd
be very interested to read a bit about the social and political history of
public health laws - could anybody recommend some references?
Though I've never studied this topic specifically, my work in sustainable
agriculture has left me with the idea most health and safety laws have been
passed in response to safety risks created by industrial systems of food
production, processing and distribution.
If I'm remembering correctly, many of the laws regulating meat processing
came about after the publication of the book "The Jungle" written by Upton
Sinclair. If this is true, then this seems to support the idea that the
passage of food safety laws began as the country was industrializing....just
at the time when people quit eating locally grown food and stopped having a
personal relationship with the producers of the food.
This topic has been on my mind lately, as I've followed the debates about
food irradiation, GMO's, and the recent postings here on the pros and cons
of raw milk. It strikes me many of the recently passed safety laws are not
addressing the real source of the food safety dangers - the methods of
production. This seems SO COMPLETELY CLEAR to me that I wonder that this
issue is never addressed in the media or by government researchers or
regulators.
But perhaps I don't fully understand the issues?? For example, can anyone
tell me whether the kind of dangerous samonella found in
industrially-produced eggs are also found in small, true free-range,
well-cared- for laying hens? What's the risk of finding the dangerous
e-coli reported on in industrially-produced beef compared to beef that has
been raised on grass, with no antibiotics and no hormones, and butchered at
a local, well-respected slaughterhouse? Is anybody aware of research on
such issues?
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