Food Technology

I am a few months out from beginning my doctoral studies, but in an effort to keep the analytical brain juices flowing during this hiatus, I have some comments on an editorial I recently read in the NY Times by Michael Pollan. Pollan is the author of noteworthy works such as The Botany of Desire, Second Nature, and more recently, The Omnivore’s Dilemma – which I have not yet read but plan to – among others. With such writings to his credit, Pollan is, indeed, an intriguing author, especially among the horticulturally-inclined, like myself. Yet, Pollan readily admits to not being a horticulturist. He is a writer – a writer with a penchant for gardening, plants, and food culture – a writer with a gift for taking these seemingly mundane subjects and peeling away layers of provocative discussion like the leaves of an onion. How appropriate, then, that his editorial focused on another leafy vegetable.

In “The Vegetable-Industrial Complex” (October 15, 2006), Pollan examined the recent E. coli scare that swept the United States, which was linked to the consumption of bagged spinach processed in the Salinas Valley of California. The Salinas Valley is considered the “Salad Bowl of the United States,” and one drive through this terrain east of Monterey will lend no dispute. The valley is a sea of green and purple lettuce leaves, bushy broccoli and cabbage plants, almost any edible leafy or Brassica species found on supermarket shelves is grown there and shipped all over the country. Those tight rows of continuous production are beautiful in my mind, tucked between mountain ranges, nourished by fertile soils, and kept fresh with the morning breath of coastal fog. At harvest time, meticulous hands guard against blemish, and processors wash, bag, and ship the produce for consumer convenience. These cash commodities usually appear immaculate on supermarket shelves when perused by customers, but there are some things that the eye cannot see. We do not live in a utopia; sometimes things go wrong.

That is what happened in the fall of 2006 – something went wrong. Somehow E. coli infiltrated batches of one of our beloved leafy greens – spinach – this crop that we have come to know and love, cleaned of any trace of its field origin, tightly sealed for freshness in ‘controlled-atmosphere’ bags, and ready to serve. Speculation grew regarding the cause of this outbreak. Terrorists were ruled out, but so many variables lay unanswered for quite some time.

Rather than continue with the speculation, in “The Vegetable-Industrial Complex”, Pollan addressed other concerns perhaps more fundamental than the emanating but transient health scare. He addressed the source of our food, the technology we use to achieve its mass-production, and consumer choice. Pollan questioned whether we are getting ahead of ourselves with technological advances in our food systems – whether the technology which helps us grow it, preserve it, ship it, and even solve the problems surrounding it are really to our benefit. As a scientist – a horticultural scientist at that – I could not help but be intrigued by his proclamations.

To elucidate his claims, Pollan reflected on another E. coli incident in the not-too-distant past where U.S. beef was found with a deadly strain. Pollan noted that the strain of E. coli found was one only present in grain-fed beef. He went on to suggest that if we were less dependent on these feedlot cattle and instead consumed locally-raised, pasture-fed beef, the problem would never have arisen. Then, he relates this past incident to the recent spinach outbreak by suggesting that if more of us shopped locally for our produce, the E. coli outbreak originating from the Salinas Valley may not have been the grand issue that it was. We have become too dependent on technology to grow our food – the technology to grow masses of grains to feed our feedlot cattle, the technology to grow pristine vegetables which are shipped across the country, among all the other technologies of our agricultural industries. Instead, if we stepped back from technology and supported local agriculture, we might have a better understanding and appreciation for food and have stronger local economies.

These are some ideas that, in fact, I really like, being the utopian-hopeful that I am. Nevertheless, I am not insinuating that these are not complicated suggestions. For example, are people living in places where certain crops will not grow well supposed to live without this cherished produce? No, I am not suggesting that. After all, most Americans would not be eating bananas if that were the case. Second, mass-production and technology has made our food cheap and readily available. That is a convenience that, as a student, I can certainly appreciate.

But, I do agree that we should all make efforts to support locally-grown produce and perhaps make efforts to move away from technology to source the product and resolve the problem. From past experiences working with young students of urban settings, it was disheartening to hear them say that meat comes from Styrofoam and milk from a carton. Today, probably many of them think that spinach comes from a bag. Yes, I agree that technology – with all its benefits – also has its costs. It is important that future scientists of any field remember this. Utopia aside, our future health, security, and happiness depend on it.