- HOME
- About
- Topics
- Angelides
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- California Attorney General Race
- California Congressional Races
- California Democratic Party
- California Governor Race 2010
- California Legislative Races
- California Lt. Governor Race
- California Secretary of State Race
- California State Budget
- California State Controller
- Campaign Finance Reform
- Campaigns
- Cell Phones
- Children and Families
- Consumer Rights
- Corporate Accountability
- Criminal Justice
- Death With Dignity
- Disaster Preparation
- Discrimination and Civil Rights
- Economy/ Economic Crisis
- Education
- Elections and Voting
- Electoral College
- Energy
- Environment
- Farm Animal Cruelty Ballot Measure
- Flood Control
- Food Safety
- Gas Prices
- Governor's Election Race
- Gun control
- Health Care
- Health Insurance
- Hiram Johnson's Corner
- Housing
- Human Rights
- Humor
- Immigration
- Infrastructure
- Initiative Reform
- Insurance Commissioner Race
- Labor
- Language and Politics
- Legal System
- Media and Communication
- Minimum Wage
- Open Government
- Pharmaceutical Companies
- Politics
- Preschool
- Presidential Election 2008
- Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act Prop
- Prison Reform
- Privacy
- Privitization
- Prop 11-Redistricting/Reapportionment
- Prop 12--Veterans Housing Bond
- Prop 1A--High Speed Rail
- Prop 2--Treatment of Farm Animals
- Prop 3-Children's Hospital Bonds
- Prop 4 Waiting Period and Parental Notification
- Prop 5--Non-violent drug offenses
- Prop 6--Police and law enforcement spending
- Prop 7 and 10-Alternative Fuel and Energy Bond
- Prop 8 and-Marriage Equality
- Prop 85 Parental Notification
- Prop 86 Tobacco Tax
- Prop 87--Alternative Energy
- Prop 9 Parole
- Prop 90
- Prop 91--Transportation Funding
- Prop 92- Community Colleges
- Prop 93--Term Limits
- Props 94-97--Tribal Gaming
- Props 98 and 99
- Racial Disparities
- Responsible Lending
- Retirement Benefits
- Site of the Day
- Solar Initiative
- Structure of California Government
- Taxes
- Toxic Chemicals
- Transportation/Transit
- Water
- Westly
- Workers' Compensation
- Stories
- Governor Signs Legislation To Prevent Loss Of Healthy Families Coverage For Over 900,000 Children
- Townhall Meeting Focuses on At-Risk Babies and Toddlers
- State Park Cuts Lack Logic
- Conservation Organizations Oppose California Policy That Would Give Carbon Credits for Forest Clearcutting
- WellPoint and Its Subsidiary Have Waged Campaign to Derail Health Reform
- Article Repeats Right-Wing Myth About State Spending
- Can Obama Orate His Way Out of Another Crisis?
- Furlough Issue Comes To Head This Week at UC
- Sean Hannity Spreads Dangerous Misinformation about California Water
- Daring To Get It Right: Legislature Says 'No' To Dangerous Last Minute Water Policy Proposal
- Weekly Radio Address: Galgiani, Coto Report Progress In Bipartisan Delegation’s Meetings With Key Cabinet Officials And Congressional Leaders On Budgetary And Policy Issues Critical To California
- A Missed Opportunity: Economic Recovery Should Start With the Prisons
- Directory
- Donate
- Contact Us
RSS Advertise Here
Deliver your message to thousands of readers every day.
Our readers are influential opinion makers - politicians, journalists and activists.
Our latest headlines
- Weekly Radio Address: Assembly Lead Water Negotiators Huffman, Caballero Discuss this Week’s Historic Agreement to Solve California’s Water Crisis
- Feinstein Once Again Flirts With Entering the Governor’s Race
- A Good Health Care Bill Emerging from the House
- Schwarzenegger Applauds Passage of Peripheral Canal/Dams Water Package
- "Historic" Water Deal Draws Both Praise and Criticism
- Republican State Senators Vote for Administrative Chaos, Backdoor Cuts in IHSS
- Assembly Budget Committee Follow-up Informational Hearing on Implementation on IHSS Program Changes
About Us
David Greenwald, Editor. (Contact David.)
CFC Education Foundation, Publisher. (Contact us.)
Got a news tip? Want to write a guest column?
Contact David here.
About California Progress Report.
Founded by Frank D. Russo (Publisher and Editor, 2006-08).
Sponsors
Books
The Salinas Californian and the Vegetable Industrial Complex
By Frank Pecarich
Retired Soil Scientist
In a recent editorial the Salinas Californian called California Senator Dean Florez "a born publicity hound".
The editor was apparently trying to use the editorial bully pulpit to, well, bully Senator Florez. Florez has been in hot pursuit of the vegetable growing industry and their weak efforts to provide for our national health and safety. It has been widely observed that the local Salinas newspaper did nothing extraordinary in the past year in reporting the necessary and substantial facts surrounding the recent E. Coli 0157:H7 spinach outbreak which killed at least 3 individuals. But this recent Editorial blast was simply "beyond the pale".
One of the rather humorous defenses offered by the editorial writer seems to be a version of "we're no worse than everybody else" when he/she compares the weak consumer protection efforts of the vegetable industry to the meat industry vis a vis pathogen contamination. As I think about it, that might be a good logo for the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA): "LGMA: We're no Worse Than Everyone Else"
In response to the Salinas Californian editor I ask, is US Senator Tom Harkin "a born publicity hound" for remarks this week:
"This is a food safety concern for consumers who wonder if it is OK to serve this produce to their families, and it is an agricultural concern for growers who face another blow to sales of their product," said U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.Harkin, D-Iowa, is crafting legislation that would set up national food safety practices for growing and processing fresh produce that run the highest risk of causing food-borne illness.
Further, is Representative Rosa DeLauro "a born publicity hound" when she is quoted this week as saying:
" U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro called Thursday for the Food and Drug Administration to strengthen safety guidelines for fresh-cut produce in the wake of another spinach recall. "It is time for the FDA to renew their commitment to their mission of protecting the public health, and make a declarative statement that the goal is to prevent food-borne illness, not just to react when outbreaks occur," said DeLauro, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture."
Is US Rep. Diana DeGette "a born publicity hound" when she said yesterday:
"Every new outbreak of contaminated food illustrates the need for comprehensive reform of the food safety system in the United States," she said.DeGette plans to introduce legislation that would give the government the authority to force a recall and require the FDA to establish a product-tracing system to enable faster recalls."
Writing such as what the editor of the Salinas Californian produced should help answer the question of why nationwide newspaper readership is falling like a rock. The publishers and management of the Salinas Californian should be ashamed of themselves. They have no right to be called "independent press". They are clearly PR pimps for their local vegetable-industrial complex. A pox on them!
Frank Pecarich retired from the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the US Bureau of Reclamation in 1987. During his 26 year federal career he worked as a soil scientist with the USDA on the now- published Soil Survey for Monterey County. He lives in Ventura County.
Related articles that have been published by the California Progress Report by Mr. Pecarich can be found under the topic of Food Safety.
Comments
Sorry, comments are temporarily disabled. We're doing a bit of server maintenance on the commenting area. We'll be back up and running shortly. Thank you for your patience.
Get Email Updates
Want the California Progress Report by email? Once a week, we'll send you the latest and greatest headlines.
© 2008 California Progress Report Our copyright and fair use policy.
Powered by Mandate Media. Logo design by Jane Norling.
