Dealing with the spinach scare

“Spinach Scare’s Larger Warning” (Sept. 22) helps explain why Food and Drug Administration regulations are so important to our safety. It’s easy to criticize government regulators, but when they don’t do their job, families across the country are at risk. The FDA needs the resources to do a better job, but it also needs the muscle.

Voluntary regulations are not enough to keep us safe. E. coli contamination of produce is typically caused by fecal matter. That can happen on the farm, but it can also happen at any level of production and processing.

There are basic precautions we can all take, such as always washing fresh produce, even pre-cut salads with labels saying washing is not necessary, and melons and other produce where we don’t eat the outer skin. Our research-based advice is free at www.center4research.org.

DIANA ZUCKERMAN

President, National Research

Center for Women & Families

Washington

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The Times reports that government food safety inspection has fallen sharply. For example, there were 35,000 inspections per year by the FDA in the 1970s, but only 5,000 per year now. The spinach outbreak is suspected to be only the tip of the iceberg, whether it be lettuce or any other food. As The Times reports, food inspection is now largely voluntary by business. And why do growers inspect and restaurants insist on inspected food? Because they might get sued. Do away with lawsuits for such things and you do away with food safety. It’s the same with nearly every industry.

If you want protection against poisons, fraud and dangerous products, don’t ask the government, ask the court system. It is precisely because the government does not have the resources to do the job that there are laws allowing you, and a nation of consumers in class actions, to protect yourselves.

IRA SPIRO

Los Angeles

The writer is an attorney.

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Re “E. Coli Scare May Have Wider Impact,” Sept. 20

People not eating their California spinach? It’s going to have a major economic impact here at home. But there is a simple solution that will get that dangerous E. coli out of our spinach and our burgers and our groundwater. Let cows eat grass. The particular type of bug that has caused this latest epidemic is peculiar to grain-fed cattle. Why spend millions cleaning up a problem that never should have occurred in the first place?

LIZ AMSDEN

Los Angeles