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From field to fork to refuse

The FDA says the deadly listeria outbreak in cantaloupe was likely due to pools of water on the floor and old, packing equipment at a Colorado farm.
Amber Luckey
/
Flickr
The FDA says the deadly listeria outbreak in cantaloupe was likely due to pools of water on the floor and old, packing equipment at a Colorado farm.

Flip on the TV, boot up the computer or switch on the radio and you’re destined to hear about a recall of tainted food – often due to E. coli or salmonella.

That quick detection is thanks in large part to the constantly improving technology in the food industry. However, quickly finding the source and final destination of unsafe food is a bit more complicated -- particularly in the fruit and vegetable industry. A recently enacted law requires the produce industry to come up with a system for tracking fruits and veggies from field to fork, but as Harvest Public Media’s Abbie Fentress Swanson reports, there’s a big holdup.

But, say you bought some contaminated cantaloupe and wanted to throw it away. Would you rather put it in a bin and roll it to the curb or leave it in a bag of trash on the street for pick up? That’s one of the hot issues floating through many Columbia residents’ minds. A new roll-cart trash collection program would run Columbia nearly $6 million to implement the system citywide.  Leaders tout the program as an efficient cost cutter in the long run, but, KBIA’s Ben Mahnken says not everyone agrees.

Kristofor left KBIA in fall of 2021