Sludge Watch ==> CNN TV special this weekend- Danger: Poisoned Food

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:
Lets see if the show talks about the delivery of sewage effluent for the 
spray irrigation of spinach and lettuce crops.

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CNN spotlights Central Coast produce: Local growers worried about fallout
17.may.07
The Salinas Californian

Dawn Withers

http://thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/NEWS01/70517020/1002

Last year’s E. coli outbreak linked to Central Coast spinach returns to the 
national spotlight this weekend as CNN airs a documentary titled “Special 
Investigations Unit — Danger: Poisoned Food.”
Salinas Valley growers were cited as saying the program bodes little good 
for Monterey County agriculture, which is still fighting to emerge from the 
shadow of the contaminated spinach crisis last September.

The two-part program is hosted by CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. 
Sanjay Gupta. Gupta visited Monterey County in March and interviewed three 
local agricultural industry officials, including Joseph Pezzini, who served 
as chairman of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California during 
the outbreak and its aftermath.

Pezzini, who’s also vice president of operations at Ocean Mist Farms in 
Castroville, was cited as saying he agreed to be interviewed by CNN to make 
sure the ag industry’s side of the food-safety story is represented, but he 
has concerns about the CNN piece, concerns shared by many agriculture 
leaders at the Grower-Shipper Association’s annual member meeting Thursday, 
stating, "I don’t know how it will be portrayed. The trailer and title don’t 
make me feel very good."

The CNN special examines several different food-borne-illness outbreaks, 
including those linked to peanut butter in February and to Central Coast 
spinach last year. In his reporting, Gupta visited farms and packing plants 
to see how safe produce is, according to a statement from CNN.
CNN crews visited Paicines Ranch in San Benito County, where state and 
federal health officials found positive matches for the same strain of E. 
coli that killed at least three and sickened more than 200 people last fall. 
The crews also visited a Natural Selection Foods plant in San Juan Bautista, 
where the contaminated spinach was processed, said Bill Marler, a 
Seattle-based attorney who represents more than 90 people sickened in the 
outbreak.