food-borne illness.

In this Sunday's NY Times was yet another excellent article in the annals describing the dangers of a huge, inscrutible food system that combines (and recombines) scraps of meat from many different producers without holding them accountable for their wholesomeness. (Wait. That sounds strangely like the way mortgages were wontonly issued for over a decade!) Reporter Micheal Moss recounts the story of how a young Minnesota woman contracted E. coli from poorly handled ground beef sold by Cargil. It uses company and USDA documents to highlight the flaws in a system (or lack of a system) of regulation and consumer protection when it comes to the safety of meat. But beware the unintended consquences of more regulation on promoting a healthier food system.