From the "Henhouse" to "My House"

I recently read an article on the New York Times website by Nicholas D. Kristof, called "Cleaning the Henhouse".  It addresses some interesting issues about what is going on in our modern food industry, specifically within the egg industry.  If you're aware of the recent recall on eggs, then you know what I'm talking about.  I wasn't really shocked to hear about all of what's going on.  However, here's something that I didn't know: 

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study in 2005 suggesting that in 2000 there were about 182,000 cases of egg-caused salmonella in the United States, including 70 deaths. That means that even without an outbreak in the news, eggs with salmonella kill more than one American a week."

This is a direct quote from the article.  Here's a link to the actual article.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/opinion/02kristof.html?_r=1

The most fascinating thing for me, however, was the fact that I think I was one of the only one in my class who was aware of it before the teacher had brought it up.  In fact, because of my sister-in-law and my mom, I knew about it as soon as the announcement went out. 

Back at my house, my mom only buys organic food, which includes free-range eggs.  In the article, it mentions that salmonella (the reason for the recall of eggs) occurs more often when hens are in extremely enclosed spaces, which is usually how it is in industrial situations for production.

I am extremely grateful that my mom is all for the organics.  Don't know about you, but I'm very proud of the fact that my mom's all for the organics.  This way, I know I'm playing on the safe side...which is starting to look like the right side.