How to clean Spinach

Out here in the real world solving the spinach problem is very simple, to me: there is absolutely no substitute for cleanliness. For the spinach grower who packed E. coli into their product something was not very clean somewhere and I will bet the government regulators/inspectors will point fingers at everybody and every process along the spinach producing system that they are supposed to regulate but do not: I don't believe for one moment the regulators/inspectors were there when they should have been there doing their job.

My kitchen was just inspected by a branch of these same regulators/inspectors and I got a score of 98%--not bad if you eat food I cook. But just think of this, the inspectors--two of them--made three trips to my kitchen to make sure I posted my state of California food managers certificate and that I labeled my pasta bin pasta.

Just how many trips of what size contingent inspectors do you think this would represent when projected onto a spinach farm? Apparently the answer is an inverse correlation: the bigger you are the less you get inspected and the more you...

If the farmers don't care--and apparently some one down on some spinach farm does not care--and the regulators/inspectors only do there job after the fact then it does not matter if it's organic or factory farmed produce.

Spinach Regulators anyone?

As a chef I am like any gigantic factory farmer or small time artisan producer in that none of us are required any special education, training and very little certification in food handling--even though there is more for us chefs today that a few years ago. The style and character I bring to my work colors and influences everything I do and the same can be said of farmer processors and the rest of the crew. However, there are so-called chefs into whose kitchens I would not venture because the style and character they bring to their food preparation is without question rank. Same thing with farmers, processors and the rest of the people in the food business. Most of us know who they are even if we cannot do anything about them.

Only our customers know for sure: If someone gets sick and dies from something I make--or is made by someone under my employ and you can trace it to me then I, like they, have a real big problem. Otherwise I skate, unknowingly. Same thing for the rest of the players in this imaginary scenario.

But since I may not be educated and trained then should someone who is keep a watchful eye on my work? That's the job of the expert inspectors/regulators. They bring their government approved education and training right into my kitchen and check on all the rest of the players in the food business and their equipment to see if they are playing by the rules--the rules, of course, are largely known to nutritionists and food scientists and some are written into law by our government, except for the rules of an up-right character and good will toward food and people. The rules are largely unknown and uncared for by the food processors--we, of course, just want to make money and are cheapskates.

Problem is the expert inspectors/regulators and the rest of us seem to be too distracted by misplace priorities to do the right thing in real time, as things happen. And if you have an employee who has a problem with this country then there is always the possibility of a deliberate act of sabotage--finger in the chile sort of thing or urinating--or worse--on the crop as it's harvested. That defies all efforts but must somehow be addressed as a real threat to each and everyone of us.