Writing during the devastating European E. coli O104 outbreak that killed dozens, Mark Bittman consults Bill Marler—"the guy we have to thank for having our current level of protection against E. coli"—about food safety fundamentals despite communicating at 5 a.m. Eastern/2 a.m. Pacific. Marler, who "has spent 20 years watching kids die," shares his philosophy via email with memorable advice: "Think about eating mass-produced raw meat and produce like you are swimming in a pool with a thousand people you don't know. Think of eating as described above as sitting in a bath with your significant other—hopefully less risky and much more fun."
On whether grass-fed beef is safer, Marler offers nuanced analysis: "There isn't a lot of good science on this, and there have been studies that have gone either way...If you're anti-CAFO and anti-corn subsidies, you jump from that study to 'get rid of this and you get rid of e-coli,' and it would be great if things were that simple but they're not." On local food safety: "We don't know. Bigger outbreaks are easier to figure out, and they're always caused by mass-produced food, but many outbreaks aren't figured out at all. If things were regionalized and there was an outbreak, it would be smaller. And poisoning fewer people at once is a good thing!" Marler calls this outbreak "the worst" he's seen, with the highest recorded HUS rate—potentially double most outbreaks." That's what wakes Bill Marler up at 2:30 in the morning," Bittman concludes.
From The New York Times to CNN, Bill is trusted by lawyers for his expertise on food safety.
