From David Fisman and Sarah Elton, Postmedia news:
“Canadians, this week, are a little nervous around beef. For good reason.
“Verotoxigenic” E. coli (VTEC), which are often a strain known as E. coli O157: H7, are yet again causing an outbreak, with numerous Canadians sickened by tainted beef. Now what’s being called the country’s largest food recall is unfolding. We’re being told not to eat the steaks, hamburger and other beef products handled by Alberta’s XL Foods that have been sold in supermarkets across the country. Meanwhile, the federal government is under attack for not having protected our food from this bug, which generally causes bloody diarrhea and an associated blood and kidney disorder.
It will likely be many weeks before epidemiologists have a clearer picture of what’s happening. However, this is by no means a unique event.
In 2006, VTEC-tainted spinach from California caused an outbreak reaching into Canada. This past summer, at least 11 individuals in New Brunswick were sickened by VTEC-tainted lettuce: the outbreak strain matched a strain causing disease in both Quebec and California, suggesting a much larger North American VTEC outbreak remained unidentified. In 2009, VTEC-contaminated cookie dough caused a massive outbreak in the United States, sickening more than 80 people across 30 states.
The Bovine 
And not to forget, this can be a personal decision as well as a societal one.
Just vote with your dollars for the kind of food production you’d like to see.
IMHO there is no such thing a a legitimate societal choice… all choices are, or at least should be individual choices.
The crux of the problem, as I see it, is twofold: education and economics.
Most people do not realize the degree to which the food they eat effects their health. From the recent press, even many so called educated consumers know much less than you would expect. Customers leaving Whole Foods were asked what “GMO’s” were, and amazingly, about half did not have a clue. I suspect that fewer than 10% would be aware of the effect of trace minerals in the soil on food quality. If people understood the facts they would demand nothing but healthy food.
To see a problem and to solve it, you have to let your mind operate outside of the thought boxes created by your owners…. The economic aspect of people not being able to afford quality food is extremely broad, and is dependent upon such things as building codes, and the proper role of government. I have only space to address a few…..
A tangible and egregious example would be the completely unnecessary income tax, and the fractional reserve banking system. Not one penny of the income tax goes to government functions. All of it goes to the banking cartel known as the Federal Reserve for the dubious service of illegally counterfeiting our money supply. On top of this most inflation is cause by fractional reserve banking. (again counterfeiting)
As long as you do not think outside of the allowed parameters of discussion you will not strike the root nor solve the problem. Think about how education and implementation of the free market would address the real causes of the food crisis. (Yes the Fed and banks are NOT free market in any stretch of the imagination.)