The “blogosphere” has been rampant with stories about chickens and salmonella this week.  My hope is that we don’t forget about this problem after the news dies down.  Today’s local paper covered our attempts in my own hometown to change the zoning laws to make raising a few backyard hens easier (and legal).  Nice (and accurate) story here.

But what’s next?  What do we do when the chickens are no longer making headlines?  I”ve got three suggestions:

1. Raise your own hens (for he eggs of course).  It is really not that difficult and can be a satisfying experience.   Many of the links on my “backyardhens” web page will help you get started.

2. Support  the Food Safety bill, S 510 in the U.S. Senate (a similar bill already passed the House).  This will give the FDA more authority and hopefully reduce the liklihood of another outbreak of salmonella.  Here is a recent post.

3. Help us tell the FDA that we need to ban antibiotics from factory farms.  The FDA is accepting public comments on new draft guidlines (which are NOT adequate) until August 28 (Saturday). Here is a post explaining the deal. Or read the Johns Hopkins report below.

It is most important that we become more aware of the sorry state of the industrial food system that we depend on for our survival.  Get involved by reading Just Food Now and taking whatever small action makes sense to you!