Re: [compost_tea] Re: 131 degrees Farenheit heated compost for 3 days

From: Frank L Teuton <fteuton_at_sympatico.ca>
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 22:37:05 -0500

Hi Elaine,

Your statement below is sufficiently unclear for me to ask you to clarify i=
t.

I hope you are not saying that compost made according to process standards =
will have thriving pathogen populations in 2% of the cases and that's not a=
 big deal...

I especially hope you are not saying that 2% of the compost used to make co=
mpost tea has thriving pathogen populations and that's not a big deal.

If 2% of the population got food borne illnesses, that would 6 million peop=
le in the US, or 600,000 Canadians....and most of them would indeed think o=
f it as a big deal.

So how about putting this all a bit more clearly and in proper perspective,=
 ie, just what 2 % of which composting process are we really talking about =
here?

Thanks in advance,

Frank Teuton


  ----- Original Message -----
  From: soilfoodweb_at_aol.com
  To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 5:09 PM
  Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Re: 131 degrees Farenheit heated compost for 3=
 days


  I really dislike making broad statements about compost, or tea, based on =
incomplete understanding and testing. Think through the data -

  In perhaps 90% of the cases, when temperature and turning are done correc=
tly, compost contains no pathogens worth worrying about. The beneficials a=
re also present, and growing, and we get no re-growth of the pathogerns. =
 

  In maybe 8% of the cases, pathogens are clearly present, but don't re-gro=
w.


  In perhaps 2% of cases, pathogens survive and are very happy. Why? What=
 are the conditions that allow this to happen?

  That's what needs to be understood. But this number of failures is not e=
nough to require new regs to be written about the situation. The percentag=
e of ":odd cases" is inadequate. You can't make a federal case out of some=
thing that is so low incidence.

  But we need to still understand these unusual situations, and work to fix=
 the problem. And the problem is in the composting, not in the tea. These=
 odd situations need to be figured out, but don't throw the baby out with t=
he bath water!

  Elaine Ingham
  President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
  www.soilfoodweb.com
  SFI Oregon, USA
  SFI Australia
  SFI New York
  SFI Europe
  SFI New Zealand

  "Hope is not a feeling. It is not the belief that things will turn out we=
ll, but the conviction that what we are doing makes sense, no matter how th=
ings turn out." -- Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic








Received on Thu Mar 04 2004 - 23:55:23 EST

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