17 July 2015 (02:27 UTC-07 Tango 01)/26 Tir 1394/30 Ramadan 1436/02 Gui-Wie (6th month) 4713

“If your plants come in contact with flood water, the safest thing to do is to not eat them. Dispose of them……there could be e-coli, heavy metals, or other pathogenic organisms….”-John Bombardiere, West Virginia State University

West Virginia declared a state of emergency after severe flooding hit the east coast state on 12 July.   The West Virginia Agriculture Commission is warning farmers and victory gardeners not to eat any vegetables if their land has been by flooded.

The federal government says it’s actually against the law to sell crops soaked by floods: “If the edible portion of a crop is exposed to flood waters, it is considered adulterated under section 402(a)(4) (21 U.S.C. 342(a)(4)) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and should not enter human food channels. There is no practical method of reconditioning the edible portion of a crop that will provide a reasonable assurance of human food safety. Therefore, the FDA recommends that these crops be disposed of in a manner that ensures they are kept separate from crops that have not been flood damaged to avoid adulterating ‘clean’ crops (Ref. 1, 2, 3).”

Washington & Oregon ban fishing after mystery deaths!