If I was an advertising person, I think I could come up with a pretty cool TV ad (well, maybe a sort of cute TV ad) on behalf of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Something like this:

“Ever wonder what that chicken you’re having for dinner had for breakfast? Or what the ham in your breakfast had for dinner? Or what’s really in the soy protein drink you pour into your super-healthy smoothy? (Flash to a sooty and grimy Chinese manufacturing plant with dirty sacks of melamine scattered around.)

“Well, they sprinkle some of the melamine coming out of this plant into food for pets and feed for animals. Add a little special acid. Kind of like you sprinkling salt and pepper onto your food, and maybe adding some soy sauce, except this one has an extra kick that we know does a number on your pet’s kidneys…and so we can only imagine what it does to people.

“If you’re not finding this as appetizing as you’d like, we suggest looking closer to home for your food. (Flash to pastoral images of local farms, showing chickens and cows grazing outside, fresh vegetables and fruits being harvested, people picking up their baskets of meat and produce.)”

I’m not even sure the CSA farms need to exploit this situation via advertising. CNN and other mass media are doing it for them. The more the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other officials say there’s nothing to worry about, that all the melamine is too diluted to do any harm, the more uneasy lots of people get. We heard similar things about Vioxx and other such wonder drugs, too.

This afternoon, I heard a former FDA official on CNN say that the problem is that the agency doesn’t have the manpower to inspect food products coming from China—that out of many millions of shipments, only a few thousand were inspected. Maybe because the FDA inspectors are out harassing raw milk farmers in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan? There always seem to be enough agents for a raw milk raid or two.

It’s even beginning to appear as if Whole Foods devotees need to worry about this latest scandal. As soon as I read that powdered soy and whey protein products are among those suspected of being tainted, I thought of Whole Foods, since they push such products big time.

So I looked at the Whole Foods Press Room expecting to see some kind of advisory about this situation, perhaps some reassurance that Whole Foods’ products aren’t affected, but nothing there beyond the usual new store openings. Then I looked at the blog of the company’s president, John Mackey, and that hasn’t been updated since mid-March.

So I called and emailed the Whole Foods press office this morning with a few questions, inquiring into whether the company has investigated whether any of its products might be tainted. One of the spokespeople asked me when I wanted an answer, and I said by the end of today. Nothing arrived, not even an excuse-me that the press people have been overwhelmed with requests for similar information. No news isn’t necessarily good news in this kind of situation.

I have an uneasy feeling that this particular scandal is just the tip of the iceberg insofar as the real safety of our industrial food chain is concerned. And the more official reassurances I hear, the more nervous I become.

Oh, one other thing that contrasts nicely with all the official calmness about melamine: There was this cute little comment in an article in the Gainesville, FL, paper about raw milk–the typical safe-vs-unsafe media stuff:

"Terry McElroy is a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. On Monday, McElroy said, ‘There is obviously a fringe group that distrusts government and believes we have no business telling them what they can or can’t consume.’ Gee, in the old days they used to call us "outside agitators."