Eat To Live: BSE testing to plummet

LE BUGUE, France, July 26 (UPI) -- There's nothing like the French for New Age enthusiasms.

The street markets are full of wispy-bearded skeletal men draped in "A Fistful of Dollars" poncho blankets in early Clint Eastwood style. They rock gently on sandaled feet between stout French farm wives stuffing carrier bags full of morning picked produce, selling mood stones and herbal potions.

Country churches avail themselves on weeknights of the talents of amateur choir ensembles performing obscure Celtic music to swaying audiences.

SUV-driving housewives compensate with holistic diets based on linseed, hemp derivatives and esoteric grains.

Bernard Lafon of the castle of Belloc near Bordeaux was way ahead of these New Age sensibilities. In 1977 he turned his 16th-century farm of nearly 45 acres over to the exclusive growth by organic methods of heritage vegetables and fruits.

Among what he calls "forgotten vegetables," most of which are turned into preserves for sale, are rare squashes, ridged tomatoes and root vegetables, as well as unusual flavorings that he makes into soups, such as dandelion, sorrel, ground cherry and purslane. Berries like elderberry are transformed into cordials.

Trained as an engineer, he was more excited, long before the threat of dioxin chicken and mad cow disease made his ambition appear less zany, by the challenge of restoring to the shopping basket long-forgotten produce grown naturally. At the same time, he hoped to promote the spirit of the kitchen of his grandmother by offering with his produce suggestions and recipes for how to cook it.

With the announcement this week by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns that, "There is no significant BSE problem in the United States, and after all of this surveillance, I am able to say there never was," it is easy to look upon the endeavors of people like Bernard Lafon less indulgently.

The United States Department of Agriculture till now has been testing 1,000 cows daily for bovine spongiform encephalopathy -- the BSE more familiarly known as mad cow disease. From the end of August that figure will plummet to 110 a day.

Japan and a number of countries in Europe test a full 100 percent of their cattle.

While the figure is more than the World Organization for Animal Health requires, 35 million head of cattle are slaughtered each year in the United States. How could 40,150 tests annually possibly catch an early outbreak of BSE among that vast herd?

It seems odd with increasing public pressure for clear labeling and traceability that the USDA would not push to increase rather than decrease tests on a part of the food chain that has already been found at fault.

Although there have only been two cases of BSE found so far in farmed cattle in the United States, figures from the World Organization for Animal Health show that a total of 184,430 have been found since 1987 in the United Kingdom, where the outbreak was most serious.

At its height in 1992, 37,280 cows were destroyed with the disease. So far this year, the number has fallen to 61. But the epidemic began all those years ago with first one, then two, cases.

For Bernard Lafon it's a point of pride, if not the whole point, to be able to give you the precise origin and history of each of his plants. And in 1986 the French Institute for Agronomic Research awarded his commitment with their certificate of approval.

The farm has become the sort of place families and schools take their children for a heart-warming and instructive look at what can follow a New Age-like initiative.

In his cannery, Lafon now employs 10 people producing more than 400,000 organic preserves a year, not to mention those that work on the farm where he watches over the ancient discoveries in the plant world he continues to uncover.

One of these is the potimarron squash, excellent for baking and roasting, with a strong flavor and texture reminiscent of chestnut. He offers this dessert soufflé recipe for it. An acorn or a butternut squash makes an admirable replacement.

-- 1 pound squash

-- 1 egg yolk

-- 3 egg whites

-- 1 teaspoon crème fraiche

-- 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

-- Preheat oven to 350 F.

-- Bake the squash till soft, then pulp to a smooth puree.

-- Beat in the egg yolk and crème fraiche.

-- Whisk the egg whites till stiff and carefully fold into the squash mixture.

-- Butter a soufflé dish and pour the mixture in.

-- Cover with aluminum foil, bake 12 minutes and serve immediately.