The Week in Organic: Food News From the Web

• "Federal investigators found piles of manure up to eight feet tall, live mice, pigeons and other birds inside the hen houses at two egg farms suspected of causing a nationwide outbreak of salmonella illness," according to the Washington Post.
• Chef Wylie Dufresne takes some swipes at 'farm-to-table' restaurants: "It should be understood that when you go to a restaurant of a certain caliber, it should be expected that chef X is using good ingredients...'Hey, come here, we use good ingredients.' Well, that's crazy."
• We aren't the only visitors to Arizona struggling to find fresh organic food. TreeHugger's Jaymi Heimbuch took a trip to Phoenix and wasn't too impressed with what she found.
• Climatologists are predicting that the Southwest will continue to get drier.
• "A new study of 13 pairs of conventional and organic California strawberry farms over two seven-month growing seasons in 2004 and 2005 revealed that organic farms produced more flavorful and nutritious berries while leaving the soil more healthful and genetically diverse," according to the Washington Post. 
• Grist offers some advice to urban gardeners on finding clean soil. 
• A University of Chicago professor is recording energy inputs and outputs along and productivity levels per acre for eight local urban and rural farms to study the actual environmental footprint of local food. Read about it at the Chicago Tribune. 
• Change.org has a list of 12 fish to avoid.