The recent E. coli outbreak that shut down 43 locations of the Chipotle chain in Washington state and Oregon reminds us of the downsides of organic. For in the push to rid our food of, among other things, preservatives, we tend to forget that the whole point of these additives was to, well, preserve. You feel great that your green onions are locally sourced, pesticide-free, and cultivated by growers paid a living wage, but are they washed as thoroughly as the tomatoes are at the neighboring farm or at (gasp!) a nonorganic facility?

As Julie Jargon of the Wall Street Journal explains,