Food safety is a particular concern, as some of the contaminants from years of industrial development make their way into the country's food from the soil in which it is grown.
Composting has become a common method of recycling food as fertilizer or soil amendment.
It changes soil, preserves food, inspires polar explorers and gives hope to those in search of resurrection now that bodies can be preserved in liquid nitrogen.
Dr Colin McClung, ex-IRI, was co-recipient of the World Food prize in 2006 for this soil fertility work.
But such is their persistence that they can also be found in soil, sediment, food, air and house dust, and 97% of Americans have detectable levels in their bodies.
That means more nutrients in the soil, where it feeds food crops, and less in lakes and streams, where it feeds algae that sucks up oxygen and kills fish.
The culprit parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, can get into the food chain via cats faeces causing contamination of soil, water and plants.
However in the case of Neal Soil Suppliers - where dairy and food effluent was spread over a field - there had been "substantial and serious pollution".
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In this case, there are fears that dioxins, drifting through the air, could settle on soil or crops and somehow pass into the food chain.
Food is ground zero-the place where the economy meets the soil, where profitability meets fertility.
The report says people living near incinerators may be exposed to a range of toxic chemicals, by breathing in contaminated air, eating food which has been contaminated, or by skin contact with affected soil.
When the next food crop is planted, it benefits from the nutrients and improved physical properties of the soil that the trees have provided.
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Rather, it pairs well with food, expresses purity, floral characteristics and, of course, the mineral aspect of the soil.
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