Category Archives: environment

Ancient Egyptian River Could be Revived for Farming | Green Prophet

“The desert of the Sinai Peninsula receives the most rainfall of any part of Egypt — around 304 millimetres annually — but most of it is of no benefit to agriculture, instead flowing out into the Mediterranean Sea in flash floods,” according to SciDev.net, which interviewed the authors.

Using satellite radar images, the research team mapped out where an ancient river used to drain the Wadi El-Arish valley – back in towards the desert, and then proposed a method to revive it.

They recommend constructing a two kilometer long, six meter deep channel that can be used  to irrigate thirsty farms.

“Accessing that depression would allow its stored water to be used for agriculture,” Farouk El-Baz, an author of the paper and director of the Center for Remote Sensing, told the paper.

The runoff during flash floods is expected to create a 1,400 square kilometer tract of fertile land west of Gebel Halal, which is said to offer other ideal conditions for potential farmers.

via Ancient Egyptian River Could be Revived for Farming | Green Prophet.

FDA’s Team Tomato Fights Contamination | Food Safety News

To scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the tomato is an enigma and the focus of a group of researchers nicknamed “Team Tomato.”

The mystery of the tomato has to do with its vulnerability to contamination by Salmonella, a bacterium that is a common cause of foodborne illness.

From 1973 to 2010, there were 15 multistate outbreaks of illnesses attributed to Salmonella contamination of raw tomatoes, with 12 of these outbreaks taking place since 2000. They resulted in almost 2,000 confirmed illnesses and three deaths, with states in the eastern U.S. hardest hit.

“The conditions in which tomatoes thrive are also the conditions in which Salmonella thrive,” says Eric Brown, Ph.D., director of FDA’s Division of Microbiology. “But the tomato always presented an extra challenge because it is so short-lived. By the time it looked like contaminated tomatoes could be causing illnesses, the harvest would be gone.”

via FDA's Team Tomato Fights Contamination | Food Safety News.

USDA Meat Inspectors Report Enforcement Actions for Quarter | Food Safety News

Meat inspection important for imports? You betcha! Look at the number of pounds imported in one three month period.

There was a spike in imported meat and poultry arriving in the U.S. during the quarter as 818,658,598 pounds were presented for inspection, up from 690,369,432 from the previous quarter. Likewise, imported egg products reached 2,439,721 pounds, up from 1,876,477 during the earlier period.

via USDA Meat Inspectors Report Enforcement Actions for Quarter | Food Safety News.

WHO | Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update

The new case is a 56 year-old female from Hafr Al- Batin city, North-eastern region. She is a health care worker with contact of a previously reported laboratory confirmed MERS-CoV case who subsequently recovered and was discharged.</p>

In addition, the two deaths in previously confirmed cases are a 53 year-old citizen from the Eastern Region and a two year-old male from Jeddah.

Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 80 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 44 deaths.

via WHO | Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update.

IRIN Africa | Countering Africa’s green revolution | Angola | Burkina Faso | Burundi | Benin | Botswana | DRC | Central African Republic | Congo | Cote d’Ivoire | Cameroon | Comoros | Cape Verde | Djibouti | Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gabon | Ghana | Global | Gambia | Guinea | Equatorial Guinea | Guinea-Bissau | Kenya | Liberia | Lesotho | Morocco | Madagascar | Mali | Mauritania | Mauritius | Malawi | Mozambique | Namibia | Niger | Nigeria | Rwanda | Seychelles | Sudan | Sierra Leone | Senegal | Somalia | South Sudan | Sao Tome and Principe | Swaziland | Chad | Togo | Tanzania | Uganda | Western Sahara | South Africa | Zambia | Zimbabwe | Environment | Food Security

The Makhathini Flats project, which started to grow cotton in 2002, ended after just five years. High loan repayments on the seed and poor climate meant that smallholders were unable to afford to grow the crop. “There is no reason to believe that the introduction of GM seeds would have different results in the rest of the continent,” Jones said. He accuses initiatives such as AGRA of spurring the push for greater use of genetically modified crops on the continent.

via IRIN Africa | Countering Africa’s green revolution | Angola | Burkina Faso | Burundi | Benin | Botswana | DRC | Central African Republic | Congo | Cote d'Ivoire | Cameroon | Comoros | Cape Verde | Djibouti | Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gabon | Ghana | Global | Gambia | Guinea | Equatorial Guinea | Guinea-Bissau | Kenya | Liberia | Lesotho | Morocco | Madagascar | Mali | Mauritania | Mauritius | Malawi | Mozambique | Namibia | Niger | Nigeria | Rwanda | Seychelles | Sudan | Sierra Leone | Senegal | Somalia | South Sudan | Sao Tome and Principe | Swaziland | Chad | Togo | Tanzania | Uganda | Western Sahara | South Africa | Zambia | Zimbabwe | Environment | Food Security.

CDC Joins Investigation into Deadly Listeria Outbreak | Food Safety News

According to the CDC,  the ongoing investigation indicates that Les Frères, Petit Frère, and Petit Frère with Truffles cheeses made by Wisconsin’s Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese Company is the likely source of the deadly outbreak. Crave Brothers recalled the cheese products on July 3.

Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio each have reported one case associated to the outbreak strain. Two cases were confirmed in Minnesota, including the death case.

All five ill persons were hospitalized. One illness in a pregnant woman resulted in a miscarriage.

The Listeria outbreak is the subject of a continuing and collaborative investigation is involving local and state health agencies along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Atlanta-based CDC.

via CDC Joins Investigation into Deadly Listeria Outbreak | Food Safety News.

Drug-resistant bacteria found in workers at industrial farms | Vaccine News Daily

Drug-resistant bacteria associated with livestock were found in the noses of North Carolina industrial livestock workers, but not in workers handling antibiotic-free livestock, according to a study published on Tuesday in PLOS ONE.

A team of researchers confirmed earlier findings in Iowa by determining that the use of antibiotics in animals resulted in drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria among industrial livestock workers in North Carolina. The team expressed concerns that the livestock-associated bacteria could go from farm workers to hospitals and the community settings, as the bacteria previously did in Europe.

The researchers based the study on interviews and nose swabs collected and analyzed from individuals working at two different types of livestock operations. The scientists tested the S. aureus isolated from nose swabs for resistance to multiple antibiotics.

“This study shows that these livestock-associated strains are present among workers at industrial livestock operations and that these strains are resistant not just to methicillin, but to multiple antibiotics — including antibiotics that are used to treat human infections,” Christopher Heaney, the corresponding author of the study, said.

via Drug-resistant bacteria found in workers at industrial farms | Vaccine News Daily.

Manure dump at B.C. homeless camp could mean civil lawsuit – British Columbia – CBC News

The City of Abbotsford, B.C., could be facing a civil lawsuit after officials spread chicken manure over a popular gathering place for the homeless in an apparent bid to drive them out of the city.

Read more about the manure dump

The group, being represented by the Pivot Legal Society, has issued a notice of damage to the city, saying they are contemplating a civil suit for “discrimination, harassment and loss of property.”

Pivot lawyer DJ Larkin says the case is important because this wasn’t an isolated incident.

“Shortly after the chicken fertilizer incident happened in Abbotsford, the exact same tactic was attempted in another municipality in British Columbia and so we see this kind of thing happening over and over again across British Columbia, across the United States,” she said.

“We think it’s really important to take a stand and say homeless people need to be protected.”

Both the mayor and city manager apologized after the incident came to light last month in a column written by a local advocate.

A few weeks later, Abbotsford’s police chief revealed he was investigating allegations police officers slashed tents belonging to homeless people.

via Manure dump at B.C. homeless camp could mean civil lawsuit – British Columbia – CBC News.

Palmetti: A natural product, a fair product | Indiegogo

We are making steady progress towards our goal and it is all because of you. Thank you for helping us show the world the way business should always be done! Today we would like to share with you one of our most succesful experiences in India: the Softening Fiber Lab.When we started this adventure, we wanted to raise awareness of the incredible potential that natural fibers have to replace environmentally harmful materials. With the help of the bright young minds of the Srishti Design School in Bangalore, we were able to set up a learning laboratory; a place to incentivise creativity and foster innovation. The results surpassed our expectations! The ideas and creations of the students offer us a glimpse into the future. A future in which eco-friendly raw materials will easily replace synthetic ones.

via Palmetti: A natural product, a fair product | Indiegogo.