Category Archives: environment

New AFDO Document Reveals ‘Issues and Concerns With Imported Foods’ | Food Safety News

Two years ago, imported foods entering the U.S. for the first time exceeded 10 million import lines, and AFDO says that number is expected to continue to grow at a rapid rate. The group also says that while fewer than 1 percent are physically examined, all are electronically reviewed using a “risk-based targeted approach.”

“Once these FDA-regulated products enter the United States and are marketed domestically, they become the primary responsibility of state and local agencies to ensure the product’s safety,” notes the AFDO guidance document.

“Surveillance of imported foods by federal, state, and local food-protection agencies has resulted in many regulatory actions including food sampling and testing, food seizure and embargo, destruction of violative products, Class I, II, and III food recalls, and FDA import Alerts,” the guidance adds.

via New AFDO Document Reveals ‘Issues and Concerns With Imported Foods’ | Food Safety News.

Project Sweetie Pie: Teens get fresh (food) in North Minneapolis | Twin Cities Daily Planet

“We started with five gardens in 2011.” said Chaney. “This year we have 20. We’re trying to replicate the whole food system and get young people involved.” The gardens, he said, offer kids an opportunity to learn skills that may lead to future jobs and to give them something to do that might keep them out of trouble. He also hopes that it can help pull North Minneapolis out of poverty.

“We can’t get a big company to come to North Minneapolis,” he said. “But what we can do is get empty lots and turn them into food production. This is getting the community involved in the free market system. There are 1,800 empty lots in North Minneapolis, some because of the tornado.”

via Project Sweetie Pie: Teens get fresh (food) in North Minneapolis | Twin Cities Daily Planet.

Fukushima Radioactive Leak Is An ‘Emergency,’ Nuclear Body Says | InsideClimate News

Highly radioactive water seeping into the ocean from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is creating an “emergency” that the operator is struggling to contain, an official from the country’s nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

This contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier, is rising toward the surface and is exceeding legal limits of radioactive discharge, Shinji Kinjo, head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) task force, told Reuters.

Countermeasures planned by Tokyo Electric Power Co are only a temporary solution, he said.

Tepco’s “sense of crisis is weak,” Kinjo said. “This is why you can’t just leave it up to Tepco alone” to grapple with the ongoing disaster.

via Fukushima Radioactive Leak Is An ‘Emergency,’ Nuclear Body Says | InsideClimate News.

Breaking News: Iceland Whalers Want to Hunt Humpbacks

While covering Iceland’s commercial whaling industry over the last two months I have found myself thinking, “alright, this is completely unacceptable and terrible, but I guess it could be worse.”  I regret to inform you that it just got worse.  The nightmare that once was humpback whaling could potentially reemerge, according to a report today from Visir, a national newspaper in Iceland.

In the article (link below), Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, director of the minke whalers association, seems confident that humpbacks will be hunted again, and expresses his company’s desire to engage in such “fishing”.  But what’s scarier than a powerful whaler expressing his opinion about killing a species that humans once pushed to the brink of extinction?

via Breaking News: Iceland Whalers Want to Hunt Humpbacks.

Cyclospora Outbreak Linked to Taylor Farms Salad, Some Served at Olive Garden and Red Lobster | Food Safety News

  1. News of who held up because Red Lobster and Olive Garden would have screamed loud if evidence not solid.
  2. Think twice now – why can’t they buy local and make their own salads? What’s going on with the rest of the “food” being prepared at these and similar outlets. 

The outbreak of Cyclospora in Iowa and Nebraska that has caused hundreds of confirmed illnesses has been linked to Mexican-grown Taylor Farms salad mix, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Some of the contaminated salad mix was served at Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants, according to the Des Moines Register. Other restaurants may also have used the salad mix.

It is not yet clear if concurrent Cyclospora outbreaks in other states are also connected to the Taylor Farms salad mix or the restaurant chains. At least 418 people across 16 states have been found ill with Cyclospora infection between early June and early July.

No grocery store products have yet been connected to the outbreak, as it is considered exclusively restaurant salad at this point.

via Cyclospora Outbreak Linked to Taylor Farms Salad, Some Served at Olive Garden and Red Lobster | Food Safety News.

Motorola Moto X: Voice commands, wood casings – Dallas Business Journal

Don’t do evil to Google does not include cutting down forests to cover its new phone and use illegally obtained rosewood from Madagascar too?

Moto X will be available with a variety of cover options, including those made of wood — bamboo, teak, eboy and rosewood.

via Motorola Moto X: Voice commands, wood casings – Dallas Business Journal.

Treated sewage gets all-clear for drinking water from State Government | Perth Now

(Either a scene from a new version of films Soylent  Green, or Dune? Or this is the future and yuck – THIS IS THE FUTURE?)

Seven billion litres of treated sewage will be added to Perth’s drinking water supply every year, Water Minister Terry Redman said today.

The Sunday Times first reported the Water Corporation claimed the trial was a success – and the State Government would approve the scheme – in March.

Mr Redman said the $116 million project was an Australian-first and would “drought proof” Perth’s water supply.

“This is only the first stage of three stages to go from seven gigalitres up to 28 gigalitres,” he said.

“I’m very confident we can move towards potentially supplying 20 per cent of Perth’s drinking water supplies through this process.

via Treated sewage gets all-clear for drinking water from State Government | Perth Now.

MERS-CoV: KSA Announces 3 More Cases

First, we are seeing more health care workers affected (which, if proper precautions are being taken, shouldn’t happen this often).

Second as better tests and procedures are developed, more `mild’ and/or asymptomatic cases are being detected.

 

`Milder’ cases demonstrate that MERS-CoV – like many other viruses  – is capable of producing a wide spectrum of illness in humans.

 

While this lowers the perceived mortality rate of the illness – this also increases concerns that MERS-CoV may be capable of spreading in the community undetected by current surveillance and monitoring efforts.

via MERS-CoV: KSA Announces 3 More Cases.

US: California extends citrus pest program

The California Department of Food and Agriculture extended a program aimed at slowing the onslaught of an insect and bacteria that are devastating US citrus plants.

The State will extend by four years the California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program, established in 2009 largely to guard against the advance of the Asian citrus psyllid.

The tiny bug is believed to carry a bacterial disease called huanglongbing, or greening disease, that is already responsible for causing $1.3 billion in damages to citrus crops in Florida. Experts know of no cure.

So far, California’s $2-billion citrus industry has yet to be hit. Growers hope to stop the pests in their tracks by coordinating with the State, reporting any outbreaks and agreeing to quarantines. To help efforts, citrus producers are expected to contribute $15 million this year to the prevention program.

The Asian citrus psyllid has been found in nine California counties, but huanglongbing has been detected only once. That was on a residential property in Hacienda Heights.

“We do not have the disease now, but we believe it’s just a matter of time,” said Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

via US: California extends citrus pest program.