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United Fresh 2020 To Feature Inaugural Controlled-Environment Pavilion
To support this growing category of indoor agriculture, the United Fresh Produce Association has joined forces with the Controlled Environment Agriculture Food Safety Coalition (CEA Food Safety Coalition) on a Controlled Environment Pavilion.
By Bridget Goldschmidt - 12/26/2019
Indoor agriculture methods such as hydroponic greenhouses have seen rapid growth over the past few years
To support this growing category of indoor agriculture, the United Fresh Produce Association has joined forces with the Controlled Environment Agriculture Food Safety Coalition (CEA Food Safety Coalition) on a Controlled Environment Pavilion. The new pavilion on the United 2020 expo floor will bring together growers, companies offering tools and technologies for indoor production, and thought leaders helping to grow the farming method.
“We’re pleased to collaborate with United Fresh in hosting this new pavilion,” said Marni Karlin, executive director of the coalition, a member-governed group whose mission is to develop credible, strong, and appropriate food safety standards; educate consumers and regulators on controlled-environment growing; and communicate the value of this type of agriculture. “Our members are pioneering new production models in fresh produce, and we look forward to the opportunity to engage with participants at the United Fresh event – to share perspectives and create an opportunity for conversation across the entire supply chain.”
Among the members of the CEA Food Safety Coalition are BrightFarms, AeroFarms, Plenty, Little Leaf Farms, Revol Greens and Bowery.
The pavilion will feature a discussion area where thought leaders can discuss current issues and growth opportunities for indoor agriculture, hydroponics, vertical farms and rapidly expanding greenhouse production. Retail and foodservice buyers can visit the pavilion to find out more about the category and meet with potential suppliers.
“From first-generation indoor farms growing tomatoes and cukes, to today’s innovators growing berries, leafy greens, microgreens, herbs and more, the Controlled Environment Pavilion is the place to meet with potential customers and service providers, and learn from experts in every phase of the business,” said Tom Stenzel, president and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based United Fresh, which represents companies across every segment of the fresh produce supply chain, including growers, shippers, fresh-cut processors, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, foodservice operators, industry suppliers and allied associations.
Growers and service providers may exhibit their products in stand-alone booths alongside the Controlled Environment Pavilion, or choose from 10-foot-by-10-foot in-line booths or kiosks within the pavilion.
United Fresh 2020 will take place June 16-19 in San Diego.
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Greenhouse Might Be Key Ingredient In Safer Salads
Consumers should only eat romaine if it is from a harvest region other than Salinas, Calif., or if it was grown indoors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said
Greenhouse Might Be Key Ingredient In Safer Salads
By Kristen Leigh Painter Star Tribune
DECEMBER 9, 2019
Jay Johnson, Revol Greens president and partner, with greens at the company's Medford, Minn., indoor growing facility. DAVID JOLES – STAR TRIBUNE
Another outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce has sickened more than 100 people nationwide and left others wondering if raw salad is safe.
As food-safety investigators clear the vegetable aisle of contaminated lettuce, authorities provided more guidance on how to shop for a safer product.
Consumers should only eat romaine if it is from a harvest region other than Salinas, Calif., or if it was grown indoors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said. If it's not labeled with a harvest region or growing method, don't eat it.
By singling out indoor-grown lettuce as a potentially safer alternative to field-grown lettuce, food-safety regulators are boosting demand for product grown by Medford-based Revol Greens and its greenhouse-growing peers around the country.
"That [government advice] is definitely helping us out this time," said Brendon Krieg, a partner and sales manager at Revol Greens. "We are seeing an uptick in demand from retailers and restaurants because it has such a major impact on their business when they suddenly can't serve salads."
E. coli contamination in produce nearly always comes from irrigation water used on fields, said Kirk Smith, director of the Minnesota Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence, one of six centers around the U.S. designated by the CDC to strengthen the safety of the nation's food system.
Revol Greens is a new competitor to the California greens market and is growing five varieties of lettuce in greenhouses only an hour's drive south of Minneapolis at a fraction of the transportation costs. Here, a worker inside the sprawling greenhouse at Revol Greens Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, in Medford, MN.
DAVID JOLES, STAR TRIBUNE
A lettuce field could be contaminated by dust, pests or wild animals carrying E. coli from elsewhere, but it is usually through the irrigation water source "in some way, shape or form," he said.
A major risk with outdoor-grown lettuce is sharing a water source with a nearby animal farm. It's especially risky near cattle, which are widely considered the largest reservoir of E. coli, Smith said.
Some food-safety experts theorize that during California's dry season — which lasts into the fall — the water table drops and the surface water from a cattle operation gets sucked down into the groundwater that is then used to irrigate lettuce crops.
That's why the CDC and FDA are telling consumers to consider buying leafy greens from greenhouse-grown facilities that use alternative water sources.
Revol Greens captures rainwater and snow melt from its greenhouse roof that it then stores in a covered, on-site holding pond. The company tests its water daily and runs it through a chemical-free UV sterilization process to make sure there's no festering bacteria before spraying its indoor lettuce. "Most, if not all, indoor growers of a certain size will have some sort of sterilization for their water," Krieg said.
Symptoms of E. coli usually surface within a few days to a week after ingesting the bacteria and include stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting.
Cases in the current outbreak span 23 states, with 31 in Wisconsin — the most of any state. Three cases have been reported in Minnesota. For now, it appears the rate of illness is slowing, with symptoms of the last reported cases beginning Nov. 18. Still, the CDC and FDA recommend consumers avoid purchasing Salinas-grown lettuce for the remainder of this growing season.
A year ago, an E. coli outbreak sickened 88 people in the U.S. and Canada and led regulators to issue a blanket don't-eat-romaine-lettuce warning. Retailers and restaurants pulled all romaine lettuce from shelves and menus before investigators zeroed in on north and central California as the likely source of contamination. But, by then, all romaine growers suffered the consequences.
In response, Revol and five other greenhouse lettuce growers formed a coalition to increase consumer and regulator education, and to encourage the controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) community to adopt stricter standards than already established.
"The coalition was established to develop credible, strong, and appropriate food safety standards, educate consumers and regulators on controlled environment growing, and communicate the value of controlled environment agriculture," said Marni Karlin, executive director of the group, called the CEA Food Safety Coalition.
This year, authorities took a more tailored approach to their warnings, identifying Salinas as the likely growing region in the first public health notice last month. Karlin said the companies she represents were pleased that the CDC and FDA's most recent update called out the relative safety of indoor-grown lettuce.
While most E. coli bacteria are harmless, these investigations track the dangerous types, such as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, that can be life threatening. Such pathogenic outbreaks have been identified since the mid-1990s with at least one leafy-green outbreak occurring every year since Smith said.
But what's disconcerting, he said, is how little progress has been made in preventing these outbreaks since the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the FDA gave the industry more serious directives in addressing the problem in the early to mid-2000s.
"This has been a known problem for a long time now, but there are a couple of remarkable things that have happened recently," Smith said. First, spring 2018 was marked by the largest leafy green outbreak of E. coli ever, specifically in romaine, with 219 reported illnesses. The other noteworthy trend, Smith said, is that "we now have recurring outbreaks of the same strain and region."
The reason it keeps happening, he said, is that investigators are rarely able to trace the contamination all the way back to the exact farm.
Lettuce farmers often send their produce to a central processing facility where it is washed and packed. "You could get a bag of lettuce that includes stuff from many different sources," Smith said.
Indoor agriculture is generally much smaller in scale and therefore more easily protected from weather, pests and animals, he said.
Kristen Leigh Painter covers the food industry for the Star Tribune. She previously covered growth and development for the paper. Prior to that, Painter was a business reporter at the Denver Post, covering airlines and aerospace. She frequently writes about sustainable food production, consumer food trends and airlines.
All Lettuce Belongs In The Garbage At This Point
The newest Centers for Disease Control recall is for Fresh Express Sunflower Crisp Chopped Salad Kits. The kits are being blamed for eight cases of E. coli food poisoning from three different states. No deaths have been reported, but three of the people who got sick had to be hospitalized
December 10, 2019
Photo: Getty Images
Two bagged salad recalls might make you want to skip your servings of vegetables this week. Or maybe forever.
The newest Centers for Disease Control recall is for Fresh Express Sunflower Crisp Chopped Salad Kits. The kits are being blamed for eight cases of E. coli food poisoning from three different states. No deaths have been reported, but three of the people who got sick had to be hospitalized.
The CDC says to look for “UPC 0 71279 30906 4, beginning with lot code Z, and a best-before date up to and including 07DEC19” on the upper right corner of the bag to see if the bag in your fridge is one of the salads being recalled.
That warning comes shortly after the CDC advised people not to eat any romaine lettuce grown in or near Salinas, California. “This includes all use-by dates and brands of romaine lettuce from this region,” the CDC noted. If there’s no location listed on the lettuce, the agency said to dump it to be on the safe side.
More than 100 people in 23 states have been diagnosed with the same strain of E. coli as those impacted by the Fresh Express kits, although it’s not certain whether there is a link between the two.
We’ve been down on bagged lettuce for a while here at Lifehacker, but can we just agree that all lettuce is doomed?
It’s Time to Stop Eating Bagged Salads [Updated]
It pains me to say this, because I’m lazy. But after the umpteenth outbreak of food poisoning from…
The CDC site for E. coli outbreaks lists two for romaine lettuce in 2018, an outbreak linked to leafy greens in 2017, and even archives outbreaks back to 2006. Humble lettuce, the bed on which we place more appetizing fresh morsels, just can’t be trusted.
Bagged salads are particularly to blame because their contents, which often come from a variety of farms, get distributed widely, not just in one geographic region. That increases the odds that lettuce that gets contaminated somewhere along the way will end up on our plates. The lettuce does get washed several times in a chlorinated bath, all that bathing still doesn’t kill E. coli.
If you’re still craving lettuce for some reason, keep in mind that buying it from a small local farm may not help you avoid foodborne illness. If you buy a head of lettuce, the FDA recommends removing and discarding the outer leaves, then rinsing the rest before use. Spraying with a vinegar wash will help kill bacteria, but in this era of lettuce catastrophes, there are no guarantees. Sorry!
Walmart Pork Contained Bacteria Resistant To Multiple Antibiotics, Report Says
The report found 80% of pork samples tested from Mid-Atlantic Walmart stores were resistant to at least one antibiotic, while 37% of the bacteria in the Walmart samples were resistant to three or more classes
AUTHOR: Cathy Siegner
November 26, 2019
Dive Brief:
Pork samples purchased from Walmart contained dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as "superbugs," according to a new report published by the animal-welfare group World Animal Protection. The report found 80% of pork samples tested from Mid-Atlantic Walmart stores were resistant to at least one antibiotic, while 37% of the bacteria in the Walmart samples were resistant to three or more classes. Overall, roughly 27% of the resistant bacteria found on Walmart’s pork were resistant to classes categorized as Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials by the World Health Organization.
A total of 160 pork samples were tested by researchers at Texas Tech University. Of those, 80 were from Walmart and 80 were from an unnamed competing national retail chain in the Mid-Atlantic region. The samples were tested in 32 batches for E. coli, salmonella, enterococcus and listeria. The group said enterococcus was found in 13 batches, E. coli in 10 batches, salmonella in six and listeria in three batches.
"The presence of multidrug-resistant bacteria on pork products illustrates the role the pork supply chain plays in the global health crisis caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria," Alesia Soltanpanah, executive director of World Animal Protection U.S., said in a release. She said the fact that pork from one of the nation's largest retailers contains bacteria resistant to antibiotics critically important to human health is "particularly alarming and should raise concerns."
Dive Insight:
While the report from the World Animal Protection — an organization whose goal is to protect animals and end cruelty toward them — mainly singled out Walmart, researchers also tested pork samples from another national retail chain and found antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, the group said no batches from the second retailer contained two strains of multidrug-resistant bacteria in a single batch, and none of the bacteria from that retailer’s samples were resistant to antibiotics considered critically important to human health.
These kinds of antibiotics, known as Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials, are those to which there are few or no alternatives to treat people with serious infections. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has said antimicrobial resistance poses a serious threat to the safety and quality of feed and food, especially in food-producing animals.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic resistance "is one of the biggest public health challenges of our time." The CDC said at least 2.8 million people get an antibiotic-resistant infection annually in the U.S., and more than 35,000 of them die.
Soltanpanah told Newsweek that World Animal Protection had been in contact with Walmart about the pork test results, but she said the world's largest retailer was "not responsive" to concerns about its suppliers. As of Nov. 25, Walmart had not posted a statement or release about the report on its website. However, the retailer has a tracking and audit program for fresh pork and requires suppliers to meet a list of specific animal welfare requirements.
Although the report did not name the second retailer, chances are it's Costco, Kroger or Target. That's because World Animal Protection noted in the report this unnamed retailer "has committed to strengthen its animal welfare policies for its pork suppliers, including working towards a commitment to complete elimination of gestation crates for breeding sows."
According to the release, while Walmart hasn't yet made a specific commitment to phase out these crates — small stalls with not enough room for a pregnant sow to turn around — Target and Costco have agreed to partner by 2022 only with suppliers who don't use them. Kroger said it would do so by 2025.
Walmart is well aware of potential food safety problems with pork and the need for supply chain transparency. In 2016, the company partnered with IBM and Tsinghua University in Beijing to digitally track the movement of pork in China using blockchain, or a list of records linked together into essentially a digital ledger.
Food companies are being challenged by consumers demanding more transparency and checking manufacturing processes to make sure the products they buy reflect their values. Younger consumers responding to surveys note how they're willing to pay premium prices for organic, natural and cruelty-free foods. Both Perdue and Tyson have attracted negative publicity involving animal welfare in recent years and had to change their practices as a result.
Antibiotic-free has become more prevalent as a label claim. Giant Food, a unit of Ahold Delhaize, debuted a private-label pork brand in 2017 with no antibiotics or hormones and 100% vegetarian-fed. And major poultry producers such as Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride and Perdue have committed to reducing or removing antibiotics from their chicken.
There has been overall progress as well. As the antibiotics issue attracts more publicity, the use of medically important ones in animal agriculture has fallen, according to a report out earlier this year from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA found domestic sales and distribution of such antimicrobials in food-producing animals dropped 33% between 2016 and 2017. The agency said the reduction showed efforts to support antimicrobial stewardship are having a significant impact.
Is High-Risk Romaine Simply The New Normal?
We’re in the midst of the fifth E. coli outbreak from leafy greens in just two years. It’s also the second outbreak announcement in the last month
We’re in the midst of the fifth E. coli outbreak from leafy greens in just two years. It’s also the second outbreak announcement in the last month.
November 25th, 2019
by Jesse Hirsch
Update 11/26/2019, 5:22 p.m.: CDC updated the number of victims from 40 to 69 since this story published yesterday. The number of states involved has increased from 16 to 19, and hospitalizations increased from 28 to 39. We will continue to update this story.
You’re forgiven if you mixed up Friday’s announcement of an E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce with the other E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce announced earlier this month. Or, perhaps you’ve confused it with the E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce around Thanksgiving 2018, or that other one near Thanksgiving 2017.
“Our leafy green supply chain is simply not good,” says Angela Anandappa, supply chain expert and executive director of product safety watchdog Alliance for Advanced Sanitation. “What’s particularly bad is it’s starting to seem like we’re licked.”
The latest outbreak, unfortunately, timed to coincide with one of this country’s biggest food holidays, is a new strain of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli 0157:H7 that appears to be particularly virulent. Of the 40 victims across 16 states identified thus far, 28 have been hospitalized. Five of these victims have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a very dangerous type of kidney failure. Laura Whitlock, communications lead for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Outbreak Response and Prevention team, says the agency will likely announce more victims before Thanksgiving.
Related: What if we could detect E. coli in an hour?
“This is very much an ongoing investigation,” she says. “New data is coming in hourly, and we’re out there trying to tell restaurants and retailers what they should tell their customers.”
This particular E. coli outbreak seems to have roots in Salinas, California, one of the two main growing regions in the United States, also known as the country’s “salad bowl.” Past outbreaks have stemmed from Yuma, Arizona, where most of our lettuce is grown in the winter.
As with past outbreaks, CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates about 75 percent of our food supply, are trying to walk a line between overbroad recommendations (i.e,. “Avoid all romaine lettuce”) and hyper-specific information that could confuse the public. The agencies’ current advice—avoid any romaine lettuce with a label showing it’s grown in Salinas, or doesn’t say where it was grown, unless it’s hydroponic lettuce, which is probably okay—skews closer to the latter. Additionally, FDA advises: “Consumers ordering salad containing romaine at a restaurant or at a salad bar should ask the staff whether the romaine came from Salinas.” (FDA declined to provide comment for this story.)
“It’s an unfair burden to place on consumers!” says Bill Marler, a Seattle-based attorney who works on behalf of food poisoning victims and founded the industry publication Food Safety News in 2009. “I’m of the mind we should follow that lovely advice, ‘When in doubt, throw it out.’”
E. coli is a large group of bacteria that makes its home in human and animal digestive tracts. So whenever an outbreak turns up in vegetables, that’s not where it began. Often, there is an element of contaminated water, either used to irrigate or wash vegetables. In the first prominent case of E. coli poisoning in leafy greens—a 2006 outbreak in spinach that resulted in 199 victims and three deaths—the culprit was likely feces from wild pigs or contaminated irrigation water from a local livestock farm.
“It’s starting to approach the level where you need warning labels on romaine, calling it a high-risk food.”
Romaine surpassed iceberg years ago as America’s most popular lettuce; Marler believes its ubiquity is largely why it keeps popping up in E. coli outbreaks. “There’s more of it to contaminate,” he says. This, combined with its large surface area to absorb bacteria, nooks, and crannies that defy washing, and the fact that—unlike E. coli-tainted meat—lettuce is rarely cooked, makes romaine a particularly challenging conduit for foodborne pathogens.
Investigators say it is too soon to know what the specific root of this outbreak is, and have yet to pinpoint a common supplier or region in Salinas (one voluntary bagged salad recall was issued, though Whitlock says that particular product was not consumed by many of the victims). If the recent past is any indicator, water contaminated by livestock could be the likely culprit here.
After last fall’s E. coli outbreak, the industry groups United Fresh Produce Association and the Produce Marketing Association created a task force to identify root causes of the ongoing contamination. Improved water quality management and testing was the very first recommendation from their final report, as well as a suggestion that the proximity between lettuce farms and concentrated animal feeding operations—commonly called CAFOs—is strongly indicated as a risk factor.
The task force also pushed for improved origin labeling on lettuce packaging, so consumers and retailers can more readily identify if a particular item falls under an official product warning. Of course, this method only works if the consumer goes shopping armed with the knowledge that this outbreak started in Salinas, unlike the last one.
Related: Could Yuma, Arizona’s trained falcons prevent the next E. coli outbreak?
“It’s starting to approach the level where you need warning labels on romaine, calling it a high-risk food,” says Marler. “We aren’t there yet, but almost.” Though FDA will be publishing a list of “high-risk foods,” and has made recommendations against, say, alfalfa sprouts for vulnerable populations, there are not currently produce warning labels like the ones you’d find on a pack of cigarettes.
Whitlock says it’s possible CDC could recommend stronger advice in the coming days, such as avoiding all romaine lettuce, regardless of origin. “That is certainly not off the table,” she says.
People usually get sick anywhere between 2 and 8 days (average of 3 to 4 days) after exposure to Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. If you have a high fever, bloody diarrhea, or severe vomiting, or if diarrhea lasts longer than 3 days, CDC recommends seeing a doctor immediately.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
Before joining The New Food Economy as managing editor, Jesse Hirsch was an investigative food editor at Consumer Reports, where he tackled stories on food safety, health, and nutrition. Jesse was a founding editor at Modern Farmer magazine, and he was restaurant critic at The San Francisco Examiner and The East Bay Express in Oakland, California. His stories have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bon Appetit, The Guardian and more.
He can be reached via email at jesse.hirsch@newfoodeconomy.org or on Twitter at @jesse_hirsch.
FARM, HEALTH, HOME FEATURE, PLATE E.COLI FDA LABELING OUTBREAK ROMAINE LETTUCE
US: Wisconsin - UW Researchers Find Microplastics In BWCAW
We’ve already known that microplastics are floating throughout Lake Superior, that they are in our drinking water, that they are in fish we catch and that they are even in our beer
Tiny Bits of Plastic Have Turned Up In Worms,
Soil, And Water In The Supposedly Pristine Wilderness.
Written By: John Myers | October 25, 2019
UW-Eau Claire students Reed Kostelny (left) and Thomas Adams are part of a research team that found microplastics in earthworms, water and soil in the BWCAW. (Photo courtesy UW-Eau Claire)
We’ve already known that microplastics are floating throughout Lake Superior, that they are in our drinking water, that they are in fish we catch and that they are even in our beer.
So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire have found tiny pieces of plastic in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the most pristine area of the Northland.
Researchers found microplastics in earthworms, in the water and in the soil that they collected this summer from sites within the BWCAW, said Todd Wellnitz, professor of biology and the faculty leader on the research project.
“We found 80 pieces of microplastics in one earthworm that we examined,” Wellnitz said in a statement. “That blew me away.”
Plastics that are less than five millimeters in length, about the size of a sesame seed, are known as microplastics. They can come from a variety of sources, including synthetic clothing, soaps, toothpaste, plastic packaging and containers such as water bottles.
While microplastic beads have been banned from many consumer products, hundreds, even thousands, of plastic fibers can be shed from one fleece garment every time it’s washed. And larger pieces of plastic — including water bottles, plastic bags and packaging of all sorts — eventually break down into microplastics when left out in the environment. Once they reach the micro size, they seem to persist indefinitely.
While significant research has been done on the presence of microplastics in oceans, rivers and the Great Lakes, less has been done on plastics in smaller, freshwater lakes.
"We're finding microplastics in the Boundary Waters, and that’s a big deal,” Wellnitz said. “No place is pristine now; microplastics are everywhere. It’s all over the planet, and we’re just realizing it.”
The UW-Eau Claire research team, including, from left, Megan Vaillancourt, Todd Wellnitz and Monica Dickson, is continuing to study samples of soil and water taken from the BWCAW during two trips there this summer. Photo courtesy UW - Eau Claire.
After finding microplastics in the earthworms on a June excursion, the researchers returned to the BWCAW in August, this time collecting soil, water, earthworms and crayfish samples.
The samples were collected from areas primarily near campsites, said Reed Kostelny, a junior environmental biology major from Appleton, Wis. They found the most microplastics in samples taken from the lake closest to the Boundary Waters entry site.
“We know that earthworms do consume microplastics,” Kostelny said of their findings. “Now that we have our early data, we want to know more about the worms and how the microplastics could move up the food chain.”
Since birds, fish, and other wildlife consume earthworms, microplastics have likely already entered the food chain in the Minnesota wilderness area, Wellnitz said.
Earthworms are not native to the Boundary Waters area but are brought in by visitors who come to fish the many freshwater lakes found within the area, said Megan Vaillancourt, a senior microbiology major from Stillwater, Minn.
“Fishermen bring the worms in, and the worms are ingesting the plastics we bring in with us,” Vaillancourt said. “That’s a double negative for the area.”
Most visitors do embrace the “leave no trace” mantra in the BWCAW. But microplastics shed easily, so they may be coming from clothing, blankets, tarps and other supplies that visitors routinely bring into the Boundary Waters, Vaillancourt said. Since microplastics are so small that they can’t easily be seen, people have no idea they are leaving them behind.
Microplastics also can move from place to place via rain or wind, so they likely are entering the Boundary Waters in multiple ways, the researchers said.
Microplastics first made News Tribune headlines in 2013 after scientists, including Lorena Rios-Mendoza, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Superior's Lake Superior Research Institute, dragged super-fine mesh across the Great Lakes and caught millions of plastic pieces.
In a study published in 2018 in the journal Plos One, Mary Kosuth, a master's graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, found that eight of nine tap water samples taken from all five Great Lakes had plastics in them. And Kosuth, a Duluth native, found that all 12 brands of beers she tested brewed with Great Lakes water had plastics inside. It's a global phenomenon, she noted, with a 2014 study reporting plastic found in 24 brands of German beer.
Kosuth also looked beyond the Great Lakes and looked at tap water from 159 municipal sources from 14 countries, with 81% carrying plastic particles.
Kosuth noted that global plastic production has skyrocketed from 30 million tons in 1970 to 322 million tons in 2015, and each year more of that stuff ends up in the environment. She echoed what Northland researchers and conservation activists have said for years: If you want to get plastic out of the lakes and oceans, you need to get it out of your hands and your home.
The News Tribune in 2016 reported a study by Rochester Institute of Technology researchers that estimated nearly 22 million pounds of plastics enter the Great Lakes every year.
Those products get blown (or thrown) into the lakes and eventually disintegrate into plastic bits, some of them smaller than grains of sand. But the plastic bits never go away, and they have spread across the Great Lakes ecosystem.
Scientists say the human health ramifications of ingesting plastic in the water, beer, fish and other items remain unknown. Not only may the plastic itself be bad but the bits can also carry other contaminants.
BREAKING NEWS: Listeria Risk Leads To Vegetable Recall In U.S. and Canada
Mann Packing Co. Inc. announced the voluntary recall of a series of vegetable products sold to select retailers in the United States and Canada
November 04, 2019
Mann Packing Co. Inc. announced the voluntary recall of a series of vegetable products sold to select retailers in the United States and Canada. The voluntary recall is a response to a notification by the Food & Drug Administration and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency of potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. To date, public health officials have not reported any illness associated with these products.
The recalled products have “Best If Enjoyed By” date of Oct. 11 to Nov. 16. The full list of products and all corresponding product images are available here and here.
Mann Packing is issuing this recall out of an abundance of caution. Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Mann Packing will continue to work closely with the authorities to investigate the issue.
2019 Aquaponics Food Safety Statement Sign-On
We believe that the aquaponics community must make a positive statement asserting our food safety credentials to ensure that policy and large-scale decisions that affect our future are based on concrete science, not unfounded concerns
Dear Aquaponics Growers,
At the Putting Out Fruits conference last month, we all agreed that it was important for our community to make a positive statement asserting the food safety status of aquaponics. Part of the motivation was that a major food safety certifier, Canada GAP, recently announced it will revoke certification for aquaponic farms in 2020, citing unfounded concerns.
The withdrawal of aquaponics eligibility from this certifier has already set back commercial operations in Canada.
We believe that the aquaponics community must make a positive statement asserting our food safety credentials to ensure that policy and large-scale decisions that affect our future are based on concrete science, not unfounded concerns.
We are collecting signatures on the 2019 Aquaponics Food Safety Statement from farms, research institutions, schools, and other organizations that stand behind it and would like your voice to be heard.
If you would like your farm or organization to sign on, click the link below. The deadline to sign the statement is November 15, 2019. Once we collect all the signatures we will publish and broadcast the statement, and ask you to do the same.
Click here to read the statement and, if you choose, sign on:
2019 Aquaponics Food Safety Statement
Best regards,
Brian Filipowich, Chairman
Aquaponics Association
info@aquaponicsassociation.org
University of Minnesota Report Reveals Growing Threat of Cyberattacks To Food Safety
A new report by University of Minnesota researchers indicates cyberattacks pose a rising threat to food production and safety
September 10, 2019
A new report by University of Minnesota researchers indicates cyberattacks pose a rising threat to food production and safety.
“Adulterating More Than Food: The Cyber Risk to Food Processing and Manufacturing,” released today by the University’s Food Protection and Defense Institute (FPDI), illustrates the mounting cybersecurity risk facing the food industry and provides industry-specific guidance to keep operations safe and secure. The potential consequences of an attack on the industrial control systems used in the food industry include contaminated food that threatens public health, physical harm to workers, destroyed equipment, environmental damage, and massive financial losses for companies.
While cybersecurity is rarely recognized as a food safety issue, the systems companies use for processing and manufacturing food contain many vulnerabilities that experts believe will soon present a more appealing target for cyberattacks than industries that are more commonly affected by, and therefore better prepared for, such attacks.
“The food industry has not been a target of costly cyberattacks like financial, energy, and health care companies have,” said Stephen Streng, lead author on the report. “However, as companies in those sectors learn to harden their defenses, the attackers will begin looking for easier victims. This report can help food companies learn about what could be coming their way and how to begin protecting themselves.”
Researchers and manufacturers identified more than 200 industrial control system vulnerabilities in 2011, the report notes, with the number increasing each year through 2016, the end of the study period. The vulnerabilities are present in a wide variety of components from different vendors, making them difficult for companies to avoid. Many systems were designed before cybersecurity was a concern and use outdated operating systems and hard-coded passwords that allow attackers easier access to the system.
In addition to vulnerabilities in the systems themselves, many other factors contribute to the heightened risk of cyberattacks. Companies often lack knowledge about how their industrial control systems and IT systems interact and lack awareness about cyber risks and threats. Further, there is poor coordination and information-sharing among food system stakeholders. Meanwhile, the tools required to carry out a cyberattack are becoming more powerful and requiring less skill to use.
“The food industry has some characteristics that make it uniquely vulnerable to cyberattacks on its processing and manufacturing systems,” Streng said. “Luckily, there's still time for companies to protect themselves.”
Moving forward, the report recommends that the food industry foster stronger communications between operations technology and information technology (IT) staff, conduct risk assessments that include inventories of both industrial control and IT systems, involve staff with cybersecurity expertise in procuring and deploying new industrial control systems, and extend the existing culture of food safety and defense to include cybersecurity.
“Cyberattacks could have financially devastating consequences for the food industry, particularly among smaller companies, and in the worst case can threaten the public’s health,” said Amy Kircher, DrPH, director of FPDI. “We hope this report will raise awareness among food industry executives of this potentially severe risk and will inspire them to start addressing it with the same care and urgency they apply to other aspects of food safety.”
FPDI, a Homeland Security Center of Excellence, protects the global food supply through research, education, and the delivery of innovative solutions, addressing vulnerabilities that could lead to catastrophic damage to public health or the economy. The institute collaborates with industry, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and academic stakeholders to help assure product integrity, supply chain resiliency, and brand protection throughout the food system.
To read the full report, visit z.umn.edu/FPDIcybersecurity. Learn more about the Food Protection and Defense Institute at foodprotection.umn.edu.
Can Indoor Vertical Farming Deliver Exceptional Returns For The Planet, Consumers, And Investors?
Food security, food quality, and resources scarcity are the main challenges the global agri-food system is facing. Indoor vertical farming promises to partially address these challenges by producing locally and efficiently fresh, chemical-free, and nutritious food
© kalafoto
Get Agroecology Capital’s full report on indoor vertical farming.
This report covers investment trends since 2010 and Agroecology Capital’s key investment drivers.
Food security, food quality, and resources scarcity are the main challenges the global agri-food system is facing. Indoor vertical farming promises to partially address these challenges by producing locally and efficiently fresh, chemical-free, and nutritious food. New farming systems increase yields, use less land and water, and allow a close quality and safety monitoring.
These promises and the ability of indoor vertical farming to industrialize high-value crop production have created a perfect window of opportunity to disrupt a multi-billion market (just for the U.S. leafy greens market), leading investors to respond favorably by investing large amounts in this industry.
Venture capital investment in indoor vertical farming is getting a strong traction
To assess the magnitude of these investments, Agroecology Capital’s report listed publicly available deals in indoor vertical farming between 2010 and 2019, globally. This report narrowed the scope of the analysis to companies that have developed comprehensive growing solutions with a substantial innovation component. Thus, companies with stable technologies (i.e., conventional greenhouses) or that only produce components (i.e., LED lighting) have been excluded from the scope.
The selected deals comprehend 31 different startups that, collectively, have received $873m between 2010 and 2019 (see the list of startups on the report).
Source: Agroecology Capital Research, 2019. Figures from Pitchbook, Crunchbase, CB Insights, and market data
Indoor vertical farming has represented a significant and increasing share of total AgTech venture capital investments. Large rounds such as AeroFarms (2013 and 2017) and Plenty ($200 million in 2017) led this vertical’s share to boost in 2013 and 2017 (10% in 2013 and 15% in 2017). Unsurprisingly, the U.S. has concentrated 89% of total investments between 2010 and 2019.
Source: Agroecology Capital Research, 2019. Figures from Pitchbook, Crunchbase, CB Insights, and market data
Despite a strong value proposition, several key aspects are still unclear from an investment perspective
Production costs for indoor vertical farming suffers when compared to conventional agriculture. Main production inputs, which are freely available in nature (i.e., light, air, water, CO2), have to be supplied at cost in indoor vertical farming. According to some startups, costs for an indoor-grown salad can reach twice those for an outdoor-grown one, putting energy efficiency[1] as a critical factor to optimize.
The high capital intensity required for scaling a vertical farming business is also a challenge for an industry that can neither compete on cost nor benefit from a network effect to establish pricing power. Moreover, the potential economies of scale are still unclear, if not insignificant. Although, energy prices might be subject to negotiation with energy suppliers, this case has not been witnessed yet given the small scale of current players.
Further, indoor vertical farms are currently able to grow only a limited number of crops. Leafy greens and herbs are easy to grow indoors, but other crops might be harder to grow at scale. The lack of readily available applied scientific research and data might also add risk on this vertical.
No player so far has proven that there is a sizable addressable market ready to pay more for a superior product or a product grown differently. The ability of the industry players to price discriminate might be a critical factor not only in reaching profitability but also in supporting an attractive business model.
Finally, there is no clear winner to date, and the range of current business models such as licensing technology and/or operating farms (the two main ones) might be a sign that the industry is still searching for an appropriate business model.
Venture Capital investment in indoor vertical farming: vertical integration vs. specialization
© Michael Sapryhin
Indoor vertical farming’s value chain might ultimately parallel that of traditional farming. Most of the value creation might be captured either by oligopolistic players at critical steps of the value chain (seeds bioengineering platforms, mass-market brand builders, and production technology providers) or by players with compelling business models.
Developing specific seeds for indoor vertical farming (i.e., optimized for Controlled Environment Agriculture and miniaturized crops) might lead to an improvement in yield and better-quality crops. Increasing crops variety, at an economically viable price, might also expand the addressable market. Startups focusing on seeds breeding and bioengineering for seeds adapted to indoor vertical farming might create attractive venture capital investment opportunities.
Demonstrating the outstanding quality of indoor-grown products will help to create strong brands and decommoditize these products, which might constitute a category of their own. Price positioning indoor-grown products as premium goods will ultimately allow growing companies and retailers to capture a significant share of the value.
Full suite of proprietary technologies (hardware and software) could increase product quality, operations efficiency, and reduce production costs. Data will undoubtedly play a central role in increasing yields and stabilizing/optimizing production. However, growing a crop, unlike improving the performance of chips, do not obey Moore Law. Improvement of production technologies will in fine lead to marginal gains, and value might shift to hardware, software, and ultimately data.
Innovative business models might help solve the capital intensity challenge by outsourcing the capital expenditure required to build facilities. Franchise model, for instance, might allow players to focus their resources on their proprietary technologies (including seeds bioengineering) while having franchisees invest in building facilities.
“In a Gold Rush, Sell Shovels”
Indoor Vertical Farming delivers outstanding returns for consumers (food security, safety, and quality) and probably for the Planet (less water and chemicals use vs. increase in energy consumption?).
However, the industry still needs to demonstrate a clear path to profitability and scalability. In its search of this path, proprietary technology providers (seeds bioengineering and production technology) might play a prominent role while mass-market brand builders might establish a new premium food product category.
From an investment perspective, strong macro drivers are pulling investment toward this industry, which is currently vertically integrated. Investors might want to funnel their investments into more focused and specialized technology players mastering critical parts of the value chain. These players might offer the most promising investment returns by successfully applying the adage “In a Gold Rush, Sell Shovels.”
[1] Weight of product grown with a kWh of energy input.
USDA - NIFA Conference Sept. 9 - 12, 2019
Developing sustainable and strategic plans to feed the future in the face of growing global challenges will demand interdisciplinary vision, collaboration and innovation
USDA - NIFA Conference At Biosphere 2
September 9 - 12, 2019
Developing sustainable and strategic plans to feed the future in the face of growing global challenges will demand interdisciplinary vision, collaboration and innovation. Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) implemented as fully enclosed, multi-level indoor agricultural food production systems, Vertical Farms (VF), will complement future greenhouse (GH) plant production systems and will offer innovative technological solutions for issues at the food-energy-water nexus.
The purpose of the conference is to Plan an Interdisciplinary Controlled Environment Indoor Agriculture R&D Roadmap and Coordinated Research Plan. It is supported by USDA/NIFA-AFRI program and is hosted by the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ and Biosphere 2, Oracle, AZ
This conference (September 9 – 12) will facilitate interdisciplinary discussions centered on several major thematic R&D areas for CEA/VF/GH, each of which will interface with the others to identify cross-disciplinary areas of synergy, opportunity and need. Thematic areas include:
Economics: focus questions and discussions will include: what are good metrics of success in these systems from both industry and community perspectives? Can we develop a pipeline to quantify environmental and social benefits of these systems in a Benefit-Cost Analysis framework? How scalable are these systems? What are environmental impacts, life cycle analyses?
Engineering: focus questions and discussions will include: how to increase lighting efficacy, light use efficiency, and reduce cost? How to control and modulate CO2? How to design and enhance air circulation and to optimize HVAC? How to minimize labor input and integrate innovative automation and robotic systems? How to improve water use efficiency and cycling?
Production Systems: focus questions and discussions will include: how to manage crops to integrate with improve environmental controls, nutrient delivery and automation. How to improve plant architecture to enhance crop productivity and reduce waste? How to improve logistics and enhance labor efficiency?
Plant Breeding: focus questions and discussions will include: what makes a crop a good candidate for indoor farming/what are priority candidate crops for these systems beyond what is currently grown? What traits should be privileged in breeding programs for indoor farming? How can gene editing and genomic techniques be leveraged to integrate novel financial opportunities into these growing systems, such as increased nutritional content, enhanced water, nutrients and light use efficiencies, or pharmaceutical production? How CEA production systems can alter the structure of microbial communities associated with plants, growing media, and determine how the alterations affect plant nutrient and water uptake and utilization?
Pest and Disease Management: focus questions and discussions will include: what are the major viral, fungal, and insect pathogens in these systems and how are they best addressed? Integrate Pest Management for reduced chemical control? How to develop and implement a rapid and simple digital imaging system for pest and disease diagnosis? How to improve the efficiency of pest and disease management while not harming beneficial insects and pollinators?
Food Nutrition and Safety: focus questions and discussions will include: how alterations to growing media and environment will impact food quality, flavor, nutrition content and food safety? How do indoor growing conditions alter the microbial communities of plants? How do they impact product quality and shelf life?
Industrial Ecology in Closed Systems: focus questions will include: how can we better design more energy and resource efficient systems? Can we build holistic energy models? Can we create industrial ecosystems where one industry’s effluent is another’s intake? How would we model/quantify the ecosystem services provided by a functioning ‘closed loop industrial ecosystem’?
Conference participants are additionally welcome to join writing teams and collaborate on a proposal for a coordinated agricultural project (CAP) grant on VF that builds off of conference discussions. Writing teams may also choose to develop proposals for relevant funding programs at USDA-NIFA SAS, SCRI, NSF/USDA/DOE INFEWS, and NSF
Deadlines
Pre-registration ends June 30th
invitation to attend conference July 15th
Final registration, room reservations and payment due August 1st;
Conference events begin Monday September 9th
For more information about the conference please read the Project Summary.
For more information about conference activities please read the Conference Program Schedule and Format.
Conference Program Schedule & Format.pdf
For more information about Biosphere 2 please read the following document.
Want to make the most of your time in Tucson? Go to Visit Tucson to discover things to do during your visit!
Test For Organic Produce Detects Food Fraud
“Our method does not reveal whether pesticides have been used, but whether organic plants have been fertilized correctly. As such, the method complements existing analytical controls and, overall, provides a much more detailed picture of the growing history,” explains Laursen
TEST FOR ORGANIC PRODUCE DETECTS FOOD FRAUD
AUGUST 28TH, 2019
BY MICHAEL SKOV JENSEN-COPENHAGEN
A new method can determine whether an “organic” piece of produce is legit or fraudulently labeled.
By looking at fertilizer for organic plants, the method provides a deeper, more accurate portrayal of whether eco-labelled produce is indeed organic. According to experts, imported organic fruits and vegetables are susceptible to food fraud.
Increased consumer demand and higher profits for producers have made organic foods susceptible to food fraud.
“While a major eco-labelling scandal has yet to occur in Denmark, we often forget that our diet is sourced globally, and that our foods are often imported from countries where problems have been documented. For example, in southern Europe, where a large quantity of organic fruits and vegetables are sourced,” according to Kristian Holst Laursen, assistant professor in the plant and environmental sciences department at the University of Copenhagen. He has been developing food fraud detection methods for the past decade.
“Our method can be used to distinguish organic vegetables from conventionally farmed produce by looking at how plants have been fertilized,” says Laursen. The scope of fraudulently labeled tomatoes, potatoes, and apples and other produce is unknown as there has never been an examination of their fertilizers.
ISOTOPES, NOT PESTICIDES
The new method focuses on the isotope signature in a plant by isolating sulfate, a chemical compound that can reveal how a particular plant was grown. Humans, animals, and plants all have isotope signatures that provide information about the environment in which we live and how we live—diets included.
The current way of finding out whether an item is organic or not focuses on identifying pesticide residue. According to Laursen, this method is far from secure. For example, the use of pesticides on a neighboring field or traces from former conventional production on a now organic field can taint crops. Moreover, the analysis of pesticide residues is unable to reveal whether all of the rules for organic production have been complied with, such as the absence of inorganic fertilizers.
“Our method does not reveal whether pesticides have been used, but whether organic plants have been fertilized correctly. As such, the method complements existing analytical controls and, overall, provides a much more detailed picture of the growing history,” explains Laursen.
FOOD FRAUD
When a consumer purchases an organic vegetable, they’re often paying a premium for the method of cultivation, such as in soil without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. Organized criminals are trying to exploit these conditions and profit in a global food fraud industry worth billions.
“Nobody really knows the extent of this type of fraud, but we have seen bad examples from abroad that extend well beyond organic products. Rice made of plastic, wine with toxins, artificial honey, etc. There is not always a health risk associated with food fraud, but it is clear that when you pay a higher price, you expect the product that you are paying for. And, of course, honest producers must be protected,” says Laursen.
Laursen’s research group is working with the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration and the method is ready for further testing, approval, and use by public agencies and commercial interests. The paper appears in Food Chemistry.
Source: University of Copenhagen
Original Study DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.03.125
Lead photo: (Credit: Getty Images)
TAGS AGRICULTURE CRIMES FOOD
Purdue Field Day Provides Info On Small-Farm Crops
According to attendees and organizers alike, this year’s Purdue Small Farm Education Field Day, which consisted of lectures and on-farm demonstrations, provided excellent guidance for small-scale growers
August 19, 2019
Petrus Langenhoven is explaining to attendees how to grow sweet peppers in a high tunnel and reflects on results from a high tunnel bell pepper variety trial that was conducted in 2018 at the Purdue Student Farm. (Courtesy photo)Download image
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – According to attendees and organizers alike, this year’s Purdue Small Farm Education Field Day, which consisted of lectures and on-farm demonstrations, provided excellent guidance for small-scale growers.
Hosted by Purdue’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, the field day featured lectures on planting and sustainability, soil care, high tunnels, cover crops, small-scale equipment, food safety and more. The day started in a classroom and ended with participants watching and listening to demonstrations put on by Purdue staff at the Student Farm.
“The event was a resounding success,” said Petrus Langenhoven, Purdue’s horticulture and hydroponics crop specialist in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. “Attendees love the fact that they can learn some theory in the classroom in the morning and then go for a hands-on session at the farm. It’s like you can feel the energy and passion of growers when they attend our field day.”
Langenhoven said the event attracted three times as many participants than the first, which was held last summer.
“We were surprised that interest has grown so much in one year, but it clearly shows that horticulture farmers in Indiana are in need of information to increase the profitability of their farming businesses,” he said. “Attendees were very engaged and showed lots of interest during the on-farm tours. Some of them have told me it was the best field day they have attended and that they will be back next year.”
Chris Adair, the Purdue Student Farm manager, demonstrates to attendees the different applications of a power harrow and rototiller when used in conjunction with a walk-behind tractor. (Courtesy photo) Download image
Lori Jolly-Brown, Extension events and communications coordinator, said, “We had more new attendees this year who complimented us on the program. Return attendees said they appreciate keeping up on new educational information to put to good use on their farms.”
Participants of the program were a diverse group — from beginners and experienced growers, to hobbyists and small business practitioners. Rocio Rodea, a teacher from Gary, came looking for advice she could apply to a community garden she helped establish and eventually will use as a tool for her students. She was particularly interested in the morning food safety session. Langenhoven said attendees in general were very attentive and asked a lot of good questions in the morning sessions.
“I was super interested in the food safety portion because Gary has started to put on several farmers markets throughout the week, so every urban farm or garden will have its turn to host,” Rodea said.
Sierra Yeary, a participant hoping to grow some vegetables for a brewery restaurant she is opening next year, learned about cool and warm season vegetables for the first time.
“I didn’t even realize that we should be planting cover crops,” she said. “We only do tomatoes now, and they were saying in the session that we should be planting cool season veggies too, to keep the soil going. I had no idea.”
Along with a networking lunch, the afternoon consisted of six informational stations where attendees learned about high tunnel tomato and bell pepper production, the practical applications of leaf mold composting, field production of onions and tomatoes, the use of solar dryers for postharvest processing and vegetable wash station design.
“The student farm was a hive of activity with over a hundred people enjoying the perfect weather and exchanging all manner of tricks of the trade,” said Steve Hallett, a professor of horticulture who presented one of the afternoon stations.
Johnny Washington, a grower with a small vegetable market in Gary, said he learned new techniques to implement on his operation during the afternoon stations.
“I don’t have a hoop house, so sometimes when it rains hard the dirt splashes up onto the leaves, and I learned that can cause diseases,” he said. “A light bulb sort of went on in my head — so I’ll be looking more closely into putting plastic around the base of the plants.”
Shelly Janowski and her husband attended the field day to learn new techniques and planning for their already-established small fruit and vegetable farm.
“We’re looking at some of their techniques of planting, weed suppression and harvesting,” she said. “This has been very valuable. If you can learn something to make things easier, to have it take less time or increase your production, that could be a game-changer.”
Demonstrations on how to use a rototiller, power harrow and tractor-mounted seeder were also part of the afternoon stations.
“We can’t afford to spend $40,000 on a piece of equipment,” said Janowski’s husband, Mark. “But if there’s something small or used we can get, or something to use in a way other than what was intended, that’s very helpful.”
Langenhoven, who initiated the Small Farm Education Program, has plans to expand its reach to other Indiana cities, especially those with large numbers of urban and peri-urban farms such as Gary, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. He and his collaborators would like to find more funding and the right partners to move that plan forward. For now, the next Field Day is scheduled July 30, 2020, at the Purdue Student Farm, and will showcase additional technologies and information useful to horticulture growers.
Sources: Lori Jolly-Brown, ljollybr@purdue.edu
Petrus Langenhoven, plangenh@purdue.edu
Steven Hallett, halletts@purdue.edu
Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415;
Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu
Podcast / Video: The Microgreens Show - Episode 6
This podcast is a basic introduction to microgreens
The Microgreens Show - Episode 6
August 24, 2019
The Grow Team was asked to be on Rock 107 WIRX Podcast #19 last week. This podcast is a basic introduction to microgreens.
Nick Greens
VIDEO: Head To Our Website To Check Out Kate's Chat With Food Safety Certifier Juli Ogden
In this video, Aquaponics Association Senior Adviser Kate Wildrick and Food Safety Trainer Juli Ogden discuss food safety on the farm, and Juli’s upcoming pre-conference seminar “GLOBAL G.A.P. Made Simple”
In this video, Aquaponics Association Senior Adviser Kate Wildrick and Food Safety Trainer Juli Ogden discuss food safety on the farm, and Juli’s upcoming pre-conference seminar “GLOBAL G.A.P. Made Simple”.
GLOBAL G.A.P. is a food safety certification that applies to all farming and works great for aquaponics. Farms that sell produce to retailers need food safety certification.
Please Click Here to: Watch Food Safety Chat
It’s great to hear Juli’s inspirational message about aquaponic farmers overcoming their food safety hurdles without the headaches! Check out the video, above. And if you plan on coming to the Putting Out Fruits Conference, consider the food safety certification seminar:
Grow Your Farm: Global G.A.P. Pre Conference Event Kate and Juli discuss food safety on the farm and Juli's upcoming pre-conference seminar “GLOBAL G.A.P. Made Simple”. GLOBAL G.A.P. is a food safety certification that applies to all farming and works great for aquaponics. Farms that sell produce to retailers need food safety certification.
It’s great to hear Juli’s inspirational message about aquaponic farmers overcoming their food safety hurdles without the headaches!
Seeya soon!
Brian Filipowich, Chairman
EPA Moves To Block California’s Roundup Cancer Warning
This announcement follows a move by California regulators in 2017 to add glyphosate to a state-maintained list of cancer-causing chemicals
The Agency Will Not Approve Labels That Indicate
A Link Between Glyphosate And Cancer.
August 12th, 2019
by H. Claire Brown
The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that it will not approve product labels linking the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, with cancer.
This announcement follows a move by California regulators in 2017 to add glyphosate to a state-maintained list of cancer-causing chemicals. Under the state’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly known as Proposition 65, businesses have to provide warnings when their products contain chemicals that appear on this list. The glyphosate cancer warnings were scheduled to start appearing in summer of 2018, but a judge delayed the rule while Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) challenged the decision in court. Now, the federal government has stepped in to ensure the warnings will not appear.
“This is just a small piece of a big fight about whether or not Roundup is carcinogenic.”
“The State of California’s much criticized Proposition 65 has led to misleading labeling requirements for products, like glyphosate, because it misinforms the public about the risks they are facing,” EPA announced in a statement.
This isn’t the first time California has adopted stricter carcinogen disclosure rules than the federal government. Memorably, in 2018, the state moved to require cancer warnings on coffee. With glyphosate, the difference of opinion between the state and federal government can be traced back to the assessments regulators relied on in making their determinations. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment made its decision based on a 2015 finding from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization. That agency’s most recent evaluation concluded that glyphosate is “probably” carcinogenic to humans.
By contrast, the United States Environmental Protection Agency found in its most recent assessment that glyphosate does not pose a public health risk when used as directed. The agency, predictably, cited its own review when it announced it will not approve California’s cancer warnings.
So why the difference of opinion? Both assessments have seen their fair share of controversy. The chair of the IARC was accused of ignoring data that found no link between Roundup and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The EPA, on the other hand, did not initially reach internal agreement over glyphosate’s potential to cause cancer, the New York Times reported last year. The agency’s Office of Research and Development, using epidemiological research, determined that “either glyphosate was likely to cause cancer or that there was at least some evidence suggesting a problem,” according to the Times investigation. By contrast, the agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs determined that glyphosate is not a carcinogen, and that was the view that ultimately won the day.
Ironically, glyphosate’s future may lie in the hands of juries, not scientific assessments.
Environmental advocates have expressed dismay over EPA’s decision last week. “This EPA in particular has gone out of its way to satisfy pesticide industry demands,” says Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity. At the same time, Hartl isn’t convinced this new decision will have lasting impact when it comes to the public’s ever-evolving perception of glyphosate. “This is just a small piece of a big fight about whether or not Roundup is carcinogenic.”
Ironically, glyphosate’s future may lie in the hands of juries, not scientific assessments. Three times, California juries have ruled in favor of plaintiffs suing Monsanto after developing cancer, decisions that initially totaled billions of dollars. (They have since been reduced to millions.) Under pressure from parent groups, Costco agreed not to sell Roundup this year. And a judge recently postponed a jury trial that was scheduled to take place in St. Louis, on Monsanto’s home turf, prompting speculation that a settlement may be on the horizon.
Simply put, it may become too expensive for Bayer to keep Roundup on the shelves for much longer. And if that’s the case, neither the EPA nor the IARC assessments will matter.
We reached out to EPA and California’s Office of the Attorney General for comment. We will update this story if and when we receive response.
Jesse Hirsch contributed reporting to this story.
Conversations About Food: Food Tank Live in NYC Speakers Series
A year-round event series by Food Tank featuring incredible speakers followed by a delicious reception/networking held in partnership with NYU Steinhardt, the NYC Food Policy Center at Hunter, and Salon.com
Tue, Jul 16 (7:00 PM) Tue, Aug 13 (7:00 PM)
A year-round event series by Food Tank featuring incredible speakers followed by a delicious reception/networking held in partnership with NYU Steinhardt, the NYC Food Policy Center at Hunter, and Salon.com.
May 14: "Equity in the Food System." Speakers: Joel Berg, CEO, Hunger Free America; Manny Howard, Salon.com; Qiana Mickie, Executive Director, Just Food; Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank; Krishnendu Ray,NYU Steinhardt; Raymond Figueroa, Jr, President, New York City Community Garden Coalition; Chloe Sorvino, Forbes; Noreen Springstead, Executive Director, WhyHunger; and Ellen J. Wulfhorst,Reuters.
June 11: "Good Tech in Good Food." Speakers: Roee Adler, SVP, Global Head of We Work Labs, WeWork; Emma Cosgrove, Supply Chain Dive; Alexander Gillett, CEO, HowGood; Jennifer Goggin, Co-Founder, Startle Innovation; Manny Howard, Salon.com; Bertha Jimenez, CEO, RISE Products; Jenna Liut, Heritage Radio Network; and Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank.
July 16: "Eating for a Healthier and Sustainable Planet." Speakers: Lisa Held, The Farm Report; Manny Howard, Salon.com; Martin Lemos,Interim Executive Director, National Young Farmers Coalition; Chris McGrath, Chief Sustainability and Well-Being Officer, Mondelez;Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank; Alex Sammon, The New Republic; Shino Tanikawa, Executive Director, NYC Soil & Water Conservation District; Beth Weitzman, Professor of Health and Public Policy, New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; Walter Willett, EAT Lancet primary author, Harvard University; and more to be announced.
August 13: "Healthy Food at Every Age." Speakers: Meserete Davis, Culinary Education Training Developer, NYC DOE School Foods; Dan Giusti, Founder, Brigaid; Manny Howard, Salon.com; Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank; and more to be announced
In partnership with Great Performances Catering, a leading caterer committed to balancing inequalities in our communities, the events will be followed by networking opportunities as well as some delicious food.
Each of the talks will also be aired as part of a Facebook Live series in partnership with Facebook Community Leadership Program and released on our charting iTunes podcast, “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg.”
Hurry each event has limited availability!
To join the waitlist for a full event,
please apply at www.foodtank.com/waitlist.
Tags United States Events New York EventsThings To Do In New York, NY New York Appearances New York Charity & Causes Appearances
CanadaGAP To Phase Out Aquaponics Certification
CanadaGAP will begin phasing out certification for aquaponics operations in 2020, citing "potential chemical hazards (antibiotics, for example) associated with aquaponic production" and possible uptake of contaminants through leafy greens
Photo: josefkubes Adobe Stock
July 25, 2019
According to a press release, CanadaGAP will begin phasing out certification for aquaponics operations in 2020, citing "potential chemical hazards (antibiotics, for example) associated with aquaponic production" and possible uptake of contaminants through leafy greens.
The government organization will stop GAP certifying businesses on April 1, 2020 and begin revoking certifications from businesses in 2020.
The organization says it uses a generic HACCP model establish food safety requirements. According to CanadaGAP, using that model means more research is needed before aquaponics can be GAP certified again.
GAP stands for "good agricultural practices," and means that growers are sticking to certain practices designed to ensure food safety for consumers. The definition of GAP varies from country to country.
The Aquaponics Association, an advocacy group based in Washington D.C., said in a statement that CanadaGAP's decision was "based on faulty and/or incomplete information," and says it is working with experts to provide the research to combat what it deems as false statements.
In the United States, the USDA established pilot program for GAP certification in aquaponics that runs through Dec. 31, 2019. At this time, it is unclear if the program will continue into 2020.
Tags: GAP Aquaponics Tomato Leafy greens Lettuce Food safety
Which Fish Has The Highest And Lowest Mercury Levels?
Fish is one of the best sources of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and other nutrients including iron, potassium and B vitamins. Unfortunately, much of our world's seafood supply is contaminated with high levels of toxic mercury. (You can thank industrial runoff for that!)
MAYA FELLER, MS, RD, CDN
UPDATED ON JULY 5, 2019
Fish is one of the best sources of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and other nutrients including iron, potassium and B vitamins. Unfortunately, much of our world's seafood supply is contaminated with high levels of toxic mercury. (You can thank industrial runoff for that!)
What Is Mercury?
So, we know that mercury isn't exactly good for you. But before we get into why, let's begin by answering the question, what is mercury?
Methylmercury — the most poisonous among the mercury compounds — is formed when inorganic mercury is dissolved in both freshwater and seawater. The cascade begins when this toxic compound becomes embedded into the food chain after being consumed by phytoplankton, a single-celled alga, which is then consumed by smaller animals.
This is particularly problematic because the smaller fish shed nonorganic mercury as waste, while methyl mercury is retained. As we move up the food chain, smaller fish are consumed by larger fish and those fish are consumed by even bigger fish — all retaining methyl mercury until it makes its way to humans in a process called biomagnification.
Why Is Mercury Bad For Us?
The concern around mercury toxicity is not solely limited to just developing nations — the effects are far-reaching and relevant for all people around the globe. A November 2012 study in the Journal of Preventive Medicine & Public Health has shown that high levels of mercury can damage the central nervous system and pose deleterious effects on the brain — specifically, decreased attention and memory as well as symptoms such as trembling and impaired vision.
And, a July 2012 study in the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology linked high mercury exposure to an increased risk of heart disease. Researchers think this is due to mercury's ability to increase the production of free radicals while reducing antioxidants in the body, which results in oxidative stress.
How Can You Avoid Eating Too Much Mercury?
In general, a good rule of thumb when it comes to mercury content is to consider the size of the fish. Smaller fish such as salmon, scallops, sardines and shrimp contain less mercury than their larger predators such as bigeye tuna and swordfish.
The standard serving size of fish is about four ounces — or the size of the palm of your hand, according to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Use the following guide to help you choose fish with the lowest mercury levels and find out how often you should eat other popular types of seafood.
Seafood With the Lowest Mercury Content
Eat 2 to 3 times a week:
Anchovies
Atlantic croaker
Atlantic and Pacific chub mackerels
Black sea bass
Butterfish
Catfish
Clams
Cod
Crab
Crawfish
Flounder
Freshwater trout
Haddock
Hake
Herring
American spiny lobster
Mullet
Oyster
Perch
Pickerel
Plaice
Pollock
Salmon
Sardines
Scallops
Shad
Shrimp
Skate
Smelt
Sole
Squid (calamari)
Tilapia
Tuna (canned light, skipjack)
Whitefish
Whiting
Fish With Moderate Levels of Mercury
Eat 1 serving a week:
Bluefish
Buffalofish
Carp
Chilean sea bass
Grouper
Halibut
Mahi mahi
Monkfish
Rockfish
Sablefish
Sheepshead
Snapper
Spanish mackerel
Striped bass
Tilefish
Tuna (albacore/white tuna, canned or fresh/frozen)
Yellowfin tuna
Weakfish/seatrout
White croaker/Pacific croaker
Fish With the Highest Mercury Levels
Fish to avoid:
Bigeye tuna
King mackerel
Marlin
Orange roughy
Shark
Swordfish
Tilefish (Gulf of Mexico)
When making choices about seafood, it is important to be an informed consumer who understands the differences between the varieties as well as sourcing of their fish. Seafood, in moderation, can and should be a part of a balanced eating plan thanks to the anti-inflammatory omega-3s and lean protein in fish. In fact, the American Heart Association recommends eating at least two 3.5-ounce servings of fish a week — so choose wisely!
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BREAKING NEWS: Consumer Reports Finds Potentially Deadly Bacteria In Pre-Washed Greens
A new report out Friday reveals some leafy greens recently sold at supermarkets were contaminated with a potentially deadly bacteria. Consumer Reports says it tested nearly 284 samples of fresh greens like lettuce, spinach and kale and found six of those samples tainted with listeria
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JULY 26, 2019 / 9:43 AM / CBS NEWS
A new report out Friday reveals some leafy greens recently sold at supermarkets were contaminated with a potentially deadly bacteria. Consumer Reports says it tested nearly 284 samples of fresh greens like lettuce, spinach and kale and found six of those samples tainted with listeria.
Consumer Reports says the six contaminated samples included both pre-washed and unbagged greens sold at retailers in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York in June, including Acme, Costco, Hannaford, and Whole Foods. All of the retailers stress that food safety is a top priority, and public health officials have not reported any illnesses or concerns following their own inspections.
Consumer Reports notes their study is not large enough to draw any conclusions about a specific brand or retailer, but rather is a "snapshot" intended to highlight that more needs to be done to ensure safety.
In a statement to CBS News, a trade association that represents retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers that sell products to grocery stores said, "the incidents outlined in consumer reports … remind us that the entire supply chain has a responsibility for safe food handling."
One way to reduce the risk of listeria infection from greens like spinach and kale is to cook them.
Some common symptoms of listeria infection
Headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions as well as fever and muscle aches
Pregnant women may present symptoms differently. Typically they only experience fever and other flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and muscle aches. The CDC warns, however, that infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.
First published on July 26, 2019 / 9:43 AM