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Heat Hitting Growing Areas In U.S., Chile Still Bundling Up
Above-average temperatures continue in Michigan. Highs over the next seven days will be well above normal: into the upper 80s with a possible 90 degree temperature coming next Monday
BY DAVID ROBIDOUX | JUNE 28, 2019
Above-average temperatures continue in Michigan. Highs over the next seven days will be well above normal: into the upper 80s with a possible 90 degree temperature coming next Monday. Minimum temps are also above normal at 68 over the next seven days. Temperatures will finally drop back down to normal of 80 for a high and 60 for a low by Saturday, July 6.
WARMING TREND COMING TO THE DESERT SOUTHWEST – GRAPES AND MELONS
The desert regions of California and Arizona are in for a hot few days. The high and low temps will begin to rise starting today with a high of 107 and reaching a peak high of 113 on Monday. Low temps will also rise reaching 78 on Saturday night. These warm temps will continue all next week. These regions are still shipping grapes and melons.
INDIANA WILL SEE WARM TEMPS THIS WEEKEND – MELONS TO BE AFFECTED
The growing regions in Indiana will see warm temps this weekend with highs getting up into the low 90s and lows reaching in the 70s. These above-average temps will last through Wednesday of next week. Melons should be starting out of this part of the country early next week.
CHILE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET – CITRUS AND AVOCADOS
Although the worst of the cold weather has passed in Chile earlier this week, they can expect one last shot of cold and rain this Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, many growing regions of Chile will see up to 0.35 inches of rain. High temps for Saturday and Sunday will only reach into the low 50s while the minimum temps will be at or below freezing. Some regions will drop as low as 29 on Sunday.
FIRST NAMED HURRICANE OF THE SEAON IN THE PACIFIC
Alvin is the first hurricane of the season in the Pacific off the west coast of Mexico. Alvin will not affect land as it is approximately 500 miles off the coast of Mexico and is heading northwest off into the Pacific. There is a second disturbance forming in the Pacific due west of Costa Rica and due south of Chiapas, Mexico. This storm is heading west-northwest, well away from the coast of Mexico.
There are currently no storms forming in the Atlantic.
The Weathermelon app offers consolidated lists of global growing regions for each commodity; a 10-day detail forecast for each region; current radar maps (U.S. only); estimated harvest start/end dates for each commodity; monthly average high/low temps for each region; and custom daily alerts for temperature, precipitation and severe weather based on 10-day forecasts.
(David Robidoux is a co-founder Weathermelon)
Breaking News: Europe Braces For Peak of A Record Heatwave
Europeans braced Thursday for the expected peak of a sweltering heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring above 40oCelsius (104 Fahrenheit), with schools in France closing and wildfires in Spain spinning out of control
Europeans braced Thursday for the expected peak of a sweltering heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring above 40oCelsius (104 Fahrenheit), with schools in France closing and wildfires in Spain spinning out of control.
Governments warned citizens to take extra precautions, with the high temperatures also causing a build-up of pollution, and emergency calls to hospitals increased. Exceptional for arriving so early in summer, the heatwave will on Thursday and Friday likely send thermometers above 40oC in France, Spain and Greece.
A forest fire in Torre del Espanol in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region raged out of control, devouring land despite the efforts of hundreds of firefighters who worked through the night.
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said people had to be prepared for the peak of the heatwave and expressed irritation that some appeared not to be taking the advice on board.
Possible all-time high
The average maximum temperature recorded Wednesday in France of 34.9oC was already a record for the month of June, said state weather forecaster Meteo France. Even higher temperatures are expected on Friday, where areas in the south could see peaks of 42 to 44oC.
Meteo France said France's all-time record could be broken; an August 12, 2003 reading of 44.1oC in Saint-Christol-les-Ales and Conqueyrac in the southern Gard region.
Source: phys.org
Publication date: 6/28/2019
CDC Warns Against Pre-Cut Melon and Tahini Used in Hummus
The melon-linked outbreak was traced back to watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and mixed fruit from Caito Foods, a manufacturer that distributes nationwide
The Centers for Disease Control had some gloomy warnings to kick off Memorial Day Weekend. Pre-cut melon and a popular type of tahini –used in summer salads and hummus– are responsible for Salmonella outbreaks all over the country. Health officials urge Americans to be cautious as they prepare their sunny spreads for the customary long-weekend garden parties.
The melon-linked outbreak was traced back to watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and mixed fruit from Caito Foods, a manufacturer that distributes nationwide. The offending fruit, sold in clear packages, was sold in 16 states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
In the last couple of months, 137 people fell ill. Officials say there have been no cases in recent weeks, suggesting the outbreak is over.
According to FDA reports obtained by Food Safety News in an FOIA request, the issue at Caito Foods dated back to 2016. Inspectors found evidence of employees in the Indianapolis plant shoving waste deep into a trash can before returning to cutting fruit without washing their hands. They also found listeria on butternut squash, but, reportedly, declined to recall the squash because it was intended to be cooked.
Tahini is a blended, runny sesame sauce, that can be drizzled over snacks, salads or hot dishes, and is a key ingredient in hummus. A couple of decades ago, infected tahini wouldn’t have made any impact on the US market. But, in recent years, Middle Eastern food has become a stable in US supermarkets, restaurants and kitchens, and hummus is a staple of almost every casual social event.
According to brinkwire.com, the recall is tied to Brodt Zenatti Holding LLC in Jupiter, Florida, which manufactures US tahini for two top brands, SoCo and Karawan. SoCo (Seeds of Collaboration) is an Israeli-Palestinian venture, and Karawan hails from Ethiopia. Both have gained sizeable markets in the US, where they are sold as various types of tahini and used for hummus.
In a warning issued on Friday, the CDC urged restaurants and supermarket shoppers not to ‘eat, sell, or serve’ tahini labeled as ‘Karawan Tahini’, ‘El-Karawan Tahini’, or ‘SoCo Tahini’, nor any products made from it.
Publication date: 5/27/2019
Can Giant Greenhouses Help Feed Consumers? AppHarvest Wants to Find Out
AUTHOR Christopher Doering@cdoering
May 28, 2019
Jonathan Webb grew up in Kentucky, where coal production once dominated the landscape. But while the region and its economy have fallen on hard times as mines have shuttered and workers laid off, the 34-year old is optimistic that it can rebound through a business typically not associated with the hilly area: agriculture.
Webb's company AppHarvest is expected to start shipping its first crop — tomatoes — to 25 major U.S. grocers in the second half of 2020. It will eschew the outdoor fields typically associated with agricultural production, instead embracing controlled environmental agriculture by working indoors with sprawling glass-enclosed greenhouses using rainwater to grow food that will be non-GMO and chemical-free.
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Its first greenhouse, which will be 60 acres, costs $82 million to build. AppHarvest recently secured funding for the 2.76 million square-foot facility from Equilibrium Capital. It separately raised an undisclosed amount from ValueAct Spring Fund and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, led by AOL co-founder Steve Case and author J.D. Vance, to run its operations.
The company's location in Appalachia is no accident. AppHarvest is less than a day's drive to more than two-thirds of the U.S. population — including cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Boston — lowering transportation costs by 75% and enabling it to compete against foreign imports. The inspiration for the project came after Webb noticed how high-tech greenhouses in the Netherlands produce much as 10 outdoor acres on just one acre.
As the population around the world increases and many consumers demand healthier foods produced in a more sustainable and transparent way, Webb said companies such as AppHarvest will be ideally positioned to benefit. Webb spoke with Food Dive about AppHarvest's future and how it is planning to tap into these trends while helping the local community and posting a profit at the same time. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
FOOD DIVE: Why did you pick Appalachia to start this business?
WEBB: Building a produce hub from the ground up that we can all be proud of is going to be a lot easier than trying to untangle a mess that frankly some folks in the food business are currently operating. And if you walk into a grocery store and a majority of what's in the grocery store is not real food, you know, that's a problem. And, I mean, if healthcare is bankrupting our country, how do you get to the root of the problem? Well, in many cases, that's food, and it's unacceptable that healthy, fresh food is not accessible and available to everybody.
Jonathan Webb
Credit: AppHarvest
There's a lot of different complexity to our business and our approach and how we're doing this. But in essence, we're building in a region of the country that got walloped on the decline of coal, and we think these are some of the hardest working men and women of the country.
This region has been kind of lambasted by national media. ...We would like to think that our region is well positioned to be a solution in agriculture.
So [we are] going from that transition of an energy economy in this region to hopefully ... a major producer for fresh fruits and vegetables for the U.S. It's an area of the country that powered the country, and we'd like to think it's going to be an area of the country that will be able to feed large segments of the U.S. Being a part of a solution is an important thing for this region and we think growing indoors, growing in a controlled environment, has extreme benefits from a lot of different levels.
What are the benefits of growing fruits and vegetables this way?
WEBB: It uses 80% to 90% less water than open-field agriculture. We're able to use integrated pest management to where we don't need to use the harsh chemical pesticides. And then a big one is the trucking. I mean, it doesn't matter if you're on the left or the right side of the aisle, it's unacceptable that food gets trucked five days in this country to make it to a plate. That's not good for anybody. It's not good for the environment. It's not good for the quality of the food itself. We're blessed by our geographic position, where we can get to roughly 70% of the U.S. population in one day's drive.
Has your unconventional approach made it difficult to convince people to invest?
WEBB: The first investors were Steve Case and J.D. Vance, and since then we've taken on significant follow-on investment over the course of the year. ... Attracting investment is very hard ... but if you look at the macro trends in how we're set up differently than many of the other players in this business, as people peel back the onion, it (conversation) has become increasingly, "Wow, this is a really good strategy and a very good geographic location, both from labor and from how we can get access to markets with transportation."
And then there's the macro trends of 600% more people said they were vegan over the last five years and ... more plant-based foods sold in the U.S. year over year. It's a good time to be in the fresh fruit and vegetable business, and it's a really good time to get into controlled agriculture. I mean, look at the scares with lettuce. ... Look at Wendy's, how they announced all tomatoes need to be purchased from greenhouse production. There's many layers to the business that just are attaching onto these macro trends. ... We think we're in a good segment and we're pretty optimistic on what the next five to 10 years look like in this industry.
"[We are] going from that transition of an energy economy in this region to hopefully ... a major producer for fresh fruits and vegetables for the U.S. It's an area of the country that powered the country, and we'd like to think it's going to be an area of the country that will be able to feed large segments of the U.S."
Jonathan Webb
Founder and CEO, AppHarvest
How did you come up with this idea?
WEBB: I was in D.C. and kept having and hearing conversations about the Netherlands. ... As we peeled back and looked at the Netherlands, it was pretty shocking. I mean, to see a country that is one-third the size of Kentucky in landmass — I can fit the entire country of the Netherlands in eastern Kentucky — and they have the second most agricultural exports in the world is just completely shocking. ... It's a very robust, proven industry in Holland. ... Our planet is at a real peril point on many different places and we need to take the best ideas and deploy those ideas around the world as quickly as possible.
... By 2050, we might need 50% to 70% more food to feed our growing population. You know, people are saying we might need two planet Earths ... to have enough land and water to grow enough food. ... We have one planet Earth, so we have to figure out how to grow significantly more food with significantly less land and significantly less water. And we can do that with all the proven technology that's in the Netherlands.
If you look at the rapid build out in the solar and wind energy industries, I mean, solar was nearly the No. 1 job creator in the U.S. because of the construction jobs. And so, if we're able to replicate that ... and build at scale with controlled environment agriculture, there's no reason why $10 billion to $15 billion of development does not go in the U.S. over the next five to 10 years. There's a market for it. Grocers want regional production. Groceries and food service want food safety with controlled ag. And I think there's an opportunity to bring a lot of these specialty crops indoors, regionalized production, and build out at scale all across the country. ... There's an opportunity for many of us to kind of get together at the table and figure out how we can collectively push the industry.
Your first greenhouse is slated to open next year. What's next and when?
WEBB: We're trying to be somewhat quiet about the strategy in general, but you know, that's a big facility for us. It's a first flagship, one of the largest connected under roof. ... It's actually about 70 acres fully connected with the (area to pack the produce) and everything. ... We have a very, very, very large strategy. I mean, we are looking at sites all across the region. Phase one of development is that first project and we have a phase two development that we're going to be pretty aggressive on.
Credit: AppHarvest
Do you have plans to look outside of Appalachia and maybe consider other parts of the country?
WEBB: We're going to completely focus on central Appalachia. We want it to be the largest indoor produce hub of the U.S. and we think, "Look at what happened with the Netherlands." ... We've tried to, again, just talk to operators, talk to growers. Why is the Netherlands so successful? Why do they get so much efficiency? Because it's such a tight-knit community and they've done it in such a close tight-knit environment.
We're going to leave the West off the table. Let everybody else fight for that 30% of market where you've got a ton of production. We're going to focus on the 70% of the U.S. on the Eastern Seaboard, the Midwest and Southeast. And we can get to all of that in a day's drive from central Appalachia.
What crops are you planning to grow in your facility? Are you going to focus on specialty crops?
WEBB: Wheat, corn, soy, all those row crops will stay outdoors in the U.S. We believe everything else is going to come indoors and it's going to become regionalized. Is it going to take five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years? We'll see. We're going to focus on tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, anything on the vine and then the specialty crops, the leafy greens, the herbs, the berries and strawberries. All can be grown inside these facilities. But for us out of the gate, we're going to completely focus on tomatoes. ... People are really paying attention that produce imports from Mexico have nearly tripled in the last 10 to 15 years.
Will the prices for your crops be competitive with other so-called conventionally grown methods?
WEBB: We're going to be selling to the largest ... 25 grocers in the U.S., and we're going to compete with conventional pricing. Our goal is to get fresh, healthy produce to the table of the majority of Americans. But we're bound and determined to make it affordable. Price is important, and we were going to be competitive with everything else that's on the market.
You plan to open the first facility in 2020. When do you anticipate having produce arriving in stores?
WEBB: It'll be in 2020. We'll be breaking ground on this first facility here in the very near future, and then we'll be operational in the second half of 2020, and we'll be on store shelves in 2020. We're going to be able to grow produce all year round, 24/7, 365 (days a year) in a controlled environment. We might go offline some in the summer to clean out the facility, but you know, we'll have the ability to run year round if that's what we choose to.
What do farmers think of your endeavor?
WEBB: We've tried to meet with local farmers and made it very clear that local farmers are not our competition. Our competition is 2,000 miles in the other direction (in Mexico), but we also want to be cognizant of the market in the U.S. ... There's a lot of production that goes online due to seasonality during those (summer) months. And so for us, we see the best price benefit and the best market opportunity in the winter months. ... We want to to situate ourselves best to satisfy market demands where a lot of the produce is not available in those colder fall and winter months.
I think for us there's been some big names that have announced, indoor growers that have gotten a lot of attention in New York and San Francisco and some of those big VC-backed companies. I'm huge fan of what they're doing. I think there's going to be a lot of winners in this market and anybody that can grow fresh food, whether it be hyperlocal or ... urban environments. There's a lot of excitement around indoor growing and controlled environment agriculture. I think there's a lot of opportunity in different segments of the market, but when it comes to production at scale, we don't really think it's going to be one of those companies in New York City or San Francisco ... that's going to feed the country.
"Our goal is to get fresh, healthy produce to the table of the majority of Americans. But we're bound and determined to make it affordable. Price is important, and we were going to be competitive with everything else that's on the market."
Jonathan Webb
Founder and CEO, AppHarvest
At the end of the day, are you a for-profit entity?
WEBB: We're a registered benefit corporation, so I don't just have fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders, but I also am able to do what I think are frankly just smart long-term business decisions. For example, we've made a significant investment at a high school in Eastern Kentucky and we put a container farm there. And why did we do it? We're pre-revenue, we don't even have tomatoes on the shelf.
In Holland, that culture of growing is so ingrained in society. ... You have to start early and have kids dreaming of what this industry can be. So for us, investing in more of these programs. It's not steel and glass or infrastructure that's going to define AppHarvest, it's the people of the region. And so for us, investing in communities in the region to create a culture of growing is critically important.
When do you expect to be profitable?
WEBB: We plan to be profitable in our first year. ... In order to have impact and be mission oriented, we've got to have a return for our investors, and so as long as I can show that this business is profitable, we're going to be able to do all of this other impact work. It's very important to us.
You operation seems to check a lot of the boxes popular with consumers such as chemical-free, non-GMO, less water consumption.
WEBB: Consumers are becoming more aware of what they're buying at the grocery. I think mothers and fathers are becoming more aware of what they're putting on their table. ... A lot of people in the agriculture industry do not want you to know the way your food is produced and they don't want you to know where your food comes from because it is dirty, it is messy.
With what we're doing, we want to be as transparent as possible, and we think the way we farm is going to sell our produce more than anything. I want people in New York City or in D.C., or wherever they're at, to know they're voting with their dollar. And by voting with your dollar, you can put healthy food on the table for your family and you're also supporting very important work in our community.
We want people to know how we're running our operation. And so it's important to us that minimum wage in our greenhouse for even entry-level employees is going to be $13 an hour, plus health benefits. And we're going to have upskilling classes in the nights and weekends. That's the way farming should be.
We've got a farming system in the U.S. where it's messy and we can't be proud of it. And I think you look at some of the labor practices that go on around the country and some of the labor practices south of the border and some of the chemicals. There's harsh chemical pesticides that are legal in the U.S. that are being used on farms and other countries. ... App Harvest is certainly not going to be perfect, but we're going to try our hardest to be very intentional about our growing practices and allow people to be proud of what it is they're putting on the table for their families.
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How To Actually Remove Pesticides From Your Fruit - Assuming That You Should Be Worried About Them In The First Place
By Sara Chodosh October 25, 2017
There’s a lot to worry about when it comes to food—or rather, there’s a lot that people want you to worry about. Every mommy blogger and natural living life coach with a URL to their name is bursting with helpful tips on how to rid yourself of toxins and chemicals. If you google “how to get pesticides off fruit” you’re greeted by a flurry of blogs all promising the solution.
It’s not unreasonable to want to consume fewer of the chemicals we use to kill off bugs and weeds. You should just make sure that what you’re doing is actually effective. Plenty of people wash their chicken before cooking it, even though that method does nothing to kill bacteria, and in fact spreads potentially dangerous pathogens all over your kitchen sink and such. So let’s look at the evidence:
Store-bought veggie washes don’t work, but baking soda does
Water can remove some of the pesticides from a piece of fruit, so a basic scrub under the tap will help at least a little. The extent to which this rather lackadaisical method works will depends on the fruit itself; some skins will more readily release the pesticides contained therein. Others, like apples treated with wax for extra shine, will retain them despite your scrubbing. But water’s occasional ineffectiveness doesn’t mean you should waste money on store-bought veggie washes—they don’t seem to work, either. And even if it worked (which it’s not clear that it does), regular soap is liable to seep into the surface.
A recent study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found one better alternative: baking soda. A solution of sodium bicarbonate and water can remove even more pesticides than water alone, provided you have more than a minute to spare. In the experiments, Gala apples that were allowed to soak in baking soda for eight minutes had significantly reduced pesticide residue on the surface, and at 12-15 minutes there were virtually no pesticides left. This is because sodium bicarbonate can help degrade the two types of pesticides used in this study, thiabendazole and phosmet. Other chemicals might not react the same way, so this solution isn’t a guarantee of a pesticide-free snack. It’s just a lot better than the alternatives.
Even after the long soak time, though, there were some pesticides that the baking soda couldn’t get to. Thiabendazole and phosmet, like many other substances, seep into the skin and flesh of the produce they’re applied to. There’s an upper limit to the amount that the fruit can absorb, since the added chemicals will come to an equilibrium inside the cells, but none of it will come out in the wash.
Buying organic can help, though not much
If you’re hoping to avoid pesticides altogether, you’ll have to look beyond the organic aisle. Produce grown under organic conditions can still have pesticides, it’s just a different—and supposedly less toxic—set of them. But they’re still chemicals that can seep into your fruit through the skin or even leech into the flesh itself via the plant’s water supply, both of which prevent you from washing them away.
The most common piece of advice here is to avoid those fruits that pose more of a pesticide risk, often known as the “Dirty Dozen.” An environmental group called the Environmental Working Group has claimed that switching to the organic versions of those 12 fruits and veggies could substantially improve your health. It’s true that organic versions will generally contain fewer and less harmful chemicals, and there’s certainly no harm in eating organic, but it’s worth noting that EWG’s methodology is far from scientific. Their analysis relied on unproven theories about how pesticides might interact with one another, and thus has skewed results. A rebuttal in theJournal of Toxicology found that EWG didn’t even attempt to estimate pesticide exposure in the first place, and that “substitution of organic forms of the twelve commodities for conventional forms does not result in any appreciable reduction of consumer risks.”
In other words: science does not back up the Dirty Dozen advice. But it’s your money; you can eat organic if you want to.
It’s not clear how worried you should be about those pesticides in the first place
That same Journal of Toxicology analysis also found that the levels of pesticides detected in the so-called Dirty Dozen all fell below the acceptable limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency. And we’re not talking just slightly below the limit. The allowable dose for methamidophos on bell peppers was 49.5 times higher than the actual amount of pesticide, and that was the fruit with the highest exposure. Many of them came 1,000-or 30,000-fold under the legal limit. It is worth noting that legal limits aren’t infallible. Human exposures and their bodily impacts are difficult to study (and oft under-studied), and too often we don’t know exactly how a particular pesticide might affect us. If the EPA bases their acceptable limit on faulty science, it may overestimate how much exposure we can tolerate. And that’s assuming that the EPA is even doing their job properly in the first place.
If you’re still not sure—maybe you don’t trust the EPA, or you think pesticides haven’t been studied well enough (both perfectly fair points)—try going to your local farmer’s market. There, you can talk to the growers and discuss which pesticides they use. Of course, there seems to be an ever-growing trend of farmer’s markets filling up with folks simply reselling wholesale produce. So you might want to do an extra baking soda wash just to be sure.
tags: pesticides epa food health
Keep GMO Salmon Off of Store Shelves!
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just lifted the import ban on GMO salmon. Since FDA doesn’t require GMO salmon to be labeled clearly on the package, it could easily sneak onto your plate without you even realizing what you’re eating!
But because Center for Food Safety members (like you!) wrote to grocery stores across the country, more than 80 food companies—including Kroger, Walmart, Costco, Albertson’s, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and many more —have made commitments never to sell this GMO salmon. Now that GMO salmon is available to be sold in the U.S., their commitments not to sell this dangerous product will be put to the test.
If GMO salmon becomes common on store shelves, we’ll all have to face the environmental and public health consequences of the biotech industry’s gamble in developing it. While corporations continue to engineer fish and push for their commercial use, scientific evidence mounts regarding the extraordinary environmental danger these fish pose, including potential extinction of the wild salmon population.
If we don’t nip this GMO salmon in the bud by giving companies this feedback, it’s only a matter of time before the biotech industry launches other GMO animals for human consumption. AquaBounty Technologies, the company that made GMO salmon, is already working on genetically engineered tilapia and trout for commercial approval, while others are developing other genetically engineered catfish and salmon. There are dozens of other genetically engineered animals in development as well, such as chickens, pigs, and cows, engineered to fit within a factory farming model. And why risk the environmental consequences of GMO salmon, especially when poll after poll shows that consumers don’t want to eat it?
Even though this salmon is the first GMO animal to enter our food system, FDA did not approve GMO salmon responsibly. The flawed process FDA used was intended to evaluate the safety of “animal drugs,” not GMO animals meant for human consumption!
This GMO salmon won’t even be labeled on the package. GMO labeling standards allow companies to hide the fact that a product has GMOs under a “QR code,” which are clunky, time-consuming, and require both a smartphone and a broadband internet connection to access.
Tell the stores that pledged never to sell GMO salmon how important that commitment is to you.
Thanks for all you do,
Center for Food Safety team
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Vegetable Tray Recalled at WI, MN Kwik Trip Locations, Four Sick
by FOX 11 News
May 21st 2019
(WLUK) -- The Food and Drug Administration has recalled recalled Del Monte vegetable trays sold at Kwik Trip.
Food officials say three people got sick in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota after eating the trays.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the outbreak is due to salmonella.
Customers are advised not to buy the following:
Del Monte Vegetable Tray (containing broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and dill dip) 6 oz.
Del Monte Vegetable Tray (containing broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and dill dip) 12 oz.
Those who ate the items got sick between April 13 and April 27.
Health officials also say more people could become sick.
Dutch Aquifers Bank Rainwater to Help Farmers Avoid Going Bust
Climate change is increasing the risk of water shortages across Europe, but researchers in the Netherlands are hoping to ease pressure by generating a steady supply of clean water and heat from deep underground reservoirs known as aquifers
Greenhouses in the Westland Region, NL. Credit: European Science Communication Institute
Greenhouses in the Westland Region, NL. Credit: European Science Communication Institute
MAY 17, 2019
by European Science Communication Institute
Climate change is increasing the risk of water shortages across Europe, but researchers in the Netherlands are hoping to ease pressure by generating a steady supply of clean water and heat from deep underground reservoirs known as aquifers.
In the west of the Netherlands, there is a sea of greenhouses covering 4,500 hectares. Known as the Westland, this indoor farming hub is home to 670 horticulture companies growing a wide variety of flowers and crops, from aubergines and tomatoes to cucumbers. Water is crucial to growing these plants inside, but despite being in a country famous for rivers and canals the region still faces shortages.
"We had a very dry summer," said Klaasjan Raat, a water resource management expert at KWR, a Dutch sustainable water institute. "We had a lack of fresh groundwater which not only poses a risk to farmers, but also damages nature."
Westland pioneers a lot of sustainable water technology and researchers will now trial a new concept known as water banking, which deposits precipitation collected over the area during wetter periods and stores it in aquifers for a not-so-rainy day. The project is led by Raat who says this approach could help Westland balance demand in a climate change future where less rainfall is expected.
"If pumping is balanced over time, and over an area, you maintain the quality and amount of water in that aquifer," he said, but points out that Westland is currently "over-drafting," meaning it withdraws more water from ground reserves than what is put back in. This is a long-term liability for the greenhouse farmers, warns Raat, but water banking could help them break-even; or even make a profit.
"Rainwater that falls on the greenhouses [periodically] is not sufficient, but on average in the whole area [of Westland] over the year it is," he said.
Raat will recruit a group of horticulturists over 100 hectares and incentivize them to pump their excess rainwater into the ground reserve. Together with other local stakeholders, like the regional water authority, he is developing a pricing mechanism that will financially reward the farmers who deposit water into the aquifer and charge those who withdraw too much. He hopes it will be a self-containing system that finances itself.
Aquifers are helping farmers elsewhere in Westland too, but this time in supplying a cleaner source of heat. Industry at the nearby port of Rotterdam produces waste heat that is used to warm water in large pipes before it is pumped into even deeper underground reservoirs where it is stored as thermal energy, ready to be tapped into when the demand is there.
Geothermal energy and 'heat roundabouts'
Martin Bloemendal, a geothermal energy expert at Delft University of Technology and KWR, is developing a way to help optimise the performance of the 'heat roundabout' for Westland, which he says is crucial for the greenhouses because they also need higher temperatures to grow their crops.
"We have different sources of heat that are readily available during the warmer periods, like waste, geothermal and solar heat," he said. "But in winter, there is not enough, so they [greenhouses] need additional heating."
If the greenhouses don't have a renewable source, burning fossil fuels often fills the gap, but storing excess heat during summer diminishes this need because it gives access to thermal energy throughout the year.
The heat storage project for Westland and the water banking pilot will soon act as demonstration sites to inform other European countries about making the most of their water resources.
Seeds&Chips Launches Goals on Tour: FAO: 821 Million People Worldwide Suffer From Chronic Malnutrition, 672 Million From Obesity
Marco Gualtieri, Seeds&Chips: "Reaching the SDGs is the greatest business opportunity that has ever occurred for humanity"
Milan, 10 May 2019 - On the fourth day of Seeds&Chips, the most important international event dedicated to innovation in the food chain, Goals on Tour was launched as a global campaign to raise public awareness and support for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDGs).
Seeds&Chips 2019 houses 16 containers (the 17th represented by the unity of intent of the community gathered and represented here), which each symbolize an SDG. From here, they will embark on a sustainable journey around the world. The colorful containers, with the symbols of the Goals and full of graphic and interactive content will make stops in the main capitals of the world, functioning as a traveling exhibition that showcases artistic installations and displays of public and private sector initiatives that aim to realize the SDGs. The exhibition content has been provided by the partners of this project and by Elisabetta Lattanzio Illy, journalist and photographer with over twenty-five years of experience in the defense of equality and dignity for all.
The Summit was in fact the first part of this world tour, which immediately saw the participation of large global players like FAO, IFAD, WFP, UNIDO, UNECE, INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTER, the Republic of San Marino, Deloitte Foundation, Oceana, Robert Kennedy Human Rights, Fondazione Politecnico. It is destined to grow bigger, combining international bodies, institutions and the private sector.
The SDGs were launched in 2015 by the United Nations and were included in the 2030 Agenda. They aim to resolve economic and social development problems in the world such as poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sustainable energy, urbanization, environment and social equality.
Marco Gualtieri, President and founder of Seeds&Chips, commented: "Reaching the SDGs represents the greatest business opportunity that has ever occurred for humanity. We have the honor of launching the Goals on Tour initiative because we must begin to create awareness, make systems and unite the intentions around the SDGs."
In the launch session of Goals on Tour, the major international humanitarian organizations came together at Seeds&Chips to share their initiatives and commitments in achieving the objectives.
According to FAO, 821 million people worldwide suffer from chronic malnutrition, which has steadily increased since 2014, while 672 million people suffering from obesity. In the world 1/3 of available food is wasted:#zerohunger is the campaign that FAO has presented on stage and is committed to supporting in the coming years. It has the same intent as the WORLD FOOD PROGRAM, the United Nations agency that assists over 100 million people.
IFAD (International Fund for Agriculture Development) is working toward increasing the sustainability of agriculture, while INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTER is at the forefront in achieving gender equality from within and improving the sustainability of exporting goods around the world. UNIDO is committed to sustainably increasing the industrial activities of member countries while aiming to reduce emissions and their impact on climate change.UNECE is active in promoting approaches for greater economic integration and cooperation and sustainable development and prosperity for all.
The Republic of San Marino was the first State to join Goals on Tour, choosing to be part of the global network, "because environmental sustainability must be pursued concretely, the environment is not infinite,” declared Marco Podeschi the Secretary of State for Education and Culture of the Republic of San Marino.
For more information: https://www.seedsandchips.com/
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Seeds&Chips - The Global Food Innovation Summit, founded by entrepreneur Marco Gualtieri, is the world’s flagship food innovation event. An exceptional platform to promote technologically advanced solutions and talents from all over the world. An exhibition area and conference schedule to present, tell and discuss the themes, models and innovations that are changing the way food is produced, transformed, distributed, consumed and talked about. In 2017, Seeds&Chips’ keynote speaker President Barack Obama participated as a speaker The event hosted over 300 speakers from all over the world; over 240 exhibitors and 15800 visitors. It also garnered 131 million social impressions in 4 days. The 2018 edition saw more than 300 international speakers, among them former US Secretary of State John Kerry, President of IFAD Gilbert Houngbo and Starbucks’ former CEO and Chairman Howard Schultz. The 5th edition of Seeds&Chips – The Global Food Innovation Summit took place at Fiera Milano Rho, from May 6 to 9, 2019.
Food Security In The UAE
With increasing concerns over climate change, urbanization and overpopulation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), there is a major issue that is on the table of all Gulf countries — food security
WORLD NEWS /06 APR 2019
Theodore Karasik and Maya Yang
With increasing concerns over climate change, urbanization and overpopulation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), there is a major issue that is on the table of all Gulf countries — food security. For a region that imports upwards of 90 percent of its current food supply, self-sustainability remains a significant challenge. According to Aquastat, GCC countries currently use up to 500 percent of total freshwater resources and as demand is expected to exceed by 40% in the next 30 years, the region’s precipitation is also forecasted to decrease.
Additionally, because one third of the region’s food supply passes through only one maritime chokepoint, asserting control over such chokepoints can become political and quickly result in a food security emergency — the most recent example being the first few days of the 2017 Qatar blockade (note that the import dependency ratio in the Gulf reaches up to 70 percent). Finally, compounding the issue is the region’s food wastage.
In a report released in 2019 by Dubai Industrial Park and The Economist Intelligence Unit, yearly food waste in Saudi Arabia is around 427 kilograms per person and 197 kilograms per person in the UAE. In contrast, food waste in Europe and North America lies between 96 to 115 kilograms per person.
As the region continues to grow rapidly, the UAE has adopted several comprehensive tactics to tackle food security, a few of which this article will seek to highlight. Among these approaches include its comprehensive food security strategy, high tech agriculture, as well as the creation of international platforms to foster dialogue and innovation surrounding food security solutions.
Late last year, the UAE’s Minister of State of Food Security, Mariam Hareb Almheiri, announced the National Strategy for Food Security. According to Almheiri, the plan comes at a pressing time, given that “the UAE’s climate makes it exceptionally critical for us to develop holistic and ambitious plans to ensure our food security.” The plan is based on three main elements: knowledge of domestic consumption volume, production capacity, and processing and nutritional needs.
Furthermore, its long-term initiatives focus on facilitating global food trade, diversifying food import sources, and identifying alternative supply schemes. The National Strategy for Food Security seeks to break the country into the top ten of the Global Food Security Index by 2021, a vision compliant with the country’s Vision 2021 (currently, the UAE ranks 31st). Part of the country’s approach to fulfill these goals is to increase domestic food production, one method being vertical farming. Last year, Dubai allocated 7,600 square meters of land for the region’s first-ever 12 vertical farms, a method employed by Singapore (which ranks 1st on the Global Food Security Index).
Additionally, the country has launched several key programs that can be modeled by surrounding countries, given the similar climate and urbanization transformations they are undergoing. These initiatives include the Food Valley Platform, a database (accessible to interested parties) containing information on research and food security development including resource funding, patent registration mechanisms, and a compilation on global findings. Also, as a way to mobilize the public in addressing food security, the UAE launched the National Governance Structure for Food Security, a policymaking body that includes representatives and stakeholders from all parts of society to discuss and address food security policies. As many argue that climate change, drought, and food security issues were chief causes of the Arab Spring, this platform is an opportune way to ensure public participation in expressing and addressing such concerns.
Another method adopted by the country is high tech agriculture. As mentioned earlier, the UAE models its vertical farming after Singapore; however, this is not the only method. The country has also adopted soilless farming and hydroponics, an alternative to water-intensive methods that has increased from 50 projects in 2009 to 1000 in 2017. Other pillars of the national food security agenda includes aquaculture. A coastal country, the UAE has invested over $27 million to develop controlled farming conditions for fish, mollusks, aquatic plants, and algae, amongst other freshwater and saltwater organisms. Moreover, the country has adopted sensors into both small and large-scale agricultural projects. According to Almheiri, gyroscopes, accelerators, and GPS monitors are used to identify salinity and mineral levels in soil, as well as light and humidity levels. Now the country is able to farm grow Salmon.
Lastly, in attempts to position itself as a worldwide hub of innovation, the UAE has in recent years hosted a slew of international platforms to promote sustainable agriculture and food security discussions. In 2014, Abu Dhabi launched the annual Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA). With attendees from over 120 countries in 2018, the exhibition hosted start-ups, government officials, supply chains, and food producers from various sectors of agriculture including indoor farming, animal, crop, and aquaculture production. Furthermore, Dubai has been the annual host of Gulfood, the world’s largest food and beverage trade exhibition. This year, the festival, which attracted guests from over 120 countries, focused on changing consumer trends towards healthier options, as well as addressing food wastage and international partnerships on agro-product trade. Lastly, with the Dubai Expo 2020 around the corner, sustainability serves as a major subtheme at the international exhibition.
Ultimately, as the region faces increasing aridity due to climate change, as well as the pressing need for economic diversification, the UAE has proven itself as an ambitious pioneer in food security and sustainability. Due to its reputation as an international transit and innovation hub, as well as its massive wealth to acquire and invest in high technologies, it is able to easily develop comprehensive methods to tackle food security. With that said, it should now seek to distribute its methods and technologies to its neighbors, especially to countries with comparatively lower GDPs such as Oman and Kuwait (which face similar climate conditions and food security challenges).
Photo: Aurélie Marrier d'Unienville/IFRC
Achieving The Impossible: Growing Food In The High Arctic
April 13, 2019
David Nikel Contributor
He [caption photo credit="Polar Permaculture"] POLAR PERMACULTURE
Flying north over the vast permafrost and glacial mountains of Svalbard is quite the sight. Midway between the north of Norway and the North Pole, the endless white doesn’t inspire confidence that anyone could survive here, let alone thrive. Yet people do.
Ben Vidmar transplanted himself from the USA into this incredibly remote corner of the Arctic circle. He works as a chef in Longyearbyen, the main settlement, and has his own business, Polar Permaculture. He told the Life in Norway Show of his love for the archipelago: “Svalbard is so raw and pure. It is one of the only places left where you can experience true silence. This is a place where you only find people who want to be here. People who do not love the place leave.”
Breaking the cycle of importing and waste
Longyearbyen is the world's northernmost permanently inhabited community, with a long history of polar exploration and a true frontier spirit. Almost everything that is eaten on the island has to be imported from mainland Europe by boat or plane, while a lot of the waste ends up in the ocean. When Vidmar began working as a chef in some of Svalbard’s best restaurants, he quickly found frustration. When fresh food does arrive, much of it is spoilt and has to be thrown away.
Through Polar Permaculture, he aims to solve one of the biggest headaches of life at 78 degrees north: obtaining fresh food while reducing waste. However, deciding to do something about the problem and making that happen are two very different things. The headaches are many. Average temperatures - while rising fast - are low year-round. In the winter there is no direct sunlight for four months, and no light at all for more than two of those. Even at the height of summer, mountaintops surrounding the settlement are topped with snow.
Microgreens proved popular
Not to be put off, he poured substantial time and savings into creating the first and only gardening operation on Svalbard while still working as a chef. He began by growing microgreens in an insulated room and the produce was quickly snapped up by local hotels and restaurants. The operation has since expanded to a temporary greenhouse, in which he grows all kinds of plants from May to September, and an indoor hydroponics lab running year-round.
Inside the Arctic hydroponics lab of Polar Permaculture | DAVID NIKEL
He follows the principles of permaculture - developing an agricultural ecosystem designed to be sustainable.
Permaculture uses organic gardening and farming practices but it goes beyond these practices and integrates the garden and home to create a lifestyle that impacts less on the environment. Permaculture brings production of food closer to consumers and the consumer’s wastes back into the cycle. It also reduces the energy wasted in transporting the foods by producing the foods where the people are. In permaculture the people contribute in their daily life toward the production of their food and other needs. - Permaculture Visions
Vidmar isn’t doing this to be trendy. He believes that sustainability is the only option. “Everything here is imported so we want to create locally-grown food for Longyearbyen. We try to collect back the waste, which we compost. We then use the compost we produce to grow more food,” he says.
Different kinds of challenges
By researching other Arctic projects, he discovered the possibilities of using red worms to produce a natural fertilizer from food waste. Because the worms are a non-native species, he had to obtain special permission. Even cats aren’t allowed on Svalbard. Local authorities vetoed his plans to keep chickens to produce eggs, while even his greenhouse only has temporary permission as the settlement has strict zoning rules.
It’s a challenge Vidmar is meeting head on, because he believes a focus on sustainability is the only way to give the settlement a future. While he is inspired by projects like the Inuvik Community Greenhouse, whose hundred or so members grow fruit, vegetables and even flowers in Alaska, it’s not so easy to replicate such a project on Svalbard. The community is a temporary one. There is a hospital but there is no welfare system. “If you want to live here, you have to be able to fend for yourself. You cannot be born on Svalbard, and you’re not allowed to die here either,” he explains.
Sustainability brings possibility
Still, his vision is to create a truly sustainable community for the few thousand people that currently call Longyearbyen their home, however long they stay for. “It can happen, but it takes everyone working together. There are over 1,000 dogs here but their organic waste is just thrown away. That manure can be used to create energy. We want to connect all the other companies and help make everything more sustainable,” he says.
He continues to work part-time as a chef while he looks for ways to raise funds for the business. He now offers tours to interested visitors, ranging from a 2-hour hands-on farm tour to a ‘Day in the life of an Arctic farmer’ experience, on which you see every part of the farm and his life.
As for the next project? He plans to open his own zero-waste restaurant called the Greenhouse. “We want to do on a small-scale what we would like to see for the city. We will provide fresh, locally-grown food, use less single-use plastic, and compost the waste,” he says.
My latest book, How to Find a Job in Norway, is available now in paperback and eBook. My 450-page travel guidebook, Moon Norway, is here.
David Nikel Contributor
I was born in the UK but moved to Norway in 2011 and haven't looked back. I run a website and podcast for fellow expats, authored the Moon Norway travel guidebook, help Norwegian companies with their English, and spend my free time touring the country to discover more about the people and places of this unique corner of the world. I write for Forbes with an outsider's inside perspective on Norway & Scandinavia.
The Trouble With The Urban Farming ‘Revolution’
by Emma Bryce | April 5, 2019
Commercial urban agriculture in New York City has provided questionable environmental gains, and has not significantly improved urban food security. These are the findings of a recent case study of New York City which shows that, despite the fanfare over commercial urban farming, it will need a careful re-evaluation if it’s going to play a sustainable role in our future food systems.
The rise of commercial controlled-environment agriculture (CEA)–comprised of large scale rooftop farms, vertical, and indoor farms–is a bid to re-envision cities as places where we could produce food more sustainably in the future. Proponents see CEA as way to bring agriculture closer to urban populations, thereby increasing food security, and improving agriculture’s environmental footprint by reducing the emissions associated with the production and transport of food.
But the researchers on the new paper wanted to explore whether these theoretical benefits are occurring in reality.
They focused on New York City, where CEA has dramatically increased in the last decade. Looking at 10 farms that produce roof- and indoor-grown vegetables at commercial scales, they investigated how much food the farms are producing, who it’s reaching, and how much space is available to expand CEA into.
They found that the biggest of these 10 commercial farms is around a third of an acre in size. Most are on roofs spread across New York City, and some are inside buildings and shipping containers. Mainly, these farms are producing impressive amounts of leafy greens such as lettuce, and herbs; some also produce fish.
But while rooftop farms rely on natural sunlight to feed the crops, indoor farms use artificial lights. These farms potentially have a greater energy footprint even than conventional outdoors farms, the researchers say–challenging the assumption that urban farms are less impactful than conventional ones.
Some farms also embraced high-tech systems, such as wind, rain, temperature, and humidity detectors and indoor heating, to enhance growing conditions in environments that aren’t naturally suited to agriculture. These elevate the energy costs of the food produced, and may be giving CEA an unexpectedly high carbon footprint, the researchers say.
Furthermore, the predominantly grown foods–such as lettuce–aren’t of great nutritional value for the urban population, especially those threatened by food insecurity. Most produce from CEAs is sold at a premium, something that partly reflects the cost of the real estate used to grow the food. Consequently, that produce is typically grown for high-end food stores and restaurants, meaning it’s unlikely to reach low-income urban populations who need it most.
The researchers also think it’s unlikely that CEA–which currently occupies just 3.09 acres in New York City–could expand into the roughly 1,864 acres they estimate is still suitable for urban farming in New York City.
The rising cost of real estate might put these urban acres beyond the reach of new farming start ups, they think. These companies also face increasing competition from a growing number of farms springing up on the outskirts of cities–where land is cheaper and there’s space to produce more food, while also benefiting from urban proximity.
With its one-city focus, the research isn’t representative of what might be unfolding in other places around the world. Other cities may be having more success–for instance, Tokyo has gained global attention for its large scale vertical farming efforts. Yet as a case study, it does reveal useful lessons–especially for cities wanting to meet the original twin goals of urban agriculture: equitably increasing access to food, at a lower environmental cost.
The researchers note first of all that CEA is optimal in places where less supplemental heat and light is needed to grow food. More thought might also be given to the nutritional value and cost of foods grown, to generate benefits for all the city’s residents, not just high-income ones. The researchers question whether smaller, community-driven plots of urban agriculture–like community gardens, school, and prison farms–might actually do a better job of providing food to at-risk city residents, compared to commercial urban farms that inevitably have to focus on profits.
Based on the study of New York, the researchers caution: “CEA may be touted as an exciting set of technologies with great promise, but it is unlikely to offer a panacea for social problems or an unqualified urban agricultural revolution.”
It’s easy to be drawn in by the dystopian allure of vertical farms and underground greens nestled into our cities. But until we’ve streamlined its role, we should perhaps not overstate what commercial urban agriculture can do – or, instead be guided by cities where there are stronger signs of social and environmental success.
Source: Goodman et. al. “Will the urban agricultural revolution be vertical and soilless? A case study of controlled environment agriculture in New York City.” Land Use Policy. 2019.
Image: Pixabay
Canada: Using Hydroponics To Provide Northern Communities With Fresh Produce All Year Long
Alexander Wilkinson, research analyst on the University of Calgary’s Sustainability Studies team, is developing a database so that UCalgary has an inventory of its sustainability-related researchers, providing the ability to build an interdisciplinary sustainability community of practice.
“We want to bring researchers together and be leaders for interdisciplinary sustainability research. Currently I’m cataloguing all sustainability and sustainability-related research being done across campus,” says Wilkinson.
In addition to the community of practice, Wilkinson also conducts applied sustainability research as a PhD student through UCalgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design. In his PhD, Wilkinson is conducting research on two case studies with a focus on community health and well-being, sustainable development, resilience and capacity development for effective local responses to change.
The first case study is a project in partnership with the Artic Institute of North America (AINA), amongst other external partners. Together, Alex, AINA and external partners are implementing a food security intervention project where they are using a containerized hydroponic system, with a complementary renewable energy system, to sustainably grow fresh produce in rural northern communities.
“One goal of this research is to use hydroponics to provide northern communities with fresh produce all year long,” says Wilkinson. “We’re trying to determine if we can produce food in an off-grid scenario in the middle of winter in the Yukon when it’s -40 degrees and there is only one hour of sunlight.”
In Places Like NYC Urban Agriculture May Not Be A Panacea
By Vitaliy Soloviy on April 17, 2019
Commercial urban agriculture in New York provides the city with tons of green salad. Yet, according to a new study in the journal Land Use Policy, its environmental outcomes are far less green.
Indoor and rooftop farms are becoming increasingly popular. In the case of New York, which is featured in the study, the city’s commercial controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) includes large-scale rooftop farms, vertical farms, and indoor farms. In theory, they should increase food security, reduce the local ecological footprint and curb emissions connected to transporting food. Only in theory, though.
To find out what happens in practice, the researchers looked at 10 roof and indoor commercial farms, exploring how much food they produce, where it is going and what the energy demands and future expansion opportunities are. While rooftop farms did quite well when it came to their energy demands and ecological impacts, most of the indoor farms have even larger environmental footprints than conventional outdoor ones. Meanwhile, the tech they rely on, including multiple sensors and climate-control features, increase energy demands further.
When it comes to claims regarding food security, such expensive conditions result in premium prices for consumers that can afford them like luxury food stores and restaurants. These benefits, however, mean no contribution to food security for most people. Another issue is the high price of real estate in New York, which makes new indoor agriculture startups a risky bet considering the limited size of the premium market and competition from traditional farms outside the city, which have far better expansion opportunities.
However, the researchers note that no globally applicable conclusions can be drawn from the case of New York City alone. Some cities like Tokyo are global success stories of vertical agriculture and they might prove more vital for local food security. The researchers also point out that the efficiency of high-tech urban agriculture might be higher in places that require little additional heat and sunlight, while crop and vegetable choices can be better tailored to actual local needs and not just the luxury segment.
The team sees a brighter future for non-commercial urban agriculture driven by citizens, including initiatives such as community gardens. Built on values and local vision, such projects might go much further in strengthening local food security, improving community resilience and providing actual environmental gains.
Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Caito Foods Fresh-Cut Melons
Federal health agencies are investigating a Salmonella Carrau outbreak involving 93 people, linked to fresh-cut cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon from Caito Foods, Indianapoli
April 14, 2019
( Courtesy FDA. )
Federal health agencies are investigating a Salmonella Carrau outbreak involving 93 people, linked to fresh-cut cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon from Caito Foods, Indianapolis.
The company recalled all fresh-cut melon products from the Indianapolis processing facility April 12 and temporarily suspended production while the company and Food and Drug Administration investigate, according to a recall notice from Caito.
Retailers that received the products include Kroger Co., Target, Walmart and Whole Foods. Caito Foods and SpartanNash, which are also listed, distribute to independent retailers, according to the recall notice.
The products have best by/use by dates of April 18, and the recall extends to consumers who might have fresh-cut melon products from Caito. The products include fresh-cut cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon, and melon medleys and mixed fruit products. For a full list of products, brands, lot codes and Universal Product Codes, see the recall notice on the FDA’s recall website.
The products were packaged in clear, plastic clamshell containers and distributed in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, according to the recall notice.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA notified Caito Foods of the outbreak, according to the notice.
The FDA traced the melon products to Caito through patient interviews, according to the FDA.
Salmonella Carrau is a rare type of salmonella, but has been historically seen in imported melons, according to the FDA, and Caito reported imported melons were used in the products. The FDA is examining shipping records to determine a source, according to an FDA news release that accompanied the recall notice.
The investigation includes collecting samples at the Indianapolis facility where the products were processed and packed.
2018 Caito recall
Caito Foods was named in a Salmonella Adelaide outbreak linked to fresh-cut cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon in 2018. The company recalled hundred of similar products in that outbreak, which involved 70 people.
“Epidemiologic and preliminary traceback evidence indicated that pre-cut melon distributed by Caito Foods LLC was a likely source of this outbreak,” according to a CDC news release on the 2018 investigation.
For more information:
CDC
Tel: 404-639-3286
Email: media@cdc.gov
Related articles:
UPDATED: Caito recalls fresh-cut melons in salmonella outbreak
Melon recall expands, hundreds of retailers pull products
Salmonella outbreak linked to fresh-cut melons over
Related Topics: Salmonella Outbreak Honeydew Watermelons Cantaloupe FDA
Singapore Focuses On Food Security To Counter External Threats
Singapore, which imports 90% of the food it consumes, is making concerted efforts to produce and store its own food, as it seeks greater food security in the face of external threats such as climate change and pressures from neighboring Malaysia
City-state rolls out 'agri tech park' project as it seeks to reduce dependency on food imports
JUSTINA LEE, Nikkei staff writer
MARCH 30, 2019
The Singapore government has launched a series of new food projects in order to be able to feed its growing population. Earlier this month, it announced it would open an 'Agri-Food Innovation Park' for high-tech farming processes. © AP
SINGAPORE -- Singapore, which imports 90% of the food it consumes, is making concerted efforts to produce and store its own food, as it seeks greater food security in the face of external threats such as climate change and pressures from neighboring Malaysia.
The Singapore government has launched a series of new food projects in order to be able to feed its growing population. Earlier this month, it announced that it would open a 18ha "Agri-Food Innovation Park" which will be used for high-tech farming processes and research and development activities including insect farms.
"We are working with local and overseas industry players to develop this first phase of the park, which will be ready from the second quarter of 2021 with potential for future expansion," said Koh Poh Koon, Singapore's senior minister of state for trade and industry.
Singapore is also looking to develop a new sector of agri-technology using local talent in its bid for more secure food supplies. SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of government agency Enterprise Singapore, has appointed seven co-investment partners to inject more than S$90 million into Singapore-based agri-food tech startups.
With no natural resources of its own, Singapore depends heavily on foreign food imports, including live animals, worth around S$11.3 billion in 2018 alone. Less than 10% of its food is homegrown due to its small territory and limited available land. Most of its food comes from countries including Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia.
Additional factors such as climate change and tensions with Malaysia mean the city-state is vulnerable to potential disruptions to its food supply.
Last December, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Malaysia's domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, said Malaysia was looking at limiting or stopping exports of eggs in order to ensure a sufficient supply for its domestic market. Singapore imports approximately 73 per cent of its eggs from Malaysia, according to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore.
To prevent shortages from any such potential moves, and despite its limited resources, Singapore is aiming to triple its home-grown food productivity by 2030.
Some local companies are involved in the efforts. Sustenir Agriculture, a local vertical farming company, has successfully cultivated strawberry plants in the laboratory, with the fruits already being sold at Singaporean online supermarket operator Redmart. It has also grown some vegetables which are being sold locally.
Paul Teng, managing director and dean of the National Institute of Education in Singapore, noted that such efforts could help Singapore to boost its food productivity, as indoor vertical farms do not require "large land pockets" which the city-state does not have. "It can be expected that land will not be a major roadblock," he said.
However, due to the heavy involvement of technology in the growing processes, food grown in Singapore might become more expensive, he warned. "Singapore-produced vegetables need to have a justified price premium due to the relatively higher costs of per kilogram production when compared to imports from neighboring countries."
"Food safety, freshness and sustainable production may be part of the certification required to help consumers choose in favor of local produce," he added.
It‘s Impossible To Eat Healthfully. Here‘s Why
For millions around the world, hidden killers in our broken food system make healthy eating impossible, says a new report that warns of the damage from air pollution, water contamination and antibiotic resistance
By Milbank News Writer -
March 29, 2019
Increasing awareness of the impact of diet on health has led many people to reconsider what’s on their plate. For some, this may mean steering clear of processed foods and sugary drinks, for others cutting down on red meat. But eating healthily is not just about what we eat. It’s also about how food is produced.
For millions around the world, hidden killers in our broken food system make healthy eating impossible, says a new report that warns of the damage from air pollution, water contamination and antibiotic resistance. The report, released on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, calls for a redesign of the food industry.
Food has been as a major cause of health problems in the U.S., with of all deaths due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Yet, even if we improve diet, we are still exposed to the damaging health impacts of what the report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation calls the “industrial” way that food is produced. By 2050, warns the report, around 5 million people a year could die.
“The way we produce food today is not only extremely wasteful and damaging to the environment, it is causing serious health problems,” said Ellen MacArthur, founder of the foundation and former record-breaking sailor. “People around the world need food that is nutritious, and that is also grown, produced and delivered in a way that benefits their health, the environment and the economy.”
According to the report, overuse and misuse of antibiotics in fish and livestock farming contributes to the and antibiotics to humans via waterways and the environment. Antibiotic resistance – which could make it impossible to treat common infections – may cost society as much as $125 trillion by 2050, says the report, with food and agriculture responsible for up to 22 percent of those costs.
Agriculture is estimated to be responsible for as much as 20 percent of air pollution deaths around the world, mainly due to the overuse of fertilizers and manure, according to the report. Farmworker exposure to pesticides costs $900 billion globally, with long-term exposure to low levels of pesticides linked to , and .
The other major killer is poor wastewater management or irrigation, which is to blame for spreading diseases and contaminating drinking water.
Dozens Have Fallen ill During A Five-State E. coli Outbreak, And Nobody Knows Where It’s Coming From
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday it has yet to determine the source of an E. coli outbreak that has infected 72 people in five states — an admission one expert in food-borne illness called “perplexing,” considering how many have become sick
E. coli infections are gross. Here are 5 facts you can't unlearn about them.
An estimated 265,000 people report suffering from E. coli infections each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)
April 5, 2019
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday it has yet to determine the source of an E. coli outbreak that has infected 72 people in five states — an admission one expert in food-borne illness called “perplexing,” considering how many have become sick.
The recent spate of sickness, which began March 2, is directly linked to a strain of E. coli known as “O103,″ according to the CDC. Eight people have been hospitalized as a result of the outbreak, however, no deaths have been reported. The patients’ ages range from 1 to 74 with a median age of 17.
Symptoms of E. coli infection often include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting, typically occurring three days after consuming the bacteria. The states affected by the outbreak are Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia.
Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer from Seattle, told The Washington Post there’s “no question” the patients in this case share one common source of infection. It’s “concerning,” he said, that the CDC has yet to pinpoint the source to a specific food item, grocery store or restaurant chain.
“Given the size and the number of states that are involved, what you’re seeing is very unusual,” Marler said. “If it was five people or 10 people, that’s a little harder to figure out. But when there’s 72 people and they’re being interviewed by epidemiologists, it’s pretty unusual you don’t have a culprit.”
He added: “The real question is, what do 72 people have in common over five states? It has to be something.”
[Romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak is over as new evidence points to tainted water]
That something, Marler said, is likely a food or water product that people can’t remember they ate. State and local health officials are required to interview ill patients and determine what they consumed in the week leading up to their symptoms, but recalling one’s dietary choices is often easier said than done, he said.
Condiments, garnish, toppings, and spices can all contain traces of E. coli. But it’s unlikely the patients in this outbreak were keeping track of all the additives in their recent diets, he added.
“That’s probably why it’s taking longer to figure out — because people can’t remember what was in their meal,” Marler said.
Citing a CDC data set that dates to 1998, Marler noted outbreaks of E. coli O103 are relatively uncommon. Eighteen such outbreaks have been reported in the United States since 2000, with the highest number of reported illnesses being 29 during a 2010 outbreak in Minnesota.
That makes this O103 outbreak by far the largest in recent memory, he said.
It’s likely that number will grow. Marler said the CDC estimates that for every person reported sick, there are 5 to 10 ill people who have not been accounted for. “I would expect to see the numbers at least double in the next 10 days unless immediate action is taken this weekend,” he said.
Thirty-six of the reported illnesses in this case stem from Kentucky. Last week, local health officials issued an alert for a “sudden increase in O103 cases” in the state, according to the Mercer County Health Department, which wrote in a Facebook post the illnesses were found in “children and teenagers with extensive exposure to fast food.”
If that’s true, Marler said, it corresponds to the dietary habits of many 17-year-olds: the reported median patient age.
“It definitely does underscore it’s probably some convenience, fast food consumed by kids,” he said. One silver lining, he added, is that people in this age range are typically healthy and not prone to further complications from E. coli.
To avoid disease, the CDC advises that people cook foods thoroughly, wash fruits and vegetables and limit consumption of raw or unpasteurized juice and dairy products. Hand washing can also help prevent contamination.
But Marler says people fearing illness should go one step further: avoid uncooked food items entirely, at least until the CDC draws its conclusion.
“It won’t kill you not to have a salad or smoothie made with fresh fruits and vegetables,” Marler said. “You can live without that for a couple days as this shakes out.”
Lena H. Sun contributed to this report.
Read More:
Bad diets kill more people around the world than smoking, study says
UK: Scientists Work On Tech To 'Smell' When Produce Goes Off
Scientists in the UK are working to develop new technology which will be able to ‘smell’ when fruit or vegetables are going off
Scientists in the UK are working to develop new technology which will be able to ‘smell’ when fruit or vegetables are going off. Their aim is to potentially save tonnes of waste; waste advisory body WRAP claims 1,200,000 tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables are needlessly wasted each year.
Now, a UK-based research team are hoping to develop a new system by utilising a technique commonly used in space science. They say this new technique can assess the quality of the produce, which will help in waste reduction and allow the industry to make better informed assessments of shelf-life.
Not only would this help reduce waste, but allow food suppliers to be able to pinpoint when the produce is at its peak condition and therefore when it has the most nutritional value to consumers.
Researchers have already identified the unique set of molecular markers given off by rocket leaves before they are about to go off, but wanted to see if they could apply this to other produce. However, there are a number of logistical issues to overcome before they can make a device suitable for the food and drink industry.
Small and portable
Initial work utilised an expensive laboratory technique, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) for this research – which is a way of separating and identifying different chemical compounds. This technology has been used for a number of different applications, from climate science to planetary science.
Farminguk.com quoted Dr Hilary Rogers, from Cardiff University as saying: “Our biggest challenge now is to take this complex technology and apply it to a cost-effective platform so that it can be used at different points in the supply chain, from production through to retail.”
Publication date : 3/12/2019
No Amount of Money Makes Up For The Pain And Suffering
Because these threats are still very real.
After years of battling Monsanto, of working to expose the lies about glyphosate and Roundup weedkiller, we’re seeing glimmers of hope.
But this fight is far from over. And we desperately need your help to keep it going.
We’ve extended our spring fundraising campaign because we simply must reach our goal. Can you make a donation today? Every donation, small, large and in-between, will help fund our work to get pesticides out of your food. You can donate online, by mail or by phone, details here.
Within the past eight months, juries in two key trials against Monsanto have unanimously agreed that Roundup caused the plaintiffs’ non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancers.
Both juries punished Monsanto-Bayer with huge fines.
No amount of money makes up for the pain and suffering Roundup weedkiller has caused the victims in these two trials, or the tens of thousands of other people sickened by exposure to glyphosate.
But here’s what both these trials have made clear: The overwhelming evidence points to Roundup as a cause of cancer. And what’s more, it shows that Monsanto has known all along that Roundup causes cancer—and yet the company has gone to great lengths, and spent millions of dollars, to hide that evidence from the public.
In an article published by the Guardian, U.S. Right to Know’s Carey Gillam wrote:
Even the US district judge Vince Chhabria, who oversaw the San Francisco trial that concluded Wednesday with an $80.2m damage award, had harsh words for Monsanto. Chhabria said there were “large swaths of evidence” showing that the company’s herbicides could cause cancer. He also said there was “a great deal of evidence that Monsanto has not taken a responsible, objective approach to the safety of its product . . . and does not particularly care whether its product is in fact giving people cancer, focusing instead on manipulating public opinion and undermining anyone who raises genuine and legitimate concerns about the issue.”
In 2016, 131,672,984 kilograms (290,289,239 pounds) of glyphosate was sprayed in the U.S., according to data published by the U.S. Geological Survey, obtained and analyzed by Pricenomics.
Where does all that poison end up? In soils, in drinking water, on your food—and in your body.
The widespread presence of glyphosate in everything from bread to cereal to snack bars to fruit juices to baby foods to ice cream to beer and wine has been well documented.
The latest report? Widespread glyphosate contamination in foods sold by popular chain restaurants, including many that market themselves as “healthy,” “natural” and even “organic.”
The anti-Monsanto verdicts, the testing and reporting about glyphosate in our foods, the investigative reports showing Monsanto’s extreme efforts to discredit the scientists who uncover the truth about glyphosate and Roundup have all led to greater consumer awareness.
But even as more cities and school systems announce plans to ban glyphosate, the U.S. EPA fails to act on the evidence. In fact, the EPA recently (and very quietly) moved to disapprove state efforts to impose their own restrictions on pesticide use!
We are in the middle of our own lawsuit against Monsanto, for placing misleading claims on bottles of Roundup sold to consumers.
We continue to test products for glyphosate, to report on those test results, and to go after the companies that claim their glyphosate-contaminated food is “natural.”
We are also a major funder of U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit public interest, consumer and public health organization that has been deeply involved in exposing Monsanto’s lies and government ties.
But the simple truth is this: We can’t do this work without your help.
We rarely extend a fundraising deadline. We are doing it now because we must meet this quarter’s fundraising goal.