" I heard it through the AgLine"

March 24, 2011

 

 

·        Food scare widens from Japan nuke plant

·        Quinoa: Food fad that is starving Bolivia

·        USDA funds fruit, veggie school program

·        Sound system automates pest monitoring

·        Produce blog tracks food safety legislation

 

 

Food scare widens from Japan nuke plant

 

TOKYO (AFP) – Countries across the world shunned Japanese food imports Thursday as radioactive steam leaked from a disaster-struck nuclear plant, straining nerves in Tokyo.

 

The grim toll of dead and missing from Japan's monster quake and tsunami on March 11 topped 26,000, as hundreds of thousands remained huddled in evacuation shelters and fears grew in the megacity of Tokyo over water safety.

 

The damage to the Fukushima nuclear plant from the tectonic calamity and a series of explosions has stoked global anxiety. The United States and Hong Kong have already restricted Japanese food, and France wants the EU to do the same.

 

Russia ordered a halt to food imports from four prefectures -- Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi -- near the stricken plant 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo.

 

Moscow also placed in quarantine a Panama-flagged cargo ship that had passed near the plant and put its 19 crew under medical supervision after detecting radiation levels three times the norm in the engine room.

 

Australia banned produce from the area, including seaweed and seafood, milk, dairy products, fresh fruit and vegetables.

 

It said, however, that Japanese food already on store shelves was safe, as it had shipped before the quake, and that "the risk of Australian consumers being exposed to radionuclides in food imported from Japan is negligible".

 

Singapore also suspended imports of milk products and other foodstuffs from the same four prefectures and Canada implemented enhanced import controls on products from the quartet.

 

The Philippines banned Japanese chocolate imports.

 

"Food safety issues are an additional dimension of the emergency," said three UN agencies in a joint statement issued in Geneva, pledging they were "committed to mobilising their knowledge and expertise" to help Japan.

 

Japan was taking the right actions, said the International Atomic Energy Agency, World Health Organization, and Food and Agriculture Organization.

 

"Food monitoring is being implemented, measurements of radioactivity in food are taking place, and the results are being communicated publicly."

 

In greater Tokyo, an urban sprawl of more than 30 million people, strong aftershocks overnight and in the morning served as uncomfortable reminders that Japan's capital itself is believed to be decades overdue for a mega-quake.

 

The anxiety was compounded by the Tokyo government's revelation Wednesday that radioactive iodine in the drinking water was more than twice the level deemed safe for infants, although it remained within safe adult limits.

 

The news triggered a run on bottled water in shops and the city's ubiquitous vending machines, while the Tokyo government started to give families three 550-millilitre (18.5-ounce) bottles of water per infant.

 

A measurement on Thursday was in the safe zone for infants again, officials said, but this was not enough to soothe all parents of young children.

 

"I don't want to panic," Kazuko Hara, 39, told AFP as she collected her three allotted bottles of water in Tokyo's Bunkyo ward.

 

"I will use bottled water for now. If we run out, I will use tap water. Experts say it's OK. But when you see people buying bottled water at stores and emptying store shelves, that makes you worry again."

 

Japan's government has also halted shipments of untreated milk and vegetables from Fukushima and three adjoining prefectures, and stepped up radiation monitoring at another six, covering an area that borders Tokyo.

 

The health ministry has detected 82,000 becquerels of radioactive caesium -- 164 times the safe limit -- in the green vegetable kukitachina, and elevated levels in another 10 vegetables, including cabbage and turnips.

 

At the source of the radiation -- the Fukushima plant located on the Pacific coast -- white smoke could be seen wafting from four of the six reactors.

 

Fire engines again aimed their high-pressure water jets at the number three reactor, a day after a plume of dark smoke there forced workers to evacuate, in their bid to avert a full meltdown that would release greater radiation.

 

Highlighting the risks taken by the emergency crew, three workers were exposed to at least 170 millisieverts when they stepped into a puddle of water that reached the skin on their legs despite their radiation suits.

 

Engineers have now linked up an external electricity supply to all six reactors and are testing system components and equipment in an effort to soon restart the tsunami-hit cooling systems and stabilise the reactors.

 

On Thursday, they partially restored power to the control room at reactor number one.

 

The grim statistics from Japan's worst post-war disaster kept rising, with 9,737 now confirmed dead and 16,501 listed as missing by national police.

 

Scientists at the Port and Airport Research Institute meanwhile found that the tsunami that swallowed entire towns was even bigger than first thought. In devastated Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, it topped 23 metres (76 feet).

 

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Quinoa: Food fad that is starving Bolivia

 

(independent.co.uk) – It is the "lost crop" of the Incas, a health-giving seed found in the Andes which is increasingly providing the garnish on fashionable Western dinner plates. But while demand for quinoa has given a lifeline to Bolivia's farmers, the native population, no longer able to afford a staple of the national diet, is now facing the threat of malnutrition.

 

Cultivated for 5,000 years in the arid highlands of Bolivia, Peru and Chile, quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) was once the preserve of specialist health food shops and patchouli-scented cafes.

 

The Aztecs assigned mystical qualities to the yellow seeds, produced from the chenopodium plant, a relative of spinach and chard, which create a crunchy, nutty tasting fine grain when cooked.

 

Legend has it that each season, the Incan emperor would sow the first seeds of the "mother of all grains", planted on the cold mountain plains using "golden implements".

 

Today it is the nutritional qualities of the seed which have generated a new export market for South American farmers.

 

Quinoa contains more protein than any other "grain" and includes all eight essential amino acids needed for tissue development. NASA once declared quinoa the perfect food for astronauts undertaking extended space flights.

 

Supermarkets, on the lookout for the latest "superfood", are marketing the gluten-free seeds as a healthier alternative to rice and pasta. Tesco sells 300g packs, labelled "essential for the body's growth and repair", for £1.69.

 

Cooked like rice, quinoa is served with "pilaf" broths and casseroles, incorporated into salads tossed with herbed vinaigrette, or eaten as a porridge-style breakfast with nuts, fruit and honey.

 

The television chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall praises the seed for "delivering hefty whacks of flavour" and recommends a quinoa stir-fry with kale, chilli and nuts, a "tasty, quick meal when hot, but it's also good packed into a container and eaten cold at lunchtime."

 

Waitrose offers a recipe for Papaya Lime Quinoa, using Granovita organic quinoa, fresh mint and red chillies.

 

Where the Incas grew quinoa to feed their soldiers, Bolivian farmers are now producing the crop for mass export. Quinoa prices have tripled over the past five years, raising living standards for agricultural workers in the south of the country.

 

Entrepreneurial Bolivians are returning from the city to cultivate quinoa plots in the countryside. But the country's agriculture ministry is reporting that as prices have risen national quinoa consumption has slumped by 34 per cent over five years, with local families no longer able to afford a staple that has become a luxury. A 1kg bag of quinoa costs almost five times the amount of its rice equivalent in local stores.

 

Bolivia has long suffered from a malnutrition problem and there are fears that the population will be forced to turn to cheaper, processed foods. Children in the quinoa- growing south of the country are among those showing chronic malnutrition symptoms.

 

Evo Morales, Bolivia's President, is promising a $10 million loan facility for farmers to grow more quinoa designed for domestic consumption. But there is a growing North American export market to satisfy and global food commodity prices are continuing to rise.

 

There is a potential threat to South America's farmers – quinoa can thrive in the wet climes of Bolton as well as Bolivia. An increasing number of Britons are cultivating their own supply of quinoa in kitchen gardens and allotments.

 

Ben Gabel of the Real Seed Catalogue said: "We only have 180 packets of quinoa seeds left in stock this year. It's quite popular because it's a very adaptable plant and easier to thresh than wheat. It's resistant to the cold at night which helps it grow here."

 

Preparing quinoa for the dining table brings its own challenges. Mr Gabel explained: "The seeds need to be soaked for up to eight hours to get rid of the layer of saponin resin which is there to stop birds eating the seeds."

 

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USDA funds fruit, veggie school programs

 

(Wire Services) WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United Fresh Produce Association applauds news today from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announcing $158 million in funding for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) for next school year.

 

The goal of the program is to provide a free fruit or vegetable snack to elementary school students and with the increase in funding, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will be able to serve an expanded number of schools and students. The announcement is particularly impactful for United Fresh given the association’s work to secure the more than $1.2 billion in funding allocated for the program in the 2008 Farm Bill.

 

“This expansion in funding is such a huge win for kids across the country,” said United Fresh Vice President of Nutrition and Health Dr. Lorelei DiSogra. “The additional monies will increase the number of elementary school students that receive a fresh fruit or vegetable snack at school each day to approximately 4 million, which is just amazing. This program provides exposure to a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables every day, expanding kids’ horizons and increasing their daily consumption of healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables.”

 

United Fresh has been at the forefront of the drive for fresh fruit and vegetables in school meals and all child nutrition programs, and was instrumental in securing the funding for the nationwide expansion and implementation of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program through the 2008 Farm Bill. In addition to FFVP, United Fresh has worked to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables offered in meals served through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs; advocated the nationwide availability of fruit and vegetable vouchers in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); and most recently, led the charge on Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools, a national initiative to provide 6000 salad bars to schools across the country, which supports First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative goal of curbing childhood obesity within a generation.

 

“Kids love the fresh fruit and vegetable snacks that they receive every day through FFVP,” added DiSogra. “This program is very popular. It’s a hit with the kids, with the parents and with the schools, and it’s having an undeniably positive effect not only on the way kids eat at school but also on their eating habits at home.”

 

 

Ed. Note: A full list of funding allocations by state is available by contacting United Fresh Communications Manager Patrick Delaney at 202-303-3400, ext. 417 or pdelaney@unitedfresh.org.

 

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Sound system automates pest monitoring

 

(USDA-ARS) – Using commercially available parts, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and colleagues have developed a new automated system for detecting insects based on the peculiar sounds the insects make while moving.

 

According to entomologist Richard Mankin of USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), one likely application will be to automate routine monitoring of industrial-scale traps, especially those placed in hard-to-reach areas like crawl spaces or near food processing equipment.

 

Automated insect monitoring could also be useful in situations where frequent checking of traps is impractical, adds Mankin, with the ARS Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research Unit in Gainesville, Fla. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and the research supports the USDA priority of promoting international food security.

 

Mankin developed the device in collaboration with North Carolina State University researchers Ryan Hodges, Troy Nagel and Coby Schal, all in Raleigh, and Roberto Pereira and Philip Koehler, both at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The team's objective was to make automated insect monitoring affordable, easy to use and reliable.

 

Toward that end, they integrated commercially available sensors (LEDs, microphones and piezoelectric film) with high-gain amplifiers and laptop-run software for analyzing signals. The system uses the sensors to collect infrared, acoustic and vibration signals generated by three kinds of insect movements: wriggling, crawling and scraping. The software analyzes the signals to create a profile of the target insect that distinguishes it from other species.

 

The researchers tested the device on three stored-product pests (rice weevil, red flour beetle and drugstore beetle) and two household pests (German cockroach and bed bug). In tests, individuals of each pest species were placed in small arenas where their signals could be collected and analyzed for differences in profile, amplitude and duration.

 

All species tested generated all signal types, but red flour beetles mostly wriggled, German cockroaches typically ran or crawled, and bed bugs mostly scraped.

 

Mankin envisions users placing the devices in traps or near infested structures and monitoring them remotely.

 

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Produce blog tracks food safety legislation

 

(Wire Services) – Food safety legislation has become a visible and somewhat controversial topic of late. A number of produce and food recalls has emphasized the need to strengthen the way food, including fresh fruits and vegetables, is tracked.

 

Both the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives have been working to pass versions of food safety bills to improve the safety of food sold in the United States.

 

ProduceTraceabilityNews.com (http:www.producetraceabilitynews.com) tracks the progress of pending legislation and posts timely updates for its readers and subscribers. The blog-style website serves as a clearinghouse of information about produce traceability and produce safety issues.

 

Russell Riggs, ProduceTraceabilityNews.com editor, said “Our objective is to provide relevant, up-to-date information for produce industry insiders and consumers. Food safety legislation is a very important issue, so we work to keep our content current about the topic.”

 

Mr. Riggs went on to say “If you’re interested in fresh produce safety, we encourage you to visit our site often and sign up for our email updates. We’re always looking for interesting stories. Feel free to use our contact form to suggest topics you would like to see, as well.”

 

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