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August 19, 2008
· Tracing tainted produce is no easy task
· New tomato virus concerns Calif. growers
· GM super carrot bred for consumers
· Climate change blamed for UK aphid boom
· Bt maize has no effect on plant bug fitness
Tracing tainted produce is no easy task
(
From concrete loading docks, 100 small distributors and importers peddle tons
of fresh produce a day, including Mexican-grown peppers, limes, mangoes and
watermelon, mostly to supermarket and restaurant buyers. Need a new TV or
lawnmower? They're here, too. It was jalapeno peppers that drew Food and Drug
Administration investigators. Last month, they found Mexican-grown jalapenos at
a small distributor here that were contaminated with the same strain of
salmonella saintpaul that's sickened 1,405 people nationwide and in
Whether those peppers, or others from a different farm in
But the workings of the
"The traceback has worked. It's just been slow," says David Acheson,
the FDA's food-safety chief, of the investigation. The
In the afternoon, much of the produce goes out. Buyers include
Most of the
Improved traceability
The change has improved food traceability. Big companies, including Costco
Wholesale, Fresh Express and Ace Tomato, say computerized systems enable them
to trace fresh produce from stores to growers within hours or minutes. Key to
that capability? Numbers or other identifiers that go on cases or pallets of
produce and stay with the produce from the field or packing shed to the
processing plant or store.
But at the
Produce in crates or pallets may be mingled with produce from multiple growers.
Once unmarked produce gets to a store warehouse, it may be more easily mixed
with other produce, he adds.
Booth's company won't buy from terminal markets, even though he says the
produce is probably safe. "We don't know where that product came
from," he says. "We want to buy direct from the grower."
Frontera Produce, one of
A year ago, Frontera eliminated purchases from distributors who couldn't track
produce to the field. About six of several dozen failed to meet the new rules.
Some were from the
"Eighty percent of the industry has good traceback, 20% doesn't, and they
put all of us at risk," he says.
The contaminated jalapeno peppers that the FDA said it found at the
'One up, one back'
Federal law, adopted as part of The Bioterrorism Act after the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, requires food producers, distributors and others to record to whom
they sent product and from whom they received it.
In documents published in 2004, the FDA said 20% of food traceback
investigations ended prematurely because of inadequate record-keeping by the
industry.
The one-up, one-back requirement fell short of what the FDA had wanted, says
William Hubbard, a former FDA official who oversaw policy at that time. He says
the FDA wanted distributors or wholesalers to keep records tracking a food back
to its source. One-up, one-back was settled upon after food companies argued
that a full accounting would be too onerous, given that multiple distributors
may handle food as it moves through the supply chain, Hubbard says.
Nearly everybody can fulfill one-up, one-back, Steele says. But the FDA's
Acheson says broad use of paper records by smaller companies involved in the
salmonella traceback delayed FDA investigators.
The FDA also lost hours trying to reconcile records company-to-company along
the supply chain, asserts Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich. At a congressional hearing
last month, Stupak displayed a box from a
The delays cost tomato producers dearly. Their sales tanked throughout June
amid FDA suspicions that tomatoes were to blame for the outbreak before the
agency's focus shifted in July to peppers. The FDA is currently warning
consumers to avoid raw jalapeno and serrano peppers grown in
"A faster system … would allow (us) to exclude products faster … and give
you a source faster," Acheson told lawmakers. Many foods can be hard to
track. A package of hamburger that's ground in a store, for example, may include
beef from multiple suppliers. Stores, regulated by local and state laws, may
not be required to keep grinding records, says Ben Miller, traceback
coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Fresh produce is particularly tough. It moves fast so it doesn't perish. It may
be repacked, sold in bulk and handled by a half-dozen companies with different
tracking capabilities. On a recent morning at the
Within minutes, Topete determined the Mexican orchard in which a particular
case of mangoes were grown. The mangoes were headed to retailers including
Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. Nearby, Romeo and Gracie Gutierrez,owners of GTZ
Produce,worked their stall together. Romeo does the buying; Gracie waits for
buyers on the dock, swatting flies in the midday heat.
GTZ buys produce from a broker, who buys from growers in the
Following a one-up, one-back trail can be fast. It took
Setting new standards
Getting that kind of speed in every traceback is needed, proponents of new
standards say. Since late last year, companies such as Frontera have joined
trade associations and retailers, including Food Lion, to set new traceability
standards.
The Produce Traceability Initiative calls for numbers on cases of produce that
identify producers, lot numbers and harvest dates, and scanners that record
cases' movements through shipping. Ace Tomato's system costs about 1 cent a
box, whether the box sells for $6 or $13, Booth says. Even for small firms, the
cost would be "minimal" over time, he adds.
Backers of the initiative expect to set deadlines for adoption of electronic
records within weeks. Compliance will be voluntary. The FDA's Acheson says
mandatory rules may be needed.
Either way, Frontera's Steele says change is needed. "There will always be
outbreaks," he says. "What matters is … whether we can go to a store
and say, " 'We've detected a problem, and it's isolated to this particular
pallet or box and let's keep doing business.' "
TRACKING TAINTED PEPPERS
Here's the trail
1 On June 30, state investigators visit a restaurant in
2 Investigators determine that the jalapenos came from
Distributor A in
3 Distributor A got peppers from fresh-produce Distributor B
based near
4 Distributor B received peppers on June 5 from Distributor
C at the McAllen Produce Terminal Market in
5 Distributor C got produce from a distributor in Nuevo
Leon, Mexico. Peppers arrived in
6 Distributors D and E got produce from two growers in
Sources: Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health
New tomato virus concerns California
(Daily Democrat) – A new and unidentified virus has appeared
in a number of processing tomato fields in
This new virus looks a lot like tobacco streak virus, which
is fairly common in the delta. But when
While this new virus has already shown up early this summer in quite a few tomato fields, it has not yet caused significant crop damage.
"Another virus is very widespread in our area,"
said Gene Miyao, UC Cooperative Extension farm adviser in the
Flower bracts on these branches often are blighted. Necrotic spotting on the new leaves appears spotted wilt-like. Fruit is without symptoms at this point. Tests have confirmed this suspected virus is neither spotted wilt nor tobacco streak."
Miyao said he first began to hear reports of the new virus
in June from pest control advisers. He has since seen it or heard of it in
fields in southern
"It looks like tobacco streak virus, which is more prevalent in the delta," Miyao said.
Like tobacco streak this mysterious virus causes a necrotic line or streak from the apex five or six inches down the stem."
But after UC Davis DNA tests showed that it is not tobacco streak virus, a number of UC plant pathologists began trying to figure out what this ailment is.
"The plants are very vigorous; they're not wilted except for the parts that show virus symptoms," Miyao said. "That would indicate that the problem is a virus, rather than one of the familiar soil borne fungal diseases that attack the vascular system of tomatoes."
Tobacco streak virus is transmitted by thrips, and this new virus may also be transmitted by thrips.
"At this point it is not devastating," Miyao said. But he added that it is unnerving to not know what the disease is, because that means no one knows how serious it could become or how it should be managed.
Curly top is another tomato virus that gives the foliage a
purplish color that makes the plants look almost like ornamentals. Miyao said
he has only seen a little curly top virus in the
Alfalfa mosaic virus is transmitted by aphids. Although
aphids have been widespread in the
"Virus infected plants are more prevalent in our area this year," Miyao said. "Annually, curly top and alfalfa mosaic are commonly found in local fields but at low levels, often as a few curious looking plants in a field."
The increasing incidence of tomato viruses in the
GM super carrot bred for consumers
(NaturalNews) Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine
in
In the past, most genetically engineered products have been marketed to farmers, claiming to provide benefits such as herbicide resistance. The "super carrot," however is part of a new trend toward products that claim to provide a direct benefit to consumers. Other researchers are working to modify potatoes to absorb less oil during frying, and to boost the cancer-fighting-chemical content of broccoli.
While carrots contain naturally occurring calcium, the mineral is poorly absorbed by the human body. In the modified carrots, a gene has been changed to allow calcium to move more freely across the carrot's cell membranes.
To test the carrot, researchers fed both normal and genetically modified carrots to 15 women and 15 men between the ages of 21 and 29, then conducted urine tests to determine calcium absorption. The researchers found that participants absorbed 41 percent more calcium from the genetically modified carrot than from the natural variety.
That amounts to a calcium content of between 27 and 29 milligrams per 100 grams (four ounces) of modified carrots.
The recommended dose of calcium is 1,000 milligrams per day. Researchers acknowledged that the carrots by themselves could never provide a person with enough calcium.
"In the future, this would be to simply offer consumers that choice," said researcher Jay Morris. The researchers also suggested that other plants could also be modified to provide more calcium.
Researcher Kendal Hirschi noted that the carrots still have to pass safety tests before they can be provided to consumers.
Dairy products are a well-known source of dietary calcium, but many people cannot eat them due to allergies, or choose not to for health or other reasons. Green leafy vegetables are also a good dietary source of calcium.
Climate change blamed for UK
(bbsrc.ac.uk) – Aphids are emerging as sentinels of climate
change, researchers at BBSRC-supported Rothamsted Research have shown. One of
the
This year, the first aphid was caught on 25 April, which is almost four weeks ahead of the 42-year average. This work is reported in BBSRC Business, the quarterly research highlights magazine of BBSRC (the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council).
Dr Richard Harrington of the Rothamsted Insect Survey said:
“One of the most noticeable consequences of climate change
in the
Scientists at Rothamsted Research have been monitoring the
flying form of all aphid species for 42 years. They use a network of 16 suction
traps (12 in
Professor Nigel Brown, Director of Science and Technology, BBSRC said:
“Environmental change is one of the big challenges facing
the world today. These long-term data on the seasonal appearance of flying
aphids not only show that there are already noticeable changes in the
Bt maize has no effect on plant bug fitness
(CropBiotech Update) – One of the major concerns with the use of insecticidal protein-expressing transgenic crops is their possible effects on target organisms.
Scientists from the Aachen University and University of
Göttingen in Germany investigated the effect of the Bt-corn line Mon88017 on
plant bugs, specifically the rice leaf bug (Trigonotylus caelestialium), as
non-target organisms. The Cry3Bb1-expressing Bt-corn variety is resistant to
the western corn rootworm, one of the most devastating crop pests in
Results of ELISA tests indicated that rice leaf bugs in Bt-corn plots ingested Cry3Bb1 at all stages of their life. Nymphs contained on average 8 ng (nanograms) Cry3Bb1. Adult insects, on the other hand, showed varying amounts of Cry3Bb1, ranging from a few to over 60 ng.
Despite this exposure there were no indications of a negative impact of the Bt-corn and the potential stressor Cry3Bb1 on the rice leaf bug. The field densities of the rice leaf bug were always similar in MON88017, the near-isogenic line and conventional maize varieties.
The paper published by Transgenic Research is available at http://www.springerlink.com/content/836p55v111835448/fulltext.pdf Non subscribers can read the abstract at http://www.springerlink.com/content/836p55v111835448/?p=df06f249f0d64ccf850307b9b750a29d&pi=2
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