>Nationwide study finds US meat and poultry is widely contaminated

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Steve Yozwiak – Drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria linked to a wide range of human diseases, are present in meat and poultry from U.S. grocery stores at unexpectedly high rates, according to a nationwide study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

Nearly half of the meat and poultry samples — 47 percent — were contaminated with S. aureus, and more than half of those bacteria — 52 percent — were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics, according to the study published today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

This is the first national assessment of antibiotic resistant S. aureus in the U.S. food supply. And, DNA testing suggests that the food animals themselves were the major source of contamination.

Although Staph should be killed with proper cooking, it may still pose a risk to consumers through improper food handling and cross-contamination in the kitchen.

Researchers collected and analyzed 136 samples — covering 80 brands — of beef, chicken, pork and turkey from 26 retail grocery stores in five U.S. cities: Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Flagstaff and Washington, D.C.

“For the first time, we know how much of our meat and poultry is contaminated with antibiotic-resistant Staph, and it is substantial,” said Lance B. Price, Ph.D., senior author of the study and Director of TGen’s Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health.

“The fact that drug-resistant S. aureus was so prevalent, and likely came from the food animals themselves, is troubling, and demands attention to how antibiotics are used in food-animal production today,” Dr. Price said.

Densely-stocked industrial farms, where food animals are steadily fed low doses of antibiotics, are ideal breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria that move from animals to humans, the report says.

“Antibiotics are the most important drugs that we have to treat Staph infections; but when Staph are resistant to three, four, five or even nine different antibiotics — like we saw in this study — that leaves physicians few options,” Dr. Price said.

“The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria — including Staph — remains a major challenge in clinical medicine,” said Paul S. Keim, Ph.D., Director of TGen’s Pathogen Genomics Division and Director of the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics at Northern Arizona University (NAU).

“This study shows that much of our meat and poultry is contaminated with multidrug-resistant Staph. Now we need to determine what this means in terms of risk to the consumer,” said Dr. Keim, a co-author of the paper.

The U.S. government routinely surveys retail meat and poultry for four types of drug-resistant bacteria, but S. aureus is not among them. The paper suggests that a more comprehensive inspection program is needed.

S. aureus can cause a range of illnesses from minor skin infections to life-threatening diseases, such as pneumonia, endocarditis and sepsis.

via Nationwide study finds US meat and poultry is widely contaminated.

There are good reasons some things are not even tested for. Out of sight, out of court.

>Comfort food: The woman who can’t stop eating sofas

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A mother-of-five has been diagnosed with a rare disorder called Pica after seeking medical help for her addiction… to eating sofas.

Adele Edwards, of Bradenton, Florida, has been eating the foam inside couch cushions for 21 years.

She sought help when the cravings started getting out of control.

Miss Edwards, 31, said: ‘In the last year I’ve eaten seven sofas.

‘I unzip the cushions and snack on the foam inside. And once I start I just can’t stop.

‘But now doctors have told me that if I carry on, my addiction will kill me.’

Pica is a disorder found most commonly in toddlers and pregnant women who lack certain nutrients, causing them to crave non-nutritive substances like chalk, coins, batteries and even dirt.

Sometimes it’s caused by stress, and Adele admits her first time happened during a very emotional period in her life, when her parents were on the brink of divorce. …

Like many addicts, Miss Edwards didn’t get hooked overnight.

She started by chewing the cushion foam before spitting it out. But it wasn’t long until she began to swallow each small piece of cushion she put in her mouth.

Today, Adele’s habit includes added levels of disgust.

‘I unzipper the cushion cover and tear off a piece about the size of half a pencil,’ she said.

‘Then I take it outside and rub it in dirt. The dirt makes it crunchier. Then I chew on it and swallow it.’

Her gastroenterologist, Dr. Christopher Olenec of the Digestive Health Center in Sarasota, Florida – the man who diagnosed Miss Edwards with Pica – was alarmed when Adele told him of her new habit with the dirt.

‘The question became, “did she have a deficiency in her iron? And was that what was driving her to ingest the seat cushions?”

In fact she did. Miss Edwards’s blood contains half the amount of iron of a normal woman. For most, an easy solution would be regular consumption of iron supplements. But Miss Edwards has always struggled to combat her addiction with regular treatment.

‘I’ve taken the iron supplements and they seem to actually work,’ she says. …

‘It’s hard to try to get people to understand how bad this addiction is.

‘I’m aware of the life risks. Doctors have told me I could get a stomach blockage so bad I’d go septic and my intestines could explode. That scares me.’ …

Miss Edwards, who is in discussions to enter a therapy center in California for people with similar strange addictions, believes this is the time for her to be serious about quitting.

‘I’ve been doing this almost my whole life, 21 years. It’s consumed me. It’s putting my life and family at risk. I’m trying to stop this.’

via Comfort food: The woman who can’t stop eating sofas | Mail Online.

In addition to the painful grapefruit sized blockage the article says she once had, I would think there would be chemicals in the foam that would make her very sick.

>Gardening: What to plant in April (Northern California)

>I’m getting into gardening. Growing some of your own food is great. Today, April 10th, 2011, is a nice day and I’ve got my beds weeded and ready for planting, but what to plant? Here are a few guides:

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

September: Plant marjoram, oregano, peppermint, rosemary, thyme. (Herbs can actually be planted all year in most climates.)

… April … Plant:• Basil seedlings (Plant in batches every two weeks through August)

• Chiles (seedlings; through May)

• Corn (seed―plant in batches every two weeks through August)

• Cucumbers (seedlings)

• Edamame (seeds; plant in batches every two weeks through May)

• Hops (through May)

• Lemongrass, Melons (seeds; seedlings in May),

• Squash (seeds; seedlings in May)

• Tomatoes (seedlings; through May)

• Zucchini (seeds)

via Our planting calendar – Sunset.com.

Today I planted 3 kinds of tomato, chilies, and pepper seedlings plus seeds for watermelon, corn, edamame, zucchini, pumpkin, and sunflowers. Total cost (including the new shovel, $55.)

>Fourteen die after eating toxic sardines in Madagascar

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At least 14 people have died in Madagascar after eating toxic sardines.Officials say more than 120 people remain seriously ill after the incident in the south-western town of Toliara.The government sent its condolences to the victims’ families, promising to foot the medical bills of those being treated in hospital.Samples of the sardines have been sent for analysis. In previous incidents, researchers said the contaminated sardines had eaten poisonous seaweed.They say seaweed has proliferated among Madagascar’s coral reefs as global warming changes the sea conditions.

via BBC News – Fourteen die after eating toxic sardines in Madagascar.

>For Farmers In Fukushima, Japan, Growing Uncertainty

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Jason Beaubien – As Japan continues to grapple with the effects of the March 11 earthquake, the prefecture of Fukushima faces some of the biggest challenges.

Fukushima’s roads were damaged in the earthquake, its coast was battered by the tsunami, and now leaking radiation around the crippled Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has made parts of the prefecture unlivable.

The tsunami pushed seawater more than 2 miles inland in some places. Rail lines in Fukushima — Japan’s third-largest prefecture — were destroyed along the coast; train traffic still hasn’t resumed through the prefecture. Radiation from the leaking nuclear complex has forced tens of thousands of residents from their homes. The sale of many vegetables from Fukushima has been banned.

Akio Nagato, the director general of the Fukushima governor’s office, says the tsunami and earthquake mainly affected the coast but the radiation is affecting the entire prefecture, which spans more than 5,000 square miles.

Even outside the 12-mile mandatory evacuation zone around the Fukushima Dai-chi nuclear plant, Nagato says, businesses are packing up and moving. He says the cleanup along the coast has barely started because vehicles can’t travel through the nuclear exclusion zone.

“We are not just talking about rebuilding houses,” Nagato says, speaking of the Fukushima coast. “We are talking about places of work, ports, railroads all being unusable. We are talking about the big picture here. We are talking about putting everything back together.”

Unsafe Food

The nuclear disaster is now also a disaster for Fukushima’s farmers. The government has banned the sale of milk, spinach and other leafy vegetables, not just from here but also from neighboring prefectures.

The Japanese Health Ministry found that the radiation level in these foods exceeds legal limits for human consumption. This has left farmers such as Shinichi Asaka with goods they can’t sell.

“We are going to have throw it out,” he says through an interpreter, regarding rows and rows of green spinach. “Get a big tractor, load it up and throw it out. There’s nothing else to do.” …

via For Farmers In Fukushima, Japan, Growing Uncertainty : NPR.

>Study predicts large regional changes in farmland area

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The effects of climate change and population growth on agricultural land area vary from region to region, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers.

Regions with relative high latitudes – China, Russia and the U.S. – could see a significant increase in arable land in coming years, but Africa, Europe and India and South America could lose land area.

Civil and environmental engineering professor Ximing Cai and graduate student Xiao Zhang published their findings in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

While most other studies of climate change and agriculture have focused on projected crop yields, the Illinois researchers assessed global and regional land availability. Using international land and climate datasets and remote-sensing land-use maps, they systematically studied worldwide changes in soil temperature and humidity with a resolution of one square kilometer.

“This study presents the main patterns and trends of the distribution of potential arable land and the possible impacts of climate change from a biophysical perspective,” Cai said. “The possible gains and losses of arable land in various regions worldwide may generate tremendous impacts in the upcoming decades upon regional and global agricultural commodity production, demand and trade, as well as on the planning and development of agricultural and engineering infrastructures.”

Cai and Zhang’s model allowed them to address the many sources of uncertainty in trying to predict climate change, such as levels of greenhouse gas emissions, climate model uncertainty and ambiguity in land-use classification. They applied the model to several projected scenarios to uncover both regional and global trends in land availability.

When considering effects of climate change, residential sprawl as population grows and natural conservation, the global total of potential arable land in all scenarios decreased by the end of the 21st century, by a margin of 0.8 to 4.4 percent. However, much larger changes were predicted regionally. For example, arable land area could increase by 37 to 67 percent in Russia, while Africa could lose up to 18 percent of its farmland.

via Study predicts large regional changes in farmland area.

All the blue parts on the map will be under water. All the red parts will be on fire. Just kidding.

>Walnuts are top nut for heart-healthy antioxidants

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Michael Bernstein  – A new scientific study positions walnuts in the No. 1 slot among a family of foods that lay claim to being among Mother Nature’s most nearly perfect packaged foods: Tree and ground nuts. In a report here today at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, scientists presented an analysis showing that walnuts have a combination of more healthful antioxidants and higher quality antioxidants than any other nut.

“Walnuts rank above peanuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios and other nuts,” said Joe Vinson, Ph.D., who did the analysis. “A handful of walnuts contains almost twice as much antioxidants as an equivalent amount of any other commonly consumed nut. But unfortunately, people don’t eat a lot of them. This study suggests that consumers should eat more walnuts as part of a healthy diet.”

Vinson noted that nuts in general have an unusual combination of nutritional benefits — in addition those antioxidants — wrapped into a convenient and inexpensive package. Nuts, for instance, contain plenty of high-quality protein that can substitute for meat; vitamins and minerals; dietary fiber; and are dairy- and gluten-free. Years of research by scientists around the world link regular consumption of small amounts of nuts or peanut butter with decreased risk of heart disease, certain kinds of cancer, gallstones, Type 2 diabetes, and other health problems.

Despite all the previous research, scientists until now had not compared both the amount and quality of antioxidants found in different nuts, Vinson said. He filled that knowledge gap by analyzing antioxidants in nine different types of nuts: walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias, and pecans. Walnuts had the highest levels of antioxidants.

Vinson also found that the quality, or potency, of antioxidants present in walnuts was highest among the nuts. Antioxidants in walnuts were 2-15 times as potent as vitamin E, renowned for its powerful antioxidant effects that protect the body against damaging natural chemicals involved in causing disease.

“There’s another advantage in choosing walnuts as a source of antioxidants,” said Vinson, who is with the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. “The heat from roasting nuts generally reduces the quality of the antioxidants. People usually eat walnuts raw or unroasted, and get the full effectiveness of those antioxidants.” …

via Walnuts are top nut for heart-healthy antioxidants.

 

>New idea: Figh terrorists with curry powder (a cheap sensor for explosives)

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Jason Palmer– The main chemical in the curry spice turmeric could be the basis for cheap explosives detectors, say researchers.

The curcumin molecule is already well-known in medicine for its anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties.

Now, research presented at the American Physical Society meeting suggests it could replace more complex solutions to spot explosives like TNT.

As it gathers molecules of explosive material in air, changes in its light-emitting properties can be measured.

This “fluorescence spectroscopy” is already employed in a wide array of sensing and analysis techniques.

Illuminating some chemicals causes them to re-emit light of a different colour, sometimes for extended periods – an effect exploited in, for example, glow-in-the-dark materials.

The intensity of this re-emitted light can change if different molecules bind to the fluorescent ones, and that is how sensing techniques exploit the effect. …

via BBC News – Curry powder molecule ‘is cheap sensor for explosives’.

>Mass honeybee deaths now occurring worldwide, says UN

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For several decades, colony collapse disorder (CCD) — a mysterious condition where entire bee colonies die for seemingly no obvious reason — has been inflicting bee populations across both Europe and the US. But scientists from the United Nations (UN) say the phenomenon is now a global crisis, afflicting bees across China, Japan, and Africa, as well as in other places.

The report, issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), explains what many NaturalNews readers already know — mainly that without bees, there will be no more food. Bees are one of nature’s primary pollinators, and over 70 percent of the world’s food supply relies on them to grow.

“Human beings have fabricated the illusion that in the 21st century they have the technological prowess to be independent of nature,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director. “Bees underline the reality that we are more, not less, dependent on nature’s services in a world of close to seven billion people.”

One such mode of “technological prowess” is the flagrant and irresponsible use of genetically-modified organisms (GMO). GMO technology is heavily reliant on the use of toxic pesticides and herbicides, which several recent studies have pinned to the widespread bee deaths (http://www.naturalnews.com/025287_b…).

In January, a leaked document revealed that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actually knowingly approved a bee-killing pesticides known as clothianidin. This Bayer CropScience chemical has been identified as a primary instigator of CCD, and yet it has remained freely available on the market since 1993 when the EPA first approved it. …

via Mass honeybee deaths now occurring worldwide, says UN.

>Sausage contained 104 percent meat

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A Swedish man has reported a charcuterie in the north of Sweden to the Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket). The reason – according to the label there is too much meat in the sausages. The man, who purchased his sausages in the ski resort of Åre, was surprised to find that the meat content was 104 percent.

“Personally I can’t accept that anything contains over 100 percent. And this sausage couldn’t possibly contain more than 100 percent meat as there are other ingredients stated on the label,” he wrote in the report.

After reading the label, the man asked the shop how the percentage of meat in the sausages could be so high.

He was told that more meat is required in making the sausage than actually ends up in the product.

However, not satisfied with this he decided to report the misleading label to the consumer agency, according to Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.

At Trångsvikens Chark AB, the charcuterie that make the sausages, they agree that the labelling can be difficult to understand.

CEO Marcus Färnström explained to local newspaper Länstidningen Östersund that what it actually means is 104 g meat has been used per every 100g sausage.

“Of course there is a different way to declare the ingredients and perhaps that is what we’re going to have to do,” he told Länstidningen Östersund. …

via Sausage contained 104 percent meat – The Local.