FSnet April 30/08
NEW
MEXICO: Restaurant workers diagnosed with hepatitis A
300
Inmates in FLORIDA get food poisoning "I wonder why"
KUWAIT
bans local milk
Bureaucracy hampers an E. coli weapon
GEORGIA:
Restaurant inspections
CANADA:
Health hazard alert – GD Ground Cumin may contain Salmonella bacteria
Pew
commission says industrial scale farm animal production poses 'unacceptable'
risks to public health, environment
From
cheese might to cheese mites
An
unlikely way to save a species: serve it for dinner
how to subscribe
NEW MEXICO: Restaurant workers
diagnosed with hepatitis A
29.apr.08
KOB.com
Eyewitness News 4
http://kob.com/article/stories/S428512.shtml?cat=517
Two Albuquerque I-HOP restaurants are under the microscope after two of its
workers were diagnosed with hepatitis A.
According to the New Mexico Department of Health, the employees work at the
I-HOP on Wyoming and Paseo and at the one near Interstate-25 and Montano.
Anyone who ate at either restaurant after March 22 and is feeling sick, is urged
to see a doctor.
Symptoms of hepatitis A include fever, vomiting, and diarrhea.
300 Inmates
in FLORIDA get food poisoning "I wonder why"
30.apr.08
Larry M. Stone Food Safety Advocate
Wendy Victoria
http://bullstone-larrym.blogspot.com/
More than 300 inmates at the Santa Rosa County Correctional Institution fell ill
Saturday from what authorities suspect was food poisoning.
Of those, 177 required treatment, according to Jo Ellyn Rackleff, public
information officer for the Florida Department of Corrections.
“The (Santa Rosa) Health Department took stool cultures from a sampling of the
cases to help us determine the source of the outbreak,” she wrote in a press
release. “At this time, no determination has been made.”
She said there were no new cases as of Sunday.
There are about 1,400 inmates at the facility.
Martheny Burgess of Crestview had heard from her brother, who is an inmate, that
they were “quarantined,” but didn’t know why. He did not become ill.
She called the facility to find out what was going on, because she was concerned
about her children, who visited their uncle recently.
On Tuesday morning, she got a message that it was food poisoning.
“I was just glad to find out what was going on,” she said. “I was so worried.”
Rackleff said that during the outbreak, no prisoners were accepted or released.
The movement of inmates inside the facility was also restricted.
“Whatever was necessary was done,” Rackleff said.
KUWAIT bans
local milk
30.apr.08
Kuwait Times
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTA2OTE4NjM0OA==
The Municipality yesterday banned the sale of unpacked fluid milk in the
country. The move came following an outbreak of cow tuberculosis. Coops have
already begun pulling local milk and beef products from shelves over fears of
infection.
The ban was decided during a meeting of the Food Safety Committee under the
Municipality, which focused on cow TB, Mohamed Al-Etebi, chairman of the
committee said. The committee asked the Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs
and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) to compile a detailed report on necessary measures
for preventing cow tuberculosis and a potential ban on infected cow farms, he
said.
Bureaucracy
hampers an E. coli weapon
28.apr.08
Business Week
Jennifer L. Schenker
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2008/gb20080428_491230.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe+index+page_top+stories
On Mar. 21 French supermarket chains Carrefour (CARR.PA) and Monoprix (CASP.PA)
began alerting consumers that more than two tons of ground meat infected with E.
coli bacteria had been sold in stores throughout France. One of the country's
top food preparation companies, Socopa, revealed that routine tests run on meat
prepared on Mar. 10-11 had detected the bacterium, but its presence wasn't
confirmed until Mar. 21—long enough for contaminated products to make it onto
dinner plates. At least 40 people were sickened. E. coli can cause not only
violent intestinal trouble, but also kidney damage or even death.
If GeneSystems has its way, such a scenario won't be allowed to happen again.
The seven-year-old biotech company, based near Rennes, in France's Brittany
region, claims its technology can slash the time needed to confirm the presence
of E. coli in raw beef from a matter of days to just eight hours—fast enough to
yank infected meat before it hits supermarket shelves.
GeneSystems, which has raised $15 million in venture capital, accomplishes this
feat by doing away with traditional slow-growing Petri dish cultures, instead
harnessing a molecular biology technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
that produces as many as 100 billion copies of a strand of DNA in a single
afternoon. With a large sample to work from, lab technicians can more easily
spot bacteria such as E. coli using diagnostic equipment. The company's
technology also can be used to screen for Salmonella, Legionnaires' disease, and
Listeria.
The story says that GeneSystems has run into a wall of red tape and resistance
to change among public-health authorities in Europe, especially in France, who
aren't ready to accept tests based on PCR. According to Darryl Spurling, the
chief executive of GeneSystems, the food industry and regulators are still
"deeply wedded" to slow tests using cultures grown in Petri dishes, a method
first introduced in 1887.
The disadvantage of that approach was highlighted by the recent E. coli scare in
France, when slow confirmation of the bacteria's presence allowed tainted meat
into the food supply. But GeneSystems claims advantages other than just speed.
The company's technology also is the first anywhere that can detect five of the
most virulent strains of E. coli, compared with just the one strain, called
O157, spotted by traditional culture tests using antibodies.
E. coli isn't the only menace GeneSystems can detect. In 1998, France was shaken
up by an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, a virulent pneumonia caused by the
obscure Legionella bacterium that can thrive in water systems. The government
passed a law requiring regular testing of cooling towers in factories and public
showers—giving rise to a market for Legionella testing that tops $160 million
per year.
The Legionella culture test takes two weeks to produce results, but GeneSystems
can spot the bug in just three hours. Despite the clear public-health advantage,
the company has been fighting an uphill battle since 2000 to gain acceptance for
its PCR-based tests. GeneSystems is lobbying the French government to amend its
law, which mandates the use of Petri cultures, but can't estimate when that may
happen.
In the meantime, approval could come sooner for wider use of GeneSystems' E.
coli test. The company's technology has fared well in independent evaluations
conducted by national laboratories around Europe, including the German National
Reference Laboratory in Berlin. But PCR can't be used Europewide in place of
cultures until the EU develops a "reference test," a draft of which already has
been circulated, that covers the same five strains of E. coli that GeneSystems
can detect. CEO Spurling says he expects a formal reference to be adopted in
2009, at which point the company's technology will have an official green light.
GeneSystems isn't twiddling its thumbs until that happens. "Fortunately
supermarkets are not going to wait for government regulation to catch up," says
founder Festoc. Although it's not the legal fault of retailers if they sell
contaminated meat, they have the most to lose from food scares in terms of
public confidence and brand impact. GeneSystems says it expects to sign up at
least one major European supermarket chain as a customer in the coming weeks.
GEORGIA:
Restaurant inspections
29.apr.08
The Northeast Georgian
http://www.thenortheastgeorgian.com/articles/2008/04/29/news/business/02business.txt
Following are the food service inspections for April 22-23 by the Habersham
County Health Department's Environmental Health Section.
A score of 85 and above is considered passing. Food service establishments are
required to post their score sheets in public so that customers can review them.
For more information about an inspection, contact the environmental health
office at (706) 776-7659.
April 22
n Fairview Elementary, Demorest. Inspection time: not listed. Purpose of
inspection: routine. Score: 100; current grade: A.
n North Habersham Middle School, 1500 Wall Bridge Road, Clarkesville. Inspection
time: Not listed. Purpose of inspection: routine. Current score: 100; current
grade: A.
n Habersham County Senior Center, Demorest. Inspection time: not listed. Purpose
of inspection: routine. Current score: 99; current grade: A. Consumer advisory
provided for raw and uncooked foods. Food additives: approved and properly used.
Compliance with variance, specialized process and HACCP plan process and HACCP.
Garbage refuse properly disposed, facilities maintained.
April 23
n Lee Arrendale State Prison, Old Gainesville Highway, Alto. Inspection time:
2:15 p.m. Purpose of inspection: routine. Current score: 99; current grade: A;
last score: 100. Out of compliance with the following: Physical facilities
installed, maintained and clean.
n South Habersham Sixth Grade Academy, 427 Cash St., Cornelia. Current score:
100; current grade: A.
n Cornelia Elementary, Cornelia. Current score: 100; current grade: A.
CANADA:
Health hazard alert – GD Ground Cumin may contain Salmonella bacteria
29.apr.08
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Ottawa -- The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning the public not
to consume GD Ground Cumin described below because the product may be
contaminated with Salmonella.
The affected product, GD Ground Cumin, is sold in a 31 g package bearing UPC 6
20383 01038 2. The following lot codes 01X22C, 01X29C, 02X07C and 02X13C are
affected by this alert.
This product has been distributed in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario
and Alberta.
There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this
product.
Food contaminated with Salmonella may not look or smell spoiled. Consumption of
food contaminated with this bacteria may cause salmonellosis, a foodborne
illness. In young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems,
salmonellosis may cause serious and sometimes deadly infections. In otherwise
healthy people, salmonellosis may cause short-term symptoms such as high fever,
severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Long-term
complications may include severe arthritis.
The manufacturer, Les Aliments G. Dion, Saint-Jérôme, QC, is voluntarily
recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the
effectiveness of the recall.
For more information, consumers and industry can call the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342
/ TTY 1-800-465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday).
For information on Salmonella, visit the Food Facts web page at
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/causee.shtml.
For information on receiving recalls by e-mail, or for other food safety facts,
visit our web site at www.inspection.gc.ca.
Pew
commission says industrial scale farm animal production poses 'unacceptable'
risks to public health, environment
29.apr.08
Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/pew-commission-says-industrial-scale,372338.shtml
WASHINGTON -- The current industrial farm animal production (IFAP) system often
poses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of
the animals themselves, according to an extensive 2 1/2-year examination
conducted by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP),
in a study released today.
Commissioners have determined that the negative effects of the IFAP system are
too great and the scientific evidence is too strong to ignore. Significant
changes must be implemented and must start now. And while some areas of animal
agriculture have recognized these threats and have taken action, it is clear
that the industry has a long way to go.
Public Health
Over the past five decades, the number of farms producing animals for food has
fallen dramatically, yet the number of food animals produced has remained
roughly constant. It is the concentration of farm animals in larger and larger
numbers in close proximity to one another, along with the potential of IFAP
facilities to affect people, that give rise to many of the public health
concerns that are attributed to IFAP. Animals in such close confinement, along
with some of the feed and animal management methods employed in the system,
increase pathogen risks and magnify opportunities for transmission from animals
to humans. This increased risk is due to at least three factors: prolonged
worker contact with animals, increased pathogen transmission within a herd or
flock, and the increased opportunities for the generation of antimicrobial
resistant bacteria (due to imprudent antimicrobial use) or new strains of
viruses. Stresses induced by confinement may also increase the likelihood of
infection and illness in animal populations.
Communities near IFAP facilities are subject to air emissions that can
significantly affect certain segments of the population. Those most
vulnerable--children, the elderly, and individuals with chronic or acute
pulmonary or heart disorders--are at particular risk. The impacts on the health
of those living near IFAP facilities have increasingly been the subject of
epidemiological research. Adverse community health effects from exposure to IFAP
air emissions fall into two categories: (1) respiratory symptoms, disease and
impaired function, and (2) neurobehavioral symptoms and impaired function.
Environment
As with public health impacts, much of IFAP's environmental impact stems from
the tremendous quantities of animal waste that are concentrated on IFAP
premises. Animal waste in such volumes may exceed the capacity of the landscape
to absorb the nutrients and neutralize pathogens. Thus, what should be a
valuable byproduct (e.g., fertilizer) becomes a waste that must be disposed of.
According to the EPA, the annual production of manure produced by animal
confinement facilities exceeds that produced by humans by at least three times.
Unlike most human sewage, the majority of IFAP is spread on the ground
untreated. Manure in such large quantities carries excess nutrients and farm
chemicals that find their way into waterways, lakes, groundwater, soils and
airways. Excess and inappropriate land application of untreated animal waste on
cropland contributes to excessive nutrient loading and, ultimately,
eutrophication of surface waters. Eutrophication is an excess of nutrients in a
body of water, mostly nitrates and phosphates from erosion and runoff of
surrounding lands, that causes a dense growth of plant life and the death of
aquatic animal life due to lack of oxygen.
IFAP runoff also carries antibiotics and hormones, pesticides, and heavy metals.
Antibiotics are used to prevent and treat bacterial infections and as growth
promoters. Pesticides are used to control insect infestations and fungal growth.
Heavy metals, especially zinc and copper, are added as micronutrients to the
animal diet.
According to a 2006 UN report, globally, greenhouse gas emissions from all
livestock operations account for 18% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas
emissions, exceeding those from the transportation sector. IFAP can produce
greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. Other greenhouse gases,
primarily nitrous oxide, arise mainly from the microbial degradation of manure.
Air quality degradation is also a problem in and around IFAP facilities because
of the localized release of significant quantities of toxic gases, odorous
substances, and particulates and bioaerosols that contain a variety of
microorganisms including human pathogens. Some of the most objectionable
compounds are the organic acids, which include acetic acid, butyric acids,
valeric acids, caproic acids, and propanoic acid; sulfur containing compounds
such as hydrogen sulfide and dimethyl sulfide; and nitrogen-containing compounds
including ammonia, methyl amines, methyl pyrazines, skatoles and indoles.
It is also recognized that ammonia emissions from livestock contribute
significantly to the eutrophication and acidification of soil and water. Some
level of nutrient overload occurs naturally, but this process can be accelerated
by human activities. Acidification can put stress on species diversity in the
natural environment.
Animal Welfare
IFAP methods for raising food animals have generated concern and debate over
just what constitutes a reasonable life for animals and what kind of quality of
life we owe the animals in our care. It is an ethical dilemma that transcends
objective scientific measures, and incorporates value-based concerns. Physical
health as measured by absence of some diseases or predation, for example, may be
enhanced through confinement since the animals may not be exposed to certain
infectious agents or sources of injury that would be encountered if the animals
were raised outside of confinement. It is clear, however, that good animal
welfare can no longer be assumed based only on the absence of disease or
productivity outcomes. Intensive confinement (e.g. gestation crates for swine,
battery cages for laying hens) often so severely restricts movement and natural
behaviors, such as the ability to walk or lie on natural materials, having
enough floor space to move with some freedom, and rooting for pigs, that it
increases the likelihood that the animals suffer severe distress.
A number of retailers, such as Burger King, Wolfgang Puck, and Safeway, are
beginning to move away from supporting suppliers that use some of these extreme
confinement practices. Florida, Arizona, Oregon and Colorado are phasing out
gestation crates while Arizona and Colorado are phasing out veal crates, too. A
measure on California's November ballot -- the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty
Act -- would phase out battery cages, gestation crates and veal crates. These
are the types of modest animal welfare public policy improvements that the
Commissioners recommend implementing.
Rural America
Life in rural America has long been challenged by persistent poverty. The causes
are many, but among them is the lack of economic diversity in rural economies.
Workers have few options in the event of a plant closure or other dislocation,
and unemployment rates are high. Consequently, IFAP is frequently considered an
attractive new source of economic opportunity by local economic development
officials, but with this transition comes significant change including public
health threats.
The industrialization of American agriculture has transformed the character of
agriculture itself and, in so doing, the face of rural America. The family-owned
farm producing a diverse mix of crops and food animals is largely gone as an
economic entity, replaced by ever-larger operations producing just one animal
species, or growing just one crop, and many rural communities have fared poorly.
As the food animal industry shifted to a system of captive supply transactions
controlled by production contracts, economic power shifted from farmers to
livestock processors or so-called integrators. Farmers relinquished their once
autonomous, animal husbandry decision -- making authority in exchange for
contracts that provide assured payment, but require substantial capital
investment. Once the commitment is made to such capital investment, many farmers
have no choice but to continue to produce until the loan is paid off. Such
contracts make it nearly impossible for there to be open and competitive markets
for most hog and poultry producers, who must enter into contracts with the
integrators (meat packing companies) if they are to sell their production.
Although the proponents of the industrialization of animal agriculture point to
the increased economic efficiency of IFAP operations, the Commission is
concerned that the benefits may not accrue in the same way to affected rural
communities. In fact, industrialization leading to corporate ownership actually
draws investment and wealth from the communities in which specific IFAP
facilities are located.
The Commission's recommendations focus on appropriate siting of IFAP facilities
in order to prevent further degradation of air, water, and soils and to minimize
the impact on adjacent communities.
Below are the Commission's key recommendations. 1. Ban the non-therapeutic use
of antimicrobials in food animal production to reduce the risk of antimicrobial
resistance to medically important antibiotics and other microbials. 1. Implement
a disease monitoring program for food animals to allow 48-hour trace-back of
those animals through aspects of their production, in a fully integrated and
robust national database. 1. Treat IFAP as an industrial operation and implement
a new system to deal with farm waste to replace the inflexible and broken system
that exists today, to protect Americans from the adverse environmental and human
health hazards of improperly handled IFAP waste. 1. Phase out the most intensive
and inhumane production practices within a decade to reduce the risk of IFAP to
public health and improve animal wellbeing (i.e., gestation crates and battery
cages). 1. Federal and state laws need to be amended and enforced to provide a
level playing field for producers when entering contracts with integrators. 1.
Increase funding for, expand and reform, animal agriculture research.
"The goal of this Commission is to sound the alarms that significant change is
urgently needed in industrial farm animal production," says John Carlin, PCIFAP
Chairman and former Kansas governor. "I believe that the IFAP system was first
developed simply to help increase farmer productivity and that the negative
effects were never intended. Regardless, the consequences are real and serious
and must be addressed."
Our energy, water and climate resources are undergoing dramatic changes that, in
the judgment of the Commissioners, will require agriculture to transition to
much more biologically diverse systems, organized into biological interactions
that exchange energy, improve soil quality, and conserve water and other
resources. "Long-term success will depend on the nation's ability to transform
from an industrial economy that depends on quickly diminishing resources to one
that is more sustainable, employing renewable resources and understanding of how
all food production affects public health and the environment," says Michael
Blackwell, PCIFAP Vice Chair and former dean of the University of Tennessee
College of Veterinary Medicine and former Assistant Surgeon General, (Ret.)
USPHS.
The PCIFAP consists of 15 Commissioners who bring individual knowledge and
expertise in diverse fields, including public policy, veterinary medicine,
public health, agriculture, animal welfare, the food industry and rural society.
The Commission assessed the current state of industrial animal agriculture based
on site visits to production facilities across the country; consultation with
industry stakeholders, public health, medical and agriculture experts; public
meetings; peer-reviewed technical reports; staff research; and Commissioners'
own expertise. PCIFAP is a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
For a copy of the final report visit http://www.pcifap.org/. MEDIA CONTACT:
Ralph Loglisci: (202) 223-2996 rloglisci@pcifap.org or Jamie Shor: (202)
628-7772 jshor@venturecommunications.com
Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production
From cheese
might to cheese mites
29.apr.08
National Post
Vanessa Farquharson
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theappetizer/archive/2008/04/29/from-cheese-might-to-cheese-mites.aspx
Sitting down to five glasses of beer and a tray full of cheese at 10:30 a.m.
yesterday, I was reminded why I love my job. At U of T's Hart House in downtown
Toronto, the 4th annual Ontario Cheese Society conference — an event with a
ticket price of $175 — about 50 people had gathered to learn about local dairy
initiatives, the raw milk debate, the emergence of ethnic cheeses across the
province and, most importantly, why Fifth Town's fresh maple chevre pairs
perfectly with Barley Days' Sugar Shack ale (the sweet, creamy mouth feel and
the tart finish of the cheese complements the warm, malty bitterness of the
beer).
We had just listened to Mike Schreiner, VP of Local Food Plus, give a
presentation about the sustainability trend and how dairy farmers might benefit
from marketing themselves as a low-carbon but high-quality alternative to
imported Camemberts and Stiltons. Now, it was time to get our drink on and put
our lactase enzymes to good use.
Being a good reporter who plans ahead, I had done some gastronomical training in
advance, making sure I consumed at least three portions of cheese every day for
five days leading up to the conference, alternating between hard stuff like
Cantenaar (my favourite) and softer stuff like double-cream Brie.
My plate included the Fifth Town chevre mentioned above, as well as Ewenity's
herb sheep milk cheese, Upper Canada's Niagara Gold cheese, which comes from a
rare breed of cows developed by monks, Jensen's unpasteurized 4-year-old cheddar
and Monforte's chocolate goat's milk cheese with cayenne. Local beers were
brought out to taste with each one.
Sadly, I couldn't finish all my beer and cheese, but the man next to me downed
his portions with no problem at all.
It turned out he was Jim Atchison, the manager of Black River, based in Prince
Edward County, which sources all its milk from local farms, ages it naturally
and is rennet-free (if you don't know what rennet is, have a look-see over here
and prepare to be revolted).
He gave me a brief lesson in the basics of cheese-making, but there was a strict
schedule, so it wasn't long before we were asked to turn around and pay
attention to the next seminar, called Tasting Place: The True Terroir of Cheese,
in which U of T geography professor Kenneth Ian MacDonald elevated things to a
more academic level.
Suddenly it was all about the transnational dimensions of cheese, cheese as a
vehicle for understanding social relations, the physicality of cheese and the
experience of consuming diversity and place... through cheese.
This talk should perhaps have occurred before the beer-drinking, but no matter —
it was still interesting.
Soon enough, though, it was time for lunch, which meant time for even more
cheese.
I sat down with a couple of older guys who didn't quite look like farmers;
indeed, my hunch was proved correct: they were bureaucrats, with the Canadian
Food Inspection Agency. I wondered if they'd had an awkward run-in yet with
Michael Schmidt, the Ontario raw milk farmer who's about to go on trial May 23rd
in defense of his unpasteurized products and who was sitting just two tables
away.
Instead, though, I asked, "What's the grossest thing you've ever seen while on
the job?"
They both concurred: Cheese mites.
Apparently there was one time where a guy had to sweep an aging room full of
dust, then after returning 10 minutes later, the dust pile had moved. By itself.
Ew.
Then it was time for the panel discussion on ethnic cheese. Get this: There's
this guy, Nissim Avraham, whose official title is Ethnic Market Specialist for
the Dairy Farmers of Ontario — basically, he's in charge of increasing the
presence and promotion of alternative cheeses, from Indian paneer to Halal
cheddar, Chinese yogurt drinks and Kosher Munster (apparently Eldorado Dairy's
Ultra-Kosher Munster and cheese curds flew off the shelves of Sobey's during
Passover).
The conference continued on for another few hours with sessions in grassland
management, cheese merchandizing, raw cheese safety and finally an
open-to-the-public tasting and marketplace. By the time I got home, I was pretty
cheesed-out, but when I opened my fridge to look for some dinner all I could see
was cream cheese, organic cheddar, some leftover feta... and beer. My stomach
was begging for something green and leafy, but it wasn't going to happen. I
decided, in the end, to just suck it up and go all out: Cheese on toast it was.
An unlikely
way to save a species: serve it for dinner
30.apr.08
New York Times
Kim Severson
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/dining/30come.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Gary Paul Nabhan has, according to this story, spent most of the past four years
compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once fairly
commonplace in American kitchens but are now threatened, endangered or
essentially extinct in the marketplace. He has set out to save them, which often
involves urging people to eat them.
Mr. Nabhan’s list, 1,080 items and growing, forms the basis of his new book, an
engaging journey through the nooks and crannies of American culinary history
titled “Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s
Most Endangered Foods” (Chelsea Green Publishing, $35).
The book tells the stories of 93 ingredients both obscure (Ny’pa, a type of salt
grass) and beloved (the Black Sphinx date), along with recipes that range from
the accessible (Centennial pecan pie) to the challenging (whole pit-roasted
Plains pronghorn antelope).
To make the list, an animal or plant — whether American eels, pre-Civil War
peanuts or Seneca hominy flint corn — has to be more than simply edible. It must
meet a set of criteria that define it as a part of American culture, too. Mr.
Nabhan’s book is part of a larger effort to bring foods back from the brink by
engaging nursery owners, farmers, breeders and chefs to grow and use them.
His work is based on extensive trips around the country, where he listened to
old-timers and cataloged hundreds of hard-to-find plants and animals, like the
finicky Datil chili pepper (originally from Cuba), the Bronx grape and the
long-stemmed Harrison cider apple from New Jersey.
The gastronomic group Slow Food U.S.A. assesses whether foods on Mr. Nabhan’s
list are delicious and meaningful enough in the communities where they
originated to be worth reviving and promoting. Foods that do become part of what
the group calls its Ark of Taste.
The Chefs Collaborative, a group of more than 1,000 professional cooks and
others dedicated to sustainable cuisine, willingly signed on, too. Several
members incorporated traditional ingredients into modern restaurant dishes,
holding a series of picnics last year to show off their work.
And everyone in Mr. Nabhan’s alliance tried to encourage farmers and ranchers to
grow the seeds and the breeds, promising to deliver buyers if they did.
That is the most complicated part of reviving traditional food, said Makalé
Faber Cullen, a cultural anthropologist with Slow Food U.S.A. who contributed to
the book. Farmers are often more concerned with innovating and crossbreeding
than in preserving cultural traditions or encouraging biological diversity.
FSnet is produced by the International Food Safety Network at
Kansas State University, and is supported at the Gold Fork level by: Marler
Clark.
FSnet is supported at the Sterling Fork level by: Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture, Ontario Cattlemen's Association, Food and Rural Affairs.
FSnet is supported at the Silver-plate Fork level by: The National Restaurant
Association, Sholl Group/Green Giant Fresh, Feedlot Health Management Services,
McDonald's, Syngenta Crop Protection Canada.
The Food Safety Network presents a unique opportunity to bring together all
those associated with agriculture and food, to enhance the safety of the food
supply. To provide financial support to the Food Safety Network, please visit
http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/donations.php. For information on collaboration
or fee-for-service opportunities, please contact Dr. Doug Powell:
dpowell@ksu.edu
To subscribe to the html version of FSnet, send mail to:
(subscription is free)
listserv@listserv.ksu.edu
leave subject line blank
in the body of the message type:
subscribe fsnet-L firstname lastname
i.e. subscribe fsnet-L Doug Powell
(replace fsnet-L with fsnettext to subscribe to the text version)
To unsubscribe to the html version of FSnet, send mail to:
listserv@listserv.ksu.edu
leave subject line blank
in the body of the message type: signoff fsnet-L
(replace fsnet-L with fsnettext to unsubscribe from the text version)
For more information about the FSnet research program, please contact:
Dr. Douglas Powell
associate professor
dept. diagnostic medicine/pathobiology
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS
66506
cell: 785-317-0560
fax: 785-532-4039
dpowell@ksu.edu
http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu
archived at http://archives.foodsafety.ksu.edu/fsnet-archives.htm