Did You Know?
Atomic Beans
A team from the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in Bombay, India, was recently cited in the magazine New Scientist as claiming that drinking coffee can protect people from radioactivity. The group allegedly based its conclusion upon results of a study of 471 mice which were injected with varying amounts of caffeine and then exposed to 7.5 grays of gamma radiation—a normally lethal dose. Researchers found that 25 days later 70 percent of the mice given 80 milligrams of caffeine were still alive, which all 196 mice not given caffeine had died. According to outside experts, however, to receive the same protection a man weighing 150 pounds would need to drink at least 100 cups of coffee.
Superpigs!
Imagine a hog the size of a Guernsey cow! According to British pig experts, attempts may be underway in China to breed genetically modified superpigs with hams up to four times the normal size. The concerns follow reports of an attempt in England two years ago to produce genetically modified salmon that grow up to four times faster than normal—a project that was abandoned due to fears the fish might escape. The project was made possible after scientists identified the genetic fault which causes muscle doubling in mammals, the same genetic fault that could be use to breed super-sized hogs.
Dr. John Webb, director of science and genetics at the Cotswold Pig Development Company in Lincolnshire, England, believes China to be the most likely country to be involved in superpig development. According to Webb, the Chinese, who have a long history of pig breeding, rely on the Meishan pig, which gives birth to 16 rather than the usual 12 piglets and could become the target of genetic modification.
The introduction of the superpig, notes Webb, could result in a 30% drop in the price of pork, driving entire countries out of the market.
Got (Organic) Milk?
Although organic dairy products account for only 0.3% of the $75-billion American dairy market, analysts predict that by 2005 that figure could reach to 2%, a nearly seven-fold increase. Among the elements accounting for the market boom: the continued use of the hormone rBGH, used in dairy cattle to increase milk production by as much as 25%. The demand for organic milk products began, say analysts, with the 1993 FDA approval of the use of rBGH.
Got Sphingolipids?
In a related story, according to a recent article in SUDIA Research Briefs, studies suggest that sphingolipids, one of the natural compounds found in milk, may represent a “functional” component of food that helps lower cholesterol as well as prevent colon cancer.
Exciting New Beef Chemical Dehairing Process
According to the August 1999 Farm Journal, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is about to negotiate a contract with an engineering firm to finalize development of a prototype chemical dehairing process that, when combined with beef irradiation technology, could give the beef packing industry the capability of shipping a sterilized product. The process was developed by students at Colorado State University under the tutelage of Gary Smith, Monfort Professor of Meat Science. According to Smith, the process, which utilizes a mixture of sodium sulfide and potassium sulfide to loosen the hair, has been shown to successfully remove “essentially all” of the pathogens from the outside of beef carcasses prior to packing plant production. Plant operators believe almost all of the E. coli cases they deal with can be traced to preharvest microbial contamination caused by dirty hides and hair. Utilizing such a process to clean up cattle at the packing plant rather than the farm would represent a major breakthrough in industry efforts to provide safe beef to the consumer, if for no other reason than it would involve fewer than 50 slaughter plants rather than 50,000 feedlots or a million producer operations, as is presently the case.