Did You Know?
Fresher Produce Longer
Senesco Technologies, Inc, a Princeton, New Jersey-based agrobiotechnology company developing gene technology to prolong shelf life in produce, recently announced that it has significantly delayed the aging process in detached leaves of the Arabidopsis plant. “We have made second generation (T2) transgenic plants which exhibit delayed senescence (aging),” explained Senesco Executive V.P. John E. Thompson, Ph.D. “Detached leaves of the transgenic plants are still green after ten days, whereas those from the unaltered plants begin to yellow within two to three days. After one week, levels of chlorophyll (in the T2 plants) are on average 800% higher.” It is believed that when this trait is transferred to crop plants it may have significant impact on the crop yields of cereals and the shelf life of everything from flowers to fruits and vegetables.
New Killer Strain of E. Coli
Infectious disease specialists in Japan recently announced the emergence of a new deadly strain of E. coli. Although the O157 strain accounts for most fatal attacks of the bacteria worldwide, Japanese health officials report that O86 strain was responsible for the death of a 3-year-old boy in early October. While this death from E. coli O86 may be an isolated case, health experts warn that the O86 strain merits close attention, noting that 20 years ago, death from the O157 strain was equally uncommon.
Cheaper, Faster, Better Biosensors
The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) recently announced the development of a bacterial sensing device which can simultaneously identify species and determine concentrations of 12 different pathogens, including E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, in food products, and can do so in less than two hours while in operation on a processing plant floor. Although tests for bacterial pathogens in meat are currently not required by government agencies, those companies which do perform such tests complain that they are costly and slow—often failing to yield results for 48 to 72 hours. The new GTRI biosensors are are expected to cost an estimated $1,000 to $5,000 each and will be able to detect pathogens at minute levels of a mere 500 cells per milliliter.
The Glut of Illegal Imports
How safe are imported foods? According to a recent article appearing in the Newark, New Jersey Star-Ledger, spoiled and contaminated foods regularly slip by government inspectors at U.S. ports nationwide due to loopholes in import rules and/or to lax or spotty enforcement and inspection. According to federal regulations, any food items deemed spoiled or unfit for import must be re-exported or destroyed within 90 days, yet according to this story, it is not uncommon for shady importers to substitute safe food for the questionable product that is supposed to be tested, or to ship product deemed contaminated in one port to a second port, where it slips past inspectors. Often the shippers don't even wait for the lab results, selling food immediately to distributors; then, when told to destroy food they know is already on store shelves, to substitute anything that looks like a close match in an effort to fool inspectors. “We’re probably not catching most of the contaminated food coming in,” admits Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director of the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest. Which is no wonder, since the FDA currently inspects less than 2% of all foreign shipments passed by the U.S. Customs Agency.
U.S.D.A.’s Experimental Meat Inspection System
The U.S.D.A., says a recent wire story by the Associated Press, is testing a new meat inspection system in which processing plant employees do most of the hands-on examination of produce quality while government inspectors focus on potential hazards to human health, such as Salmonella and fecal contamination. The experimental system is designed to free inspectors to move along the processing lines to ensure the machinery is in proper working order, and to conduct more extensive sampling of the meat—both on the line as well as in warehouses and other distribution points. Critics of the system, implemented October 4th at a poultry plant in Alabama, believe it allows companies to police themselves. Many inspectors agree. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 7,000 inspectors, has sued the U.S.D.A. in an effort to quash the new system, contending it would circumvent the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1907 that requires the agency to physically examine every meat and poultry carcass after it is slaughtered.