Sanders Organic Farmstead

USDA will focus not only on operations that are currently engaged in organic production, but also on those farms making a transition to more organic agricultural practices.  The survey is critically important to farmers because its results will help shape USDA decisions regarding farm policy, funding allocations, availability of goods and services, community development and other key issues.

In addition, the information can help farmers make informed decisions about the future of their own farming operations.  For more information about the Organic Production Survey, visit www.agcensus.usda.gov or call (800) 727-9540.  Someone alert Ritchie down in Frankfort about this survey!!

Peanut Corporation of America’s president Stewart Parnell was recently subpoenaed to appear at the U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing. Mr. Parnell refused to testify and invoked his 5th Amendment right to refuse to incriminate himself, as did the manager of the PCA plant in Blakely, Georgia. The Georgia plant is a target in the current investigation of PCA’s role in the salmonella outbreak linked to peanut products.

The salmonella outbreak that has sickened some 600 people, may be linked to nine deaths and resulted in one of the largest product recalls of more than 1,900 items. Of interest to our readers, the congressional committee was shown internal emails at the hearing that were obtained from the company. 

The emails and other related documents are available on the House Committee’s website. The documents are interesting to read and really give you an insight on PCA’s corporate indifference to the salmonella outbreak.  Click on the highlighted text to go to the House Committee’s website and view these documents for yourself!

Like many Americans concerned about eating healthy as I grow older, I am eating more seafood and less red meat.  As such, I am often very concerned about the country of origin of the seafood in my local grocery or fish monger shop.  For example,

I often wonder about the purity of seafood, such as salmon or tilapia, which is raised in China.  That may be due to the fact that I have written about the potential downsides to fish farms, including accumulation of bio-waste and pharmaceutical wastes, and potential spread of disease to wild species from sick farm fish. It may also be due to concerns over raising a food source in highly polluted waters.      

According to a recent story in The New York Timest, China is the biggest producer and exporter of seafood in the world, and the fastest-growing supplier to the United States.   But that growth is threatened by the two most glaring environmental weaknesses in China: acute water shortages and water supplies contaminated by sewage, industrial waste and agricultural runoff that includes pesticides. The fish farms, in turn, are discharging wastewater that further pollutes the water supply.  The story is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/world/asia/15fish.html.

Despite such news stories and my personal trepidations, fish farms are here to stay and a growing source of seafood for the American consumer.  Thus, I was very pleased to find a program of Monterey Bay Aquarium designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources.  The program helps you chose which seafood to buy or avoid to promote sustainable food sources and helps consumers become advocates for environmentally friendly seafood.  

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has partnered with the Seafood Choices Alliance where, along with other seafood awareness campaigns, to provide consumers with recommendations on seafood choices.  You can also print out a handy pocket guide designed to help you choose ocean-friendly seafood wherever you live or travel. The pocket guide is at: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx

The Peanut Corporation of America has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a month after peanut products from its Blakely, Georgia facility were first recalled due to salmonella contamination. In its bankruptcy petition, the company estimated its assets to be worth between $1m to $10m, and its liabilities to be in the same range at the US Bankruptcy Court in the Western District of Virginia on February 12, 2009.

When a troubled business is badly in debt and unable to service that debt or pay its creditors, it may file (or be forced by its creditors to file) for bankruptcy in a federal court under Chapter 7.  A Chapter 7 filing means that the business ceases operations unless continued by the Chapter 7 Trustee.  A Chapter 7 Trustee is appointed almost immediately. The Trustee generally sells all the assets and distributes the proceeds to the creditors.

In a Chapter 7 case, a corporation or partnership does not receive a bankruptcy discharge—instead, the entity is dissolved. Only an individual can receive a Chapter 7 discharge (see 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(1)). Once all assets of the corporate or partnership debtor have been fully administered, the case is closed. The debts of the corporation or partnership theoretically continue to exist until applicable statutory periods of limitations expire.

Drinking fructose-sweetened beverages with meals may cause bigger rises in blood levels of triglycerides in obese people after the meal according to a newly published study.  Researchers from the Monell Center in Philadelphia report that obese people who drank a fructose-sweetened beverage with a meal had triglyceride levels almost 200 percent higher than obese people who drank a glucose-sweetened beverage with a meal.

The Monell study, published online by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, involved 17 obese men and women. The volunteers consumed two meals on different occasions. On both occasions they consumed a meal and a sweetened beverage. While the meals were the same on both occasions, the beverages were different, with one beverage sweetened by glucose, and the second by fructose.

The researchers found that, while the triglyceride levels did increase in all of the subjects, consumption of the fructose-sweetened beverages resulted in a total amount of triglycerides almost 200 per cent higher over a 24-hour period than consumption of the glucose-sweetened beverages.  The researchers also report that the effect was especially pronounced in insulin-resistant subjects, who already had increased triglyceride levels.

The researchers noted that future work would seek to determine the quantities of fructose necessary to cause the triglyceride increase when it is combined with glucose in beverages, potentially making a truly relevant link between experimental and commercially-available HFCS-sweetened beverages. Additional studies will also explore the metabolic and health effects of long-term fructose intake, said the researchers.

Triglycerides are manufactured by the body from dietary fat and function as fat transporters. While normal levels of triglycerides are essential for good health, increased levels have been linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.  

While the research may, on first glance, is more bad news for soft drinks sweetened by high fructose corn syrup (“HFCS”), the researchers note that they used pure fructose, and this sugar is typically is not used alone as a sweetener. Fructose, also referred to as fruit sugar is a simple monosaccharide.  HFCS in soft drinks and other sweetened beverages is often linked in medical studies to obesity.  Some scientists also claim that the human body processes HFCS differently than other sugars due to the fructose content, leading to greater fat storage. That essentially means, if you drink too many drinks with HFCS you will become FAT, which isn’t exactly rocket science or a deep stretch of the old noggin.

Despite growing public perception and scientific evidence, industry associations like the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) repeatedly claim there is no scientific evidence to suggest that HFCS is uniquely responsible for people becoming obese.  Indeed, the CRA has stated in the past that HFCS is not just fructose.  Indeed, HFCS consists of 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose.  

CRA’s denials do not make HFCS necessarily good for you or lessen the growing scientific and medial concerns over human health problems associated with use of this product in our food supply.   Perhaps a better solution is for Congress to tax HFCS-containing products based on the amount of HFCS in each serving to help cover national health care costs related to obesity in America. 

Source: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
Rapid Electronic Publication, available online 10 February 2009, doi:doi:10.1210/jc.2008-2192
“Endocrine and metabolic effects of consuming fructose- and glucose-sweetened beverages with meals in obese men and women: influence of insulin resistance on plasma triglyceride responses”
Authors: K.L. Teff, J. Grudziak, R.R. Townsend, T.N. Dunn, R.W. Grant, S.H. Adams, N.L. Keim, B.P. Cummings, K.L. Stanhope, P.J. Havel

The Kentucky Department for Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continue to investigate the source of an on-going nationwide foodborne illness outbreak. So far, the investigation has traced the outbreak – caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhimurium – to a Georgia-based food manufacturer known as Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).

PCA manufactures numerous items, such as peanut butter sold to institutional settings like long-term care facilities and cafeterias, and peanut paste, a concentrated product frequently used in commercially produced foods like cookies, cakes and crackers.  None of the bulk contaminated PCA products has been traced to Kentucky.

PCA was notified that product samples originating from its Blakely, Ga., processing plant tested positive Jan. 16 for Salmonella. Since then, PCA has expanded its voluntary recall to include all peanut butter produced on or after Aug. 8, 2008, and all peanut paste produced on or after Sept. 26, 2008, in its Blakely, Ga., plant because of potential Salmonella contamination. 

The product being recalled is sold by PCA in bulk packaging in containers ranging in size from five to 1,700 pounds. The peanut paste is sold in sizes ranging from 35-pound containers to products sold by the tanker container. While the bulk products are not sold directly to consumers, other products made from them may have been.  PCA has stopped all production at its plant as the FDA continues its investigation into the source of the Salmonella contamination.

Because identification of products subject to recall is continuing, Kentucky’s Department of Health urges consumers to check the Web site below or postpone eating commercially-prepared or manufactured peanut butter-containing products (such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream) and institutionally-served peanut butter until further information becomes available about which products may be affected. Efforts to specifically identify those products are ongoing. 

Recalled product information can be found at http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html  To date, no association has been found with major national brand name jars of peanut butter sold in grocery stores.

According to a report issued by the USDA, American farmers will harvest nearly 9 percent fewer acres of corn this year than last year, in part because of Midwest flooding which has damaged a portion of the crop.  Farmers planted 87.3 million acres of corn this year, down from last year’s 93.6 million acres.  This is a loss of about 7%.  Despite the reductions, the total number of planted acres is still the second highest since 1946, behind last year.

Planted acres decreased in the 10 major corn producing states – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin – in part because of high fertilizer prices, favorable prices for other crops and a return to normal crop rotation, the USDA said.

Illinois saw the largest decline, where farmers planted 12.3 million acres down from the record high of 13.2 million planted last year. Indiana decreased 800,000 acres and Minnesota, 600,000 acres. Iowa is the largest corn producing state in the nation with 13.7 million planted acres. 

Darkling beetles have long been a serious problem for the poultry industry – spreading disease, destroying insulation, and consuming poultry feed, which ultimately means eating away profits. Bayer Animal Health now offers a new addition to their product lineup for darkling beetle control – Credo™ SC Insecticide. This new weapon contains the active ingredient imidacloprid, effective against adult and larval darkling beetles.  For more information, please visit http://www.Bayer-ah.com. Darkling beetles pose serious problems for the poultry industry – spreading disease, destroying insulation, and consuming poultry feed.

Credo SC utilizes a class of chemistry new to darkling beetle control, developed by Bayer Animal Health and specifically formulated for use in poultry houses. There is increasing concern that these darkling beetles are becoming resistant to insecticides. According to the company, however, the beetles will be exposed to a completely new kind of insecticide when using Credo SC with its active ingredient.  The company states that 1 bottle of Credo SC will treat a 20,000 sq ft poultry house using band application, and a single rate is effective at killing both adult and larval darkling beetles. Specifically, it can be used in broiler houses, caged layer houses, breeder houses, and turkey houses as either a band or broadcast treatment.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, microorganisms’ resistance to antimicrobial agents is a serious problem in our modern society. The largest nonhuman use of antimicrobial agents is in food-animal production, and most of this is used in healthy animals to increase growth or prevent potential diseases.  The use of antimicrobial agents in animal feed is estimated by the FDA to be over 100 million pounds per year.  According to many experts, between 40% and 80% of the antimicrobial agents used in the United States each year are given to food animals, such as cows, pigs, and chickens.  This practice is especially prevalent in industrial farming operations.  Many of the antimicrobial agents in animal feed are identical or similar to drugs used in humans to treat diseases caused by microorganisms.

Such nontherapeutic uses of antimicrobials contribute to drug resistance.  That in turn, creates very serious health dangers for humans, especially children and older adults.  The reason is very simple; one of the most efficient ways to select for resistance genes in microorganism is to expose them to low doses of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents over a long period of time.  After a period of time, the antimicrobial agents may have no adverse effect on drug resistant microorganisms. 

When farm animals become colonized with resistant microorganisms, these organisms can eventually reach humans through the food chain, direct contact, or contamination of water or crops from animal excreta.  Thus, many doctors and scientists warn that our society’s overuse and/or misuse of antimicrobial agents in animal feed is partially responsible for microorganisms’ increasing resistance to antimicrobial agents. 

U.S. EPA recently established the Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee.  The Committee will advise EPA’s Administrator on environmental policy issues impacting farms, ranches, and rural communities and operate under the rules of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).  The Committee will meet approximately twice yearly and is intended to consist of approximately 30 members representing: large and small farmers, ranchers, and rural communities; rural suppliers, marketers, and processors; academics and researchers who study environmental issues impacting agriculture; environmental, conservation, and citizens’ groups; and, state, local, and tribal governments.Initially, EPA will ask the committee to focus on the following three issues:

1. Impacts of Agency agriculture-related programs, policies, and regulations regarding climate change and renewable energy.
2. Identification and development of a comprehensive environmental strategy for livestock operations.
3. Development of a constructive approach or framework to address areas of common interest between sustainable agriculture and protection of the environment.

Kentucky will be represented on the panel by Dawn R. Riley of Louisville.  More information from EPA is available at: Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory Committee (FRRCC)