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Pastimes : wild salmon run -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sageyrain who wrote (67)	7/6/2008 11:09:51 PM
From: sageyrain	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99

Tomatoes get international standard AFP AFP - Friday, July 4 06:35 pm GENEVA (AFP) - An international standard for tomatoes has been adopted, ending about seven years of intense debates between countries on what qualifies as a proper tomato. (Advertisement) According to the new standard, tomatoes may come in one of four varieties: round, ribbed, oblong or elongated, or cherry tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes. They must be whole, clean, free from foreign smell, free of pests and fresh in appearance. "In the case of trusses of tomatoes, the stalks must be fresh, healthy, clean and free of all leaves and other visible foreign matter," according to the so-called Codex standard. A commission called Codex Alimentarius was created in 1963 by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation to come up with food standards and guidelines on food products. There are international standards for all kinds of food produce ranging from edam cheese to bananas to fish fillets. They facilitate trade, as they provide a common interpretation of what constitutes a sound product to importing and exporting countries. Tom Heilandt, who is a senior food standards adviser at the FAO explained that one such international standard was needed for tomatoes, in order to protect importing countries. "Many developing countries in particular said that they needed this standard so that they ensure that they would get the right quality of products that they ordered," he said.

To: sageyrain who wrote (67)	7/12/2008 1:38:44 AM
From: sageyrain	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99

No, Really. My Garden is Illegal Published by Hanna \| Filed Under: My Life There have been a few people who have commented on the name of my blog “This Garden is Illegal”. So I thought I would go into why I chose that name. The short version: My garden really is illegal. The long version: I live in suburbia and in suburbia, I am always amazed at how much effort a city council will take to stick their nose into other people’s business in the name of city/town’s best interest when in actuality the laws are either absurd or not effective. Worse yet, the only time these laws are enforced is when someone on city council or in the building department decides they have a vendetta against someone. One particular ordinance in my city brings this to mind for me. The ordinance reads as follows: All premises and exterior property, including tree lawns, shall be maintained free from weeds or plant growth in excess of five inches. All noxious weeds shall be prohibited. Weeds shall be defined as all grass, annual plants and vegetation, other than trees or shrubs, provided, however, that this term shall not include cultivated flowers and gardens. No vegetable gardens shall extend beyond the front line of the house. (Ord. 6950-97) Plant growth in excess of five inches… Thank god my local city council does not come around to measure the height of the wild onions and dandelions in my yard. I think they actually grow 5 inches a night. Certainly seems that way. I also want to point out that while the “cultivated” flowers and gardens are not included in the definition of weeds, they do not seem to be excluded from the definition of “plant growth”. So I am supposing that this means that any plant over five inches falls into this illegal category. I am defiantly in violation of the law. All noxious weeds shall be prohibited… Hmm… I don’t know about you, but I have lots of noxious weeds in my yard like Queen Anne’s Lace, Canada Thistle and Cressleaf Groundsel as a start. I frequently tell them to leave, but they seem to like it here and no amount of weeding, Round-up or voodoo will lessen them. And I won’t resort to ChemLawn. And to tell the truth, I like Queen Anne’s Lace, so I never try too hard to evict it if it is not in the way. I am in violation of the law. No vegetable gardens shall extend beyond the front line of the house… I am guilty of that too. I have no less than 12 potted fruits and veggies in my front yard. I even use kale and creeping thyme in the front yard landscape itself. I am such a rebel. I am in violation of the law. Point is, it’s my yard and it bugs me when people try to make laws to tell me how I should keep it. So you see, my garden really is illegal. Even if the law that makes it illegal is pretty stupid. thisgardenisillegal.com

To: sageyrain who wrote (67)	7/31/2008 12:10:30 PM
From: sageyrain	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99

Mexican Serrano Peppers Have Salmonella, U.S. Says (Update3) By Justin Blum July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Consumers shouldn't eat serrano peppers from Mexico, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said after tests showed a sample of the peppers from a farm there was contaminated with salmonella. Irrigation water at the farm, in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, also was tainted with the bacteria, said David Acheson, the FDA's associate commissioner for foods, during a House hearing today. Tests showed the salmonella at the farm was the same strain that has sickened more than 1,300 people, according to the FDA. ``We have a smoking gun, it appears,'' said Lonnie J. King, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, during the hearing by the Agriculture Committee's subcommittee on horticulture and organic agriculture. ``It also appears likely that more than one food vehicle has been involved in this outbreak.'' The agency said consumers should continue to follow its July 25 advice to avoid eating raw jalapeno peppers from Mexico. Investigators traced a contaminated sample of jalapenos to a farm in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Raw tomatoes initially were linked to the illnesses by the U.S. in June, and officials said they can't rule out that they played a role. Same Packing Plant The tainted jalapeno and serrano peppers went through the same packing facility in Nuevo Leon, though they were grown on different farms, according to Acheson. The facility also handles tomatoes. The contaminated jalapeno pepper sample was found at a distribution center in Texas. The FDA has said the Texas facility wasn't the source of contamination. The agency hasn't completed testing of the Mexico farm where the pepper originated. Alexandra Aguilar, a spokeswoman for Mexico's Agriculture Ministry, didn't immediately return a phone call. The FDA didn't name the farms where the serrano and jalapeno peppers linked to the outbreak were grown. The FDA initially issued warnings not to eat certain tomatoes unless they were from locations that had been cleared by regulators. The FDA lifted that warning on July 17, saying any tomatoes that may have been contaminated with salmonella were no longer being sold. At the hearing, lawmakers complained that tomatoes initially were identified as the cause of the outbreak. `Extremely Troubling' ``This missed connection between jalapenos as the ultimate source of the outbreak is extremely troubling,'' said Representative Dennis Cardoza, a California Democrat who is chairman of the subcommittee. Tomatoes contaminated with salmonella haven't been found, Acheson said. Still, they can't be ruled out as an initial source of the outbreak, he said. An early study by the CDC identified tomatoes as a likely source of the outbreak. ``It's certainly plausible that tomatoes were responsible for the first part of the outbreak,'' Acheson told reporters after he testified. ``I think that evolved as the outbreak moved in time from tomatoes in the early phases to serrano and jalapeno peppers possibly in the later phases.'' Inspectors are in Mexico following up on leads, Acheson said. The FDA wants to know what other distribution centers may have handled serrano peppers from the farm where contamination was found. The FDA also is examining whether there is a connection between the farms that grew the serrano and jalapeno peppers. The FDA hadn't inspected either of the farms before the outbreak occurred, Acheson said. Producers Frustrated Mauricio Quintanilla, a pepper exporter in Nuevo Leon, said in a telephone interview today that he is concerned the U.S. is blaming Mexican produce without providing proof. ``Producers are starting to get really uneasy,'' Quintanilla said. ``This seems like a campaign full of speculation and without any hard evidence.'' The way the CDC and FDA conduct produce investigations is flawed, said Thomas E. Stenzel, president and chief executive officer of the United Fresh Produce Association, a trade group in Washington, at the hearing. The agencies don't understand distribution systems, he said. ``The investigation has been damaging to consumer confidence in our food safety system,'' and caused significant losses for the tomato industry, he said in prepared testimony. The industry deserves financial compensation, he said during the hearing. bloomberg.com