Life-Saving Testing Banned – Mad Cow Screening “Inconsistent” with U.S.D.A. Agenda

Written by Tiffany Sanders
Monday, 01 September 2008 04:19

Back in 2006, a meatpacking company in Kansas had a great idea: it would test every cow for bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE), commonly known as “mad cow disease”. It was a great idea because the U.S. Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) tests only a very small percentage of cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat beef from infected cattle.

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef was willing to undertake the testing of every cow at its own expense. In fact, the company built a laboratory and sent its employees to France for training with the company whose test kits it intended to use. But then Creekstone ran into a problem: test kits for BSE could be sold only to laboratories approved by the U.S.D.A., and the U.S.D.A. said no to the testing.

Released May 14, 2008

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Every year for nearly two decades, Florida farmers have gathered at the Suwannee Valley Twilight Field Day to hone their craft, often learning how to grow more luscious and larger fruits and vegetables. This year, however, there was a new lesson being offered: how to grow small.

Dubbed one of 2008’s culinary buzzwords by National Public Radio, microgreens—vegetables harvested soon after sprouting—are expected to be one of this summer’s hottest food trends, as well as a boon to many small specialty farms that provide them to restaurants and farmers’ markets.

Experts at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are helping farmers take advantage of the phenomenon.

With the surging interest in organic gardening, some organic gardeners who have always grown their own fruit and vegetables, have turned their passions and hobbies into businesses. Here are a few ideas on how to turn your love of organic gardening into a full fledged business.

Types of businesses that could be opened:

Organic gardening store supplying organic fertilizers and gardening products.

Organic landscaping service that uses only organic methods for garden and lawn care.

A company that installs and maintains organic vegetable gardens in backyards of homes. Customers pay a weekly fee for maintenance and harvesting of the garden crops when mature.

The dirt on organic gardening

BY JON VANZILE | SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
July 18, 2008

Maybe a "green thumb" is a misnomer.

Those who keep environmentally sound gardens should call it a "black thumb." After all, they're probably more worried about their dirt than their plants.

"Green gardening" doesn't start with fertilizers labeled "organic," herbicides made from kitchen products or pesticides that smell suspiciously like last week's fish. Green gardening begins with cleverly disguised manure, mulches and other organic things that are designed to improve soil.

Rose Koenig, owner of Rosie's Organic Farm in Gainesville and an adjunct professor in the University of Florida's organic-agriculture program, has simple advice for anyone who wants to go green: "Get a soil test."

For the past several years people have become more health conscious, thus learning about the true benefits of eating organic foods. Besides the long-term health benefits of changing your eating style to include foods that are organically grown, there are also health benefits that deal directly with specific food related diseases. Since the introduction of processed foods to the Western world, the annual rate of consumers who are affected by food-borne illnesses and pathogens has risen significantly. Diseases such as e-coli and salmonella are seen much more frequently since the introduction of processed foods. These illnesses are no longer confined to meat products. Fruits and vegetables are being found with pathogens that cause serious illness in consumers. This is also true in other parts of the world. When newly processed foods are introduced, consumers begin to notice a sharp increase in the number of people who are affected by food-related illnesses.