Dole Fresh Vegetables announces limited recall of curly leaf parsley

Dole Fresh Vegetables, Inc. is voluntarily recalling a limited number of cases of conventional Curly Leaf Parsley. The product being recalled is Dole® Curly Leaf Parsley, with harvest dates of August 18, 2021, and August 19, 2021.  A random, routine regulatory sample collected in Michigan tested positive for…

Horn of Africa pays the cost of interlinked disasters

The large swarm of locusts which hit the Horn of Africa in the Spring of 2020, and cyclone Amphan, which struck the border region of India and Bangladesh in May of that year,…

A food hub provides an oasis in a food desert

When you think of farm communities, the city of Waterbury is probably not the first that comes to mind. However, an effort to reduce food insecurity is bringing farmers to the Brass City. A unique partnership between the state, the city, and Brass City Harvest is helping feed a neglected neighborhood and…

Giving away CRISPR intellectual property licenses for free in fight against hunger

The ultimate aim of plant breeding has always been to make plants resistant to drought and diseases. That could help eliminate hunger around the world. This is no longer a distant thought, thanks to a technology called CRISPR-Cas. Today Wageningen University & Research (WUR) announces it will provide…

Mini Symposium on pepper quality

The pepper world is rapidly developing. With the introduction of sweet pointed peppers and the ever-increasing demands of consumers, pepper quality has become even more important. "With the choices we make in the quality we have an impact on the lives of millions of consumers. Every step in the bell pepper supply chain has…

Impatiens necrotic spot virus confirmed in desert lettuce

A plant virus first found in 2006 in the Salinas Valley of California, was discovered last season near Tacna, Arizona. This a farming community east of Yuma. It was also…

Role of farmworkers highlighted during food safety month

Equitable Food Initiative, the workforce development and certification organization that partners with growers, farmworkers, retailers and consumer advocacy groups, is celebrating National Food Safety Education Month by encouraging growers and agricultural associations to share their commitment to food…

"New-Zealand Government must be aware of the rush to supermarkets for fresh vegetables and fruit"

For Nadine Tunley, the past days have been spent working across the horticulture sector and with government, to ensure that vegetable and fruit growing can continue with as…

Russian Federation will partially lift restrictions on tomatoes & peppers from Belarus

Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Rosselkhoznadzor will partially lift temporary restrictions on the supply of tomatoes and peppers from…

FDA adjusts lettuce sampling protocols for Salinas Valley

The US Food and Drug Administration has updated its lettuce sampling protocols for the Salinas Valley. The FDA has been collecting and testing lettuce grown in the area and…

Smartphone screens effective sensors for soil or water contamination

The touchscreen technology used in billions of smartphones and tablets could also be used as a powerful sensor, without the need for any modifications.  Researchers from the University of Cambridge have demonstrated how a typical touchscreen could be used to identify common ionic contaminants in soil or drinking…

"Consumers have been “trained” by retailers to demand perfection and uniformity in shape, size and colour"

It was a conversation with a farmer about his “imperfect” patty pans that struck Professor Suzan Oelofse about how food is wasted in South Africa.  Oelofse, a principal researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was doing research for a study that she led, which shows how in South…

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Evaluation on Salmonella detection in hydroponic curly lettuce

Lettuce is one of the most consumed leafy vegetables worldwide and has been involved in multiple foodborne outbreaks. Salmonella is one of the most prevalent etiological agents of foodborne disease (FBD) in lettuces, and its detection may take several days depending on the chosen method. This study…

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Australian government warns of viruses detected in mail seeds

A range of vegetable and fruit viruses have been detected in seeds from overseas, demonstrating the significant biosecurity risks that illegal seed imports can pose. Australian Chief Plant Protection Officer, Dr. Gabrielle Vivian-Smith, said a variety of seeds were imported for testing and research…

Study on environmental impact of hydroponic tomato production

Greenhouse cultivation in the Mediterranean region has undoubtedly enhanced economic growth and has generated social benefits by making efficient use of resources. However,…

Australian irradiated tomatoes must be labelled

Irradiated Australian tomatoes are on the shelves of fresh produce stores now, and TomatoesNZ is reminding retailers and the hospitality sector to ensure that produce is…

Rosselkhoznadzor allows tomato imports from eight more Azerbaijani enterprises

Russian agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has lifted the ban on tomato imports from eight more Azerbaijani enterprises. The decision was made based on the results of the…

Belgium, 2020: Outbreaks down but recalls up

In Belgium in 2020, more than 330 outbreaks affected more than 1,200 people. In total, 333 outbreaks sickened 1,262 people, 27 of those needing hospital treatment. Two elderly…

India needs widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence to improve crop productivity

In order to fulfill the rising food demand, great emphasis is being given to efficient farming through automation in the field and need-based resource management in farm operations to improve crop productivity. Though the scientific advances help us in understanding the crop, soil, weather, and in what…

US: Proposal to exempt plants with additional genetic modifications

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is soliciting feedback on a proposal to add three modifications that plants…

Searchable database of FDA/USDA food recalls launched

The Food Industry Counsel, LLC launched its “FIC Recall Reporter™” business tool, a new, searchable database of all FDA and USDA published Class I, Class II and Class III food…

"Besides a greenhouse, good growers and good protocols are also needed for food-safe production"

"Mapping and standardizing business protocols are becoming an increasingly important issue, both in terms of food safety and operational security. At the same time, a greenhouse is not an autonomously running object. Cultivation in greenhouses and vertical farms is a lot safer than open cultivation, but…

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US: Groups sue environmental protection agency over approval of toxic herbicide

On Friday, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) approval of trifludimoxazin, a potent herbicide used to control weeds in corn, soy, and many…

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UAE food minister talks tomatoes with Hebrew university’s agriculture experts

United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister for Food and Water Security Mariam Al-Muhairi met Wednesday with representatives of Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) to promote a research and innovation partnership based on FoodTech and Agtech. As part of her visit, Al-Muhairi met with HU’s Professor Mona…

Dutch health department vaccinates workers on site

On Friday, July 16, a local Dutch health department (GGD Zeeland) vaccinated many international workers. That was in cooperation with Seasun. This greenhouse vegetable cultivation company had approached GGD Zeeland. A group of their international employees wanted to be immunized against COVID-19. More than…

Bringing together people and food

A community driven by planting, watering, weeding, bug-patrolling, harvesting, and donating; the Growing to Give farm in Brunswick lies at the junction of people and food. “It’s so inspiring to see how other people respond to what we’re doing,” said the farm’s director, Patty Carton. “There are so many…

Salmonella recall on CEA grown lettuce

US greenhouse growing company BrightFarms today initiated a voluntary recall of packaged salad greens produced in its Rochelle, Illinois (Ogle County) greenhouse farm sold in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. "BrightFarms is taking this…

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"Farmers are trapped in unsustainable cycle by biotechnology"

Believe it or not, farmers in the United States did not always need to purchase their own seeds. Instead, a core function of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) when it was founded in 1862 – and the Patent Office before that – was the collection and public distribution of germplasm, or seed. The…

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"Time is ripe for African countries to grow urban agriculture"

Across Africa, the third wave of COVID-19 infections are rolling through, with South Africa leading the new surge. This is worrying, particularly for urban dwelling communities, where access to land, water, and other resources needed to sustainably grow food is still a big challenge, writes Esther…

US: Converting food waste into energy

Considering that 795 million people around the world go hungry on any given day, it is shocking that many of us throw away food on a daily basis. In fact, one-third of all food produced globally goes to waste each year, amounting to 1.3 billion tons of wasted food with a value exceeding $1 trillion.…

Imported lettuce confirmed cause of Jyväskylä salmonella outbreak

Imported lettuce served in daycare centres in the Jyväskylä region - in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland - has been confirmed as the source of an outbreak of…

Battling phytophthora in strawberry production with knowledge

Phytophthora cactorum is a major problem for strawberry production. Is it a single species with a broad host range? Or distinct lineages specialised onto different crops?…

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Can greenhouse initiative spur food security in Alaska?

When Eva Dawn Burk first saw Calypso Farm and Ecology Center in 2019, she felt enchanted. Calypso is an educational farm tucked away in a boreal forest in Ester, Alaska, near Fairbanks. To Burk, it looked like a subarctic Eden, encompassing vegetable and flower gardens, greenhouses, goats, sheep,…

Floating gardens may be a sustainable solution to flooding

Floating gardens are made of native aquatic plants like water hyacinths. Farmers arrange the plants together in a river, forming floating raised beds about three feet deep. This farming approach is traditionally used to produce food in the wetlands, especially during the rainy season. Okra, spinach,…

ToBRFV found in Bulgaria and Norway

Following reports of ToBRFV in Hungary earlier this month, the virus has also been confirmed to be found in Bulgaria and Norway. In Italy, the virus keeps on spreading, the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization reports. BulgariaThe NPPO of Bulgaria recently informed the EPPO…