An Analysis of Trends in Food Import Refusals in the United States

Millions of pounds of fresh fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, herbs, and other agricultural and food products enter the United States via commercial shipments from other countries every year. Although these items appear harmless, there could be hidden threats in that baggage and in those truckloads, trainloads, and containers of fresh and processed food items that could seriously threaten U.S. agriculture, its natural resources, and its economy (U.S. Customs and Border Protection 2007). Food imports play a major role in the success and competitiveness of various agribusiness firms in the United States. For example, food imports generate income, employment, output, and taxes and provide consumers with lower-priced products than those produced or purchased in the domestic markets. Food imports also provide consumers with a larger variety of products that normally would not be available to them, or that would be available in limited quantities and at higher than normal prices. Consequently, without food imports many U.S. food processing and manufacturing firms would be forced to reduce plant capacity, re-locate food processing and manufacturing facilities, or close plants altogether (Rosson 2000). Thus it is important that food imports that do not comply with U.S. standards be targeted, detected, and intercepted, thereby preventing the entry of those potential threats before they have the chance to do any harm to the U.S food system and its infrastructure.Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade,

Assessment of perception and knowledge of occupational chemical hazards, in the Kumasi metropolitan spray painting industry, Ghana

The hazardous particulates or vapours found in informal small scale auto body and furniture manufacturing industries come from the solvent, lacquer, paint and hardener systems used in the spray painting processes. The health implications of workers’ exposure in this industry arewell established. The purpose of the study was to assess the occupational chemical hazards perceptions, safety practices and their enforcement in the Kumasi Metropolitan automobile, furniture and coffin spray painting industry. One hundred and fifty (150) randomly sampled paintsprayers at eighty-three (83) spraying workshops in nine (9) suburbs in Kumasi Metropolitan Area were selected for the study. A combination of questionnaires and purposive interviews were used to collect data for analysis. There was high level of self-reported exposure to sprayingfumes, because only 0.7 percent of respondents reported always using the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), during the spray painting process. Virtually all the workers were aware of the manifest health hazards; coughing, throat irritation, headache and breathing problembut did not know the extent to which these hazards could be dangerous to their health. Respondents rated Law enforcement concerning safety practices as low; EPA and DFI officials attributed this to lack of adequate logistics and personnel to carry out the task effectively. Lack of Chemical education and enforcement of safety practices in the metropolis are major contributing factors of the occupational chemical hazard exposure in the paint spraying industry. Mandatory training for initial certification to work and operate a paint spraying workshop and refresher training every two years by the government is therefore recommended

Hydrogeological evaluation of geological formations in Ashanti Region, Ghana

The success of groundwater exploitation in an area largely depends on prior knowledge of existing hydrogeological parameters such as borehole yield, overburden thickness, depth of boreholes, static water level, specific capacity and the quality of water. This study, therefore, employed Geographical Information System to assess some of these hydrogeological parameters in the Ashanti Region using the ordinary kriging interpolation method. Data on 2,788 drilled boreholes in the region were used and the assessment focused on the various geological formations in the region that comprised the Birimian, Granitoids, Tarkwaian and Voltaian formations. The study results indicate that the Birimian formation is generally within medium to high yielding potential zones (30 – 60 l/min or higher) with a high drilling success rate of 91% and average borehole depth of 53 m. The Granitoids are, mostly, within the low yielding zone (< 30 l/min) with isolated high yielding boreholes and have average borehole depth and drilling success rate of 50 m and 72 % respectively. The Tarkwaian formation, on other hand, is within the medium yield zone with a drilling success rate of 80 % whilst the Voltaian formation is mainly classified to fall within low yield zone with about 60% success rate although significant high yield zones occur within the sandstone formation underlying its westernmost part in the region. Groundwater in the region is generally potable except in a few locations within the Birimian and ranitoids,where there are problems with levels of iron, nitrate, manganese and pH. Keywords: Groundwater; Hydrogeological parameters; Geological formations; Geographical Information System; Ashanti Regio

Bio-recovery of N and P from an anaerobic digester effluent: The potential of duckweed (Lemna minor)

The possibility of growing duckweed (Lemna minor) on anaerobic digester effluent and its nitrogen and phosphorus acquisition potential was studied. Duckweed was cultured for 21 days on an anaerobic digester effluent using two methods: static aeration (SAT) and normal batch reactor (NBR) techniques, respectively. The treatments involved pure effluent and 1/10, 1/25 and 1/50 effluent dilutions, respectively. Fifty duckweed fronds were grown in the anaerobic digester effluent for 21 days. At the end of the growth period, phosphate levels, total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) andtotal oxidized nitrogen (TON) contents of the growth media were determined. Total nitrogen concentration and orthophosphate P content in the duckweed were also determined. The results obtained indicated that duckweed was capable of growing on the anaerobic digester effluent provided its TAN content did not exceed 42 mg N l-1. Nitrogenuptake by the duckweed from the effluent ranged between 53 and 115.7 mg l-1 whereas P uptake varied from 1.40 to 8.4 mg P l-1. The relative growth rate of duckweed in the anaerobic digester effluent was observed to be comparable to literature value of 0.22 mg day -1. The results have demonstrated that duckweed has the potential to recover N and P from anaerobic digester effluent

Rabbit Production in Selected Urban Areas of Southern Ghana: Status and Implications for Policy and Research

A survey was conducted to elicit information on rabbit keeping in 26 urban areas of southern Ghana. The average age of the rabbit keepers was 44.3 years, and 95.5% of the keepers had formal education. Most of the producers got into rabbit keeping for money to meet urgent family needs, while household consumption was a major factor influencing the decision for rearing rabbits. Personal savings was the main source of income for the establishment of the rabbit enterprises. The major breeds of rabbits kept were the California White, New Zealand White and crossbreds of varied genetic variations. Backyard, small-scale and medium-scale commercial rabbit holdings were held by 18.2, 51.7 and 30.2% of the keepers respectively. The average rabbit population per farm was 77.8, with an average of 8.4 bucks, 21.6 does. Young rabbits formed 70.0% of the rabbit population. Owners of rabbitries usually cared for their animals as hired labour was expensive and often not available. High cost of feed was the most significant constraint to rabbit keeping, and mange was the most common disease affecting the rabbits. Marketing of rabbits was not organized, and this served as a disincentive to expanding the holdings. The rabbits were mostly sold either life or as fresh carcasses at the farm gate. To ensure a rapid growth of the rabbit industry, research should be undertaken to address the identified constraints to production while appropriate policies are put in place to enhance the growth of the industry

SKILLED ARTISANAL AVAILABILITY IN THE GHANAIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

The issue of skilled artisanal scarcity is not a current one. It dates as far back as the two world wars. This paper premised on the observation of the unavailability of skillful artisans in the Ghanaian Construction Industry (GCI). The objective of the study was to identify the factors aggravating the skilled artisanal scarcity in Ghana. Using relative important indices as the main statistical analysis tool, the following factors have been identified as the most important factors causing the scarcity situation : Irregular and low remuneration, low motivation, the lack of interest by the youth to take up trades like masonship and carpentry as professions, varying working conditions and technological advancements. The study recommends that an Association of Ghanaian Construction Artisans (AGCA) as a regulatory body to promote the welfare of its members i n other to address the issues raised by this study

Determinants of Under-Five Mortality in Builsa District, Upper East Region, Ghana

Under-five mortality rate is an important indicator of a community’s social development. The Upper East region, one of the most poverty-stricken regions in Ghana, has however recorded a dramatic decline in its under-five mortality rate since 1993; from 180 per 1000 live births to 79 per 1000 live births in 2003. The aim was to identify the determinants of under-five mortality in Builsa district. A case-control study was used to collect data from mothers of 60 cases and 120 controls matched for age, sex and place of residence. Even though 70% of mothers were illiter-ate, the educational level of mothers did not influence the child’s risk of death (OR 1.1). Chil-dren of mothers who had had previous child deaths were about 8 times more likely to die (OR 7.45,) while those who had not had vitamin A supplementation were about 10 times more likely to die (OR 9.57). Over 90% of mothers had an insecticide-treated bednet and more than 50% of them exclusively breastfed their children for the first 6 months of life. Protective risk factors identified included: exclusive breastfeeding (OR 0.72), use of an insecticide-treated bednet (OR 0.12), the number of live children a mother had (OR 0.54) and immunization (OR 0.53). Even in poverty, it is possible to improve the child health status of communities. Health staff should be equipped to pay special attention to mothers with previous child deaths in order to assist them to prevent further deaths.Keywords: Under-five mortality, determinants, case-control study, Builsa distric

Drivers of dietary behaviours in women living in urban Africa: a systematic mapping review.

OBJECTIVE: To (i) systematically review the literature to determine the factors influencing diet and dietary behaviour in women living in urban Africa; (ii) present these in a visual map; and (iii) utilize this to identify potentially important areas for future research. DESIGN: Systematic mapping review. The review protocol was registered at PROSPERO (http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/; registration number CRD42015017749). Six databases were systematically searched, followed by reference and citation searching. Eligibility criteria included women aged 18-70 years living in urban Africa, any design/methodology, exploring any driver, using any measure of dietary behaviour. Quality appraisal occurred parallel with data extraction. Twelve predominantly cross-sectional quantitative studies were included; reported in seventeen publications. Determinants were synthesized narratively and compiled into a map adapted from an existing ecological model based on research in high-income countries. SETTING: Urban Africa. SUBJECTS: African women aged 18-70 years. RESULTS: Determinants significantly associated with unhealthy dietary behaviour ranged from the individual to macro level, comprising negative body image perception, perceptions of insufficient food quantity and poorer quality, poorer food knowledge, skipping meals, snacking less, higher alcohol consumption, unhealthy overall lifestyle, older age, higher socio-economic status, having an education, lower household food expenditure, frequent eating outside the home and media influence. Marital status and strong cultural and religious beliefs were also identified as possible determinants. CONCLUSIONS: Few studies have investigated drivers of dietary behaviours in urban African settings. Predominantly individual-level factors were reported. Gaps in the literature identified a need for research into the neglected areas: social, physical and macro-level drivers of food choice