THE FDA'S FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS

The 111th Congress, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q18,

Food Safety Standards for the U. S. Fresh Produce Industry

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Q18,

Potential Impacts of Food Borne Ill Incidence on Market Movements and Prices of Fresh Produce in the US

For many decades, fresh fruits and vegetables enjoyed a reputation as the healthiest products full of essential vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial substances for a balanced diet. However, numerous recent food outbreaks associated with fresh produce have raised concerns on the mind of the consumer. Following an outbreak, consumers reduce their immediate consumption of the affected products. Even tough fresh fruits and vegetables have unique characteristics and flavors, consumers tend to substitute affected outbreak products with other fruits and vegetables. The potential impact of food borne illness on consumption has also a longer term impact, reducing consumption of the products over a period of several months after the outbreak. This paper used historical decomposition analysis to study both, the contemporaneous and lagged effects of food borne illness in the fresh produce industry using three case studies, spinach, cantaloupes, and tomatoes.Food safety, fresh produce, historical decomposition, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Phenological and molecular studies on the introduced seaweed Dictyota cyanoloma (Dictyotales, Phaeophyceae) along the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula

Dictyota cyanoloma, a distinctive brown algal species characterized by a blue-iridescent margin, was recently reported as an introduced species in the Mediterranean Sea but little is known about its distribution dynamics, morphological plasticity and genetic structure. In this integrative study, we evaluate its past and present occurrence along the Mediterranean Iberian coast, assess the species' phenology in Palamos (Girona, Spain) and analyze the haplotype diversity by sequencing 49 individuals from nine sampling sites for different chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA regions. Although D. cyanoloma currently occurs along all the Mediterranean Iberian coasts (in 19 of 36 localities sampled, mostly in marinas and harbour environments), we were not able to find any herbarium material of this species (at BCN-Phyc and MA) predating the year 1987. In Palamos, D. cyanoloma is present all through the year, with a maximum development in winter and a minimum in summer. Fertile specimens are absent during summer (July and August). Sporophytes are dominant from January to June and gametophytes were found only in February, March and June. Information about the antheridia, which has never been described before, is provided. Two chloroplast and three mitochondrial haplotypes were observed, indicating that multiple introductions of D. cyanoloma occurred in the study area. Additionally, the genetic structure suggests that spread did not occur through simple advancing wave fronts but by several longdistance dispersal events. Further studies employing microsatellite markers could potentially offer a better resolution to unravel expansion and colonisation dynamics of D. cyanoloma in the Mediterranean Sea

COMPARATIVE PRODUCER COSTS OF GAP AND GHP STANDARDS: CAN THE PLAYING FIELD BE MADE LEVEL?

A number of microbial contamination incidents have continued to raise questions regarding the safety of the U.S. food supply with calls for improved food safety control initiatives and standards by both the private and public sectors. As a reaction to these incidents, there have been increased efforts to enhance food safety by the government and industry groups. Increasingly, process standards are being specified that recommend or prescribe Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards for production, Good Handling Practices (GHP) standards for handling products, and Good Management Practices (GMP) for responsibilities in overseeing production and handling operations. A primary concern is the potential that the costs associated with implementing food safety related standards will prohibit small producers and handlers from taking part in certain market segments, such as supplying the supermarkets that sell most of the production in developed and more advanced developing countries. Previous study results are presented that suggest economies of scale effects for larger farm size operations leading to lower per-unit compliance cost. This analysis utilized specialty crop representative farm stochastic simulation models that were designed to analyze the impacts of current and changing market conditions and government policies on a number of key operating variables (KOV). The results of the analysis provide an initial indication that the cost associated with compliance to regulatory standards does have an effect on the profitability of individual enterprises.Food safety, citrus, fresh produce, and regulatory costs, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, Q12,

Nitrogen fixation in the Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is an oligotrophic basin characterized by low nutrient levels and unusually high NO3/PO4 molar ratios in the deeper layers, that reach the maximum (N/P = 28) in the Eastern Mediterranean. An external nitrogen source needs to be claimed in order to explain the nitrogen excess. Pantoja et al. (2002) found that the 15N/14N natural abundance in particulate and in dissolved inorganic nitrogen display low values, suggesting an important role of a "light" nitrogen source. Two hypotheses can be invoked: (i) nitrogen compounds from atmospheric deposition and/or(ii)atmospheric molecular nitrogen throughout nitrogen fixation . During TRANSMED oceanographic cruise carried out in the framework of Italian project VECTOR(June 2007), N2 fixation experiments have been carried out all over the Mediterranean Sea and outside the Gibraltar Strait. Surprisingly, very low rates (< 0.10 nmol N2*l-1*d-1) have been observed in different areas of the basin, while higher values have been observed in Atlantic Ocean according with literature data. These preliminary results suggest a major role for nitrogen atmospheric deposition in shaping the NO3/PO4 anomaly of the basin. Pantoja, S., D. J. Repeta, J. P. Sachs, and D. M. Sigman (2002). Stable isotope constraints on the nitrogen cycle of the Mediterranean Sea water column, Deep Sea Res., Part I, 4, 1609- 1621

Socio-cultural factors for breastfeeding cessation and their relationship with child diarrhoea in the rural high-altitude Peruvian Andes - a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: In some areas of the world, breast milk is seen as a potential source of child diarrhoea. While this belief has been explored in African and Southeast Asian countries, it remains vastly understudied in Latin American contexts. We investigate socio-cultural factors contributing to breastfeeding cessation in rural high-altitude populations of the Peruvian Andes. The role of socio- cultural factors in the local explanatory model of child diarrhoea, and whether these perceptions were integrated in the local healthcare system were assessed. METHODS: Within the framework of a randomised controlled trial, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 40 mothers and 15 health personnel from local healthcare centres involved in the trial. RESULTS: Cultural beliefs on breastfeeding cessation included the perception that breast milk turned into "blood" after six months and that breastfeeding caused child diarrhoea. We identified eight local types of child diarrhoea, and women linked six of them with breastfeeding practices. "Infection" was the only diarrhoea mothers linked to hygiene and the germ disease concept and perceived as treatable through drug therapy. Women believed that other types of diarrhoea could not be treated within the formal healthcare sector. Interviews with health personnel revealed no protocol for, or consensus about, the integration of the local explanatory model of child diarrhoea in local healthcare and service provision. CONCLUSIONS: The local explanatory model in rural Andean Peru connected breastfeeding with child diarrhoeas. Cultural beliefs regarding diarrhoea management may increase home treatments, even in cases of severe diarrhoeal episodes. Future national breastfeeding support programmes should promote peer-counselling approaches to reduce negative attitudes towards breastfeeding and health practitioners. Local explanatory models should be incorporated into provincial and regional strategies for child diarrhoea management to promote equity in health and improve provider-patient relationships

The large-scale Quasar-Lyman \alpha\ Forest Cross-Correlation from BOSS

We measure the large-scale cross-correlation of quasars with the Lyman \alpha\ forest absorption in redshift space, using ~ 60000 quasar spectra from Data Release 9 (DR9) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). The cross-correlation is detected over a wide range of scales, up to comoving separations r of 80 Mpc/h. For r > 15 Mpc/h, we show that the cross-correlation is well fitted by the linear theory prediction for the mean overdensity around a quasar host halo in the standard \Lambda CDM model, with the redshift distortions indicative of gravitational evolution detected at high confidence. Using previous determinations of the Lyman \alpha\ forest bias factor obtained from the Lyman \alpha\ autocorrelation, we infer the quasar bias factor to be b_q = 3.64^+0.13_-0.15 at a mean redshift z=2.38, in agreement with previous measurements from the quasar auto-correlation. We also obtain a new estimate of the Lyman \alpha\ forest redshift distortion factor, \beta_F = 1.1 +/- 0.15, slightly larger than but consistent with the previous measurement from the Lyman \alpha\ forest autocorrelation. The simple linear model we use fails at separations r < 15 Mpc/h, and we show that this may reasonably be due to the enhanced ionization due to radiation from the quasars. We also provide the expected correction that the mass overdensity around the quasar implies for measurements of the ionizing radiation background from the line-of-sight proximity effect.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, published in JCA