Posts Tagged: Bonnie

Spinach safer five years after E. coli outbreak

Salinas Californian reporter Andy Stiny wrote a story on the 5th anniversary of the E. coli outbreak in spinach grown in San Benito County. He reported that Steve Koike, plant pathology farm advisor for Monterey County, said California's spinach industry is rebounding from the setback. Bonnie Fernandez-Fenaroli, executive director for the Center for Produce Safety at UC Davis, is quoted as saying, "A lot of research is going into all produce right now." The center has 54 produce safety projects under way. Christine Bruhn, a food marketing specialist and director of the Center for Consumer Research at UC Davis, said recent surveys show consumers are more concerned about meat products but 30 percent said they are concerned about produce safety. "We advise people to wash their sink and their hands, then wash produce in running water and dry with a clean paper towel," Bruhn told the reporter. "This reduces but does not eliminate bacteria."

UC Berkeley professor appointed to systemwide position

Sybil Lewis, The Daily Californian

UC Berkeley professor Barbara Allen-Diaz has been appointed University of California systemwide vice president for Agriculture and Natural Resources, reports the Daily Californian, the UC Berkeley student newspaper.

In Pursuit of Ants

Just call it the ABC of ants. (A) Ants, (B) Bonnie Blaimer and (C) Crematogaster. Add a double "M" and you have a myrmecologist studying ants in...

Crematogaster ants

CREMATOGASTER ANTS--Myrmecologist or ant specialist Bonnie Blaimer studies theses ants in Madagascar. “This genus fascinates me particularly because of its species diversity and dominance in tropical forests, and its intriguing natural history,” she says. “Most species are canopy-nesting in dead twigs and branches or under bark, or they make elaborate independent carton-nest from wood fibers. Some species are suspected to be temporary social parasites, and many tend scale insects or mealybugs." (Photo by Bonnie Blaimer)

Canopy Work

CANOPY WORK in the pursuit of the Crematogaster ants of Madagascar. (Photo courtesy of Bonnie Blaimer)

Center for Produce Safety awards $2.8 million

The Center for Produce Safety at UC Davis announced 17 awards to researchers around the country for projects designed to mitigate food safety risks associated with growing and harvesting fresh produce, according to a press release issued by the organization.

CPS executive director Bonnie Fernandez-Fenaroli announced the awards yesterday at the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association’s annual convention in Naples, Fla. News of the $2.8 million disbursement was picked up by The Packer.

Six of the 17 projects are led by UC scientists. They are:

• Amphibians and reptiles as potential reservoirs of foodborne pathogens and risk reduction to protect fresh produce. Michele Jay-Russell, UC Davis. $142,523
  
  
• E. coli survival on contaminated crop residue. Steven Koike, UC Cooperative Extension. $118,000
  
  
• Pre-harvest environment influence on salmonella and its impact on increased survival capability. Linda Harris, UC Davis. $96,935
  
  
• Developing buffer zone distances between sheep grazing operations and vegetable crops to maximize food safety risks. Bruce Hoar, UC Davis. $83,000
  
  
• Risk assessment of salmonella preharvest internalization due to irrigation water quality standards for melons and cucurbits. Trevor Suslow, UC Davis. $48,747
  
  
• Imaging to evaluate potential infusion of pathogens during vacuum cooling of lettuce leaves and real-time dynamics of microbes on leaf tissues as a function of moisture content. Nitin Nitin, UC Davis. $45,008

CPS was established at UC Davis by a public and private partnership. It funds original research, maintains an online database of global produce safety research and is developing industry training and outreach programs.

"We are pleased with both the quality and the scope of the selected projects," said Bob Whitiker, chair of the CPS technical committee. "These projects go to the heart of the critical food safety questions faced daily by growers and processors in our industry, and will provide them with real-world risk management tools."

Research funding aims to minimize the risk of produce contamination.

USDA provides funds for California specialty crops research

The USDA issued a news release on Friday announcing $55 million in block grants to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops around the country, with California receiving more than $17 million. Of the 64 California projects, 19 are led by researchers affiliated with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.

A large share of funding - $1.4 million - goes to nine food-safety projects to be coordinated by UC’s Center for Produce Safety, according to an article in the Fresno Bee.

"Scientists and researchers with the University of California and industry groups are exploring everything from whether frogs and lizards are potential carriers of E.coli to whether dust from a cattle operation can carry E.coli into a vegetable field," wrote Bee reporter Robert Rodriguez.

The executive director of the Center for Produce Safety, Bonnie Fernandez, told Rodriguez the funding comes at a time of heightened awareness of food safety among consumers and farmers.

"There are simply a lot of unanswered gaps of knowledge on these issues," Fernandez was quoted. "We want to know where the pathogens came from, how it attaches to a product and how we can reduce the risk of that happening."

Management of exotic pests is another issue where USDA provided funding for UC research, according to the listing on USDA's website. For example, grants will support efforts to:

• Release and evaluate four exotic olive fruit fly parasitoids in order to improve sustainable table and oil olive management
  
  
• Test the area-wide application of mating disruption of vine mealybug in Napa County
  
  
• Evaluate the efficacy of organic pesticides for Asian Citrus Psyllid control so science-based control recommendations can be made to organic citrus growers
  
  
• Survey resistance ratios in olive fruit fly populations from California regions not sampled in a previous study

Funds were also made available to expand and improve the online specialty crop production information now available on UC's Fruit & Nut Research and Information Center website and call-in center.

In addition, the new funding will allow UC researchers to work with several school districts and their regional partners to expand their procurement of local seasonal fresh produce, enhance their ability to integrate a specialty crop nutritional curriculum by providing outreach and professional development to school personnel, and assess changes in food preferences and dietary behaviors of children in participating school.

Other UC projects receiving the funding will look into onion seed production, strawberries' ability to restore impaired insulin, steam injection for soil disinfestation, and mealy plum aphid and leaf-curl plum aphid control in prunes.

The UC Center for Produce Safety to receive substantial research funds from USDA.

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