It has been a few weeks since I published my newsletter. Thanks to all of you who sent me e-mails asking why they weren’t getting copies. I have been busy redesigning www.agplus.net to broaden its appeal and make it a must visit place for produce professionals. I will let you know when the beta site is available to review. Since I sent my last newsletter Wal-Mart saved Christmas and the Federal government ended hunger. Actually Wal-mart decided it was safe to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. I agree with that move on their part and others must agree as well because Target declared Christmas safe and started using the term too. The USDA changed the term “hunger” to “food insecure.” I am glad to know that ending hunger was that easy. Next year we can end world hunger by changing the name as well. I don’t like changing names or phrases to be more politically correct, but you already know that so tell me what you think.
By Dominique Patton
30/11/2006 - China, producer of half the world's fruit and vegetables, is set to overtake the Netherlands in the next two to three years to become the world’s third biggest fresh produce exporter in value terms, predicts a new report from agriculture specialists at Rabobank. The country, which exploits low labour costs to become the dominant grower of produce like persimmons, pears and asparagus, exported fruit and vegetables worth US$7.2 billion last year, according to data from Rabobank and the United Nations. This amounted to 7.19 per cent of the global trade, behind the Netherlands, the US and top exporter Spain. Increasing volumes of fruit and vegetable exports, particularly to currently small markets like the EU and US, are expected to drive this increase in value, in combination with stronger sales of higher value-added products
The proportion of added-value processed and prepared products compared to fresh has been increasing,” said Patrick Vizzone, head of the bank's food and agricultural advisory and research unit for Asia. And although China has cost advantages over other fruit and vegetable producers in almost all areas - specifically labour, fertilizer and farm costs - some costs are rising quickly and significantly, he warned
POSTED: 6:16 p.m. EST, November 29, 2006
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Edible coatings containing oils from oregano and other sources can destroy food-borne microbes, enhancing the safety and shelf life of fresh food, according to a team of chemists at the University of Lleida in Spain and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Albany, California. Essential oils of some plants act as food preservatives and are safe to eat, USDA's Dr. Tara H. McHugh told Reuters. "We have made films without antimicrobial activity from many different fruits and vegetables, and found that natural essential oils can easily be incorporated, which improves the overall quality of the film” For their current study, reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the investigators prepared apple-based films. They then tested the antimicrobial activity of essential oils of oregano, lemongrass, and cinnamon, by measuring their ability to destroy Escherichia coli O157:H7, a microbe that causes food poisoning. The oil of oregano was the most potent. At a concentration of 0.1 percent, oregano oil was effective after just 3 minutes when added to the film-forming solution. In contrast, 5-fold higher concentrations of lemongrass and cinnamon were required to achieve the same antibacterial activity.
