If you following the news at all you will know we are in the middle of a tomato crisis with a Salmonella outbreak. My poll question this week is pretty simple. “Do you feel the FDA is handling the Tomato/Salmonella problem correctly?”
By
Adam Kirk
@ June 9, 2008
You may have seen the signs at First Coast restaurants this weekend warning you about tainted tomatoes. Raw tomatoes are seen as the likely source of a recent multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul. Although the specific type and source of tomatoes is not known, it's believed large tomatoes, including Roma and round red are to blame. Since mid-April, 145 people, in 16 states, have been infected with the the Salmonella strain. No deaths have been reported, but at least 23 people have been hospitalized. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, which is investigating, believes there are more cases than have been reported. You may have seen the signs at First Coast restaurants this weekend, warning you about tainted tomatoes.
By Allison Bruce
Sunday, June 8, 2008
They already are an important part of industry, from building solar modules to assembling cars, but in the coming years robots could be picking produce in groves and fields. Tech devices are expected to someday replace people who harvest crops — if the challenges can be solved, particularly when it comes to fruit. Fruit has to be picked in ways that won't damage the skin and at the right time of ripeness. "Appearance matters," said Dave Kranz, of the California Farm Bureau. People go into the store and "oftentimes buy with their eyes." For something like strawberries — Ventura County's top crop — the delicate picking process requires a trained eye and hand. Robots have been too vision-impaired and ham-fisted in the past to do it successfully. But new technology is moving robotic harvesting closer to reality for some crops, and others, even those fragile strawberries, are being researched
