Texas company recalls chicken strip products WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A Texas company is recalling chicken strip products sold in stores in Delaware, Maryland and 25 other states.
John Soules Food, Inc. contacted the USDA about an ingredient that’s not indicated on the label. Authorities say wheat, a known allergen, was possibly mixed in with 8,000 pounds of chicken strips.
The chicken strips are sold in 24-ounce bags labeled “John Soules Foods Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Strips with Rib Meat,” in both Italian and Rotisserie styles. The company says no illnesses have been reported.
U.S. heading to deregulate
corn for ethanol use WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The USDA is moving to make it easier to grow genetically engineered corn for ethanol production, despite fears among safety advocates that some might end up in human food.
The agency is seeking public comments on a request to deregulate corn that is designed to produce a special enzyme, making it easier to convert into ethanol. In its draft environmental assessment released earlier this month, the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspec-tion Service concluded that the corn, developed by Syngenta Seeds, Inc., is safe.
“The scientific evidence indicates that there are unlikely to be any environmental, human health or food safety concerns associated with the GE corn,” the agency said in a written statement Nov. 24.
Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety, said the alpha-amylase gene inserted into the corn could trigger allergies in people exposed to the crop.
“They intend it to be used just for ethanol, but it’s also going to end up in the food supply,” Freese said. “This is the first crop proposed for industrial use, and in a widely used food crop, we need to be extremely cautious.”
The department will review any comments submitted by the Jan. 20, 2009, deadline to determine whether its safety assessment should change. Deregulation of the genetically engineered corn would allow it to be grown anywhere without permits or other regulatory oversight from the USDA. Demand for biofuel such as ethanol is soaring because of federal mandates requiring the United States to use 9 billion gallons of alternative fuel annually by 2009. The mandates have also been criticized by groups like the Grocery Manufacturers Assoc., which blame the use of crops for ethanol production for rising food prices.
About 30 percent of the nation’s corn crop goes to ethanol production. The genetically engineered corn would help ethanol makers lower production costs, said Anne Burt, spokeswoman for Switzerland’s Syngenta AG, the parent corporation of Syngenta Seeds,
“There is a substantial reduction of water and energy needed to produce ethanol,” Burt said. “We’re talking about a much improved carbon footprint over standard ethanol production processes.”
The Food and Drug Administration last year concluded that the enzyme is safe for human and animal consumption.
100 homes evacuated after anhydrous ammonia leak WHITE HALL, Ill. (AP) — Authorities in the Greene County town of White Hall say leak of anhydrous ammonia leak forced the evacuation of 100 homes there.
The homes were evacuated Friday night because the fertilizer was leaking from a farmer’s tank, causing several people to be taken to hospitals with breathing difficulties. Chief Rob McMillen of the White Hal Police Department said the incident began about 6:50 p.m. as a farmer was applying the anhydrous ammonia to a field on the northern edge of White Hall, about 100 yards from a residential area.
McMillen said his department was notified that a hose had broken on the farmer’s application tank.
Floyd County won’t
protest hog farm decision CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Floyd County Board of Supervisors says it will not protest a state decision to allow a company to build a nearly 2,500-head hog confinement in Cedar Township in northern Iowa.
The state Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) denied a permit in August for Wesley Ltd. The company filed a lawsuit against the commission, and last month the EPC agreed to allow the confinement with some modifications.
Floyd County supervisors had rejected Wesley Ltd.’s permit even though it met state requirements. The board said it received 18 comments from the public, all opposed to the hog confinement.
Supervisors said they were also concerned about the concentration of hog facilities in the area, where more than a dozen confinements operate.
Man dies in eastern Iowa
combine accident HILLS, Iowa (AP) — Johnson County sheriff’s officials say a man has died after being pinned beneath a combine.
Authorities say 33-year-old Michael Stutsman was working on the farm equipment when he became pinned Nov. 25. Inflatable air bags and a forklift were used to free him.
Stutsman was flown to an Iowa City hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
The investigation is continuing. |
