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Weekly Update
In the age of free information, misinformation, and incomplete information, it’s often challenging for the info-hungry consumer to distinguish evidence-based facts from alternative facts, and truthful reporting from fake news. This concept is not new for you, readers. Collectively, we regularly debunk myths that threaten the integrity of our work, from correctly defining GMOs to preserving and defending appropriate farm animal welfare.
Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will hold open house meetings in late March and early April to continue conversations about the state’s White-tailed Deer Management Plan.
The Minnesota Department of Health and the University of Minnesota published a report which outlines the extent of the lead problem in Minnesota’s residential drinking water and estimates the costs to eliminate it. The Minnesota Legislature directed the analysis in 2017, in the wake of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
Biodiversity is the variety of life at genetic, species and ecosystem levels. In terms of agriculture, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, biodiversity “includes the domesticated plants and animals that are part of crop, livestock, forest or aquaculture systems, harvested forest and aquatic species, the wild relatives of domesticated species, and other wild species harvested for food and other products." It also encompasses what is known as “associated biodiversity,” the vast range of organisms that live in and around food and agricultural production systems, sustaining them and contributing to their output.
An investigation into a case of drug-resistant human brucellosis that started in November 2018 was traced to Miller’s Biodiversity Farm in Pennsylvania. Brucella bacteria is usually killed in the pasteurization process, but the farm marketed raw milk products. The state quarantined sales of products while the investigation was taking place.
According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service, Tyson Foods, Inc. is recalling over 36,000 pounds of chicken nugget products that may be contaminated with extraneous materials, specifically rubber.
Undercover footage filmed in an abattoir in Poland appears to show extremely sick cows being slaughtered. The video from a slaughterhouse located in the central Polish region of Mazovia depicts sick cows unable to stand and being dragged by their horns and legs out of trucks and into the abattoir using a winch.
Two recent cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been reported at Alomere health hospital in Alexandria, Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Health is working with Alomere Health of Alexandria to investigate the cases. The initial case was reported late November 2018 and subsequently recovered, while a second case developed symptoms late January 2019 and remains in hospital.
Last week, farm advocates, families affected by farmer suicide, and mental health counselors called on Minnesota lawmakers in the House Agriculture, Food Finance, and Policy Committee to fast-track three funding bills for farmer support resources. The bills would provide $150,000 in additional funding through June 2019 for state mental health programs, including training for additional mental health counselors. The bills would also triple the funding for the next two years.
A recent study found that a bacteria-derived compound might provide a novel option in protecting against mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases. Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison examined a bacterium called Xenorhabdus budapestensis that lives inside roundworms.