LOCAL

College food insecurity awareness day on November 20

Governor Walz proclaimed November 20, 2020 to be College Food Insecurity Awareness Day. The proclamation recognized the extent of food insecurity among college students and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic to exacerbate financial and other stressors.
 

In a survey of students attending public colleges and universities in Minnesota, 37% of the ~9800 undergraduate respondents reported that they experienced food insecurity in the prior 30 days. A survey of 10 US public research universities in May–July 2020 reported that approximately one in five undergraduate, graduate, and professional students experienced food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Minnesota legislature passed the Hunger Free Campus act in 2019, which recognizes and supports Minnesota colleges which are actively working to reduce food insecurity by connecting students to community resources and support. Sixteen colleges have met the requirements to earn the designation, which include a campus food pantry, student awareness about SNAP and other public services, emergency assistance grants, a food insecurity task force, and at least one hunger awareness event per year.
 

Rebecca Leighton, founder of the Nutritious U Food Pantry at the U of M–Twin Cities, shares what she has learned through her work with food insecurity among college students in her TEDxUMN talk. She describes how a public health approach to complex problems such as food insecurity involves looking at upstream approaches in an effort to understand causes, as well as providing just-in-time assistance, and the intertwined role of housing insecurity for students at UMN.
 

Governor’s Proclamation
Hunger-Free Campus

NATIONAL

Federal judge requires further environmental assessment for bio-engineered salmon

A federal judge ruled last week that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must reassess the potential environmental impact of AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage bioengineered salmon. The salmon are modified with a regulatory switch from an ocean pout gene which causes the fish to reach market weight twice as fast as conventionally bred salmon.

The AquAdvantage salmon was approved by the FDA in 2015, held up in labeling disputes through 2018, moved into their US facility in 2019 and is still expected to hit the US market in late 2020. They have been sold in Canada since 2017.

The new ruling requires the FDA to go back and complete a new analysis of possible environmental consequences. The existing environmental assessment concluded that there would be no significant impact on wild salmon populations, based on the low probability of an event in which the engineered fish would come into contact with wild salmon. AquAdvantage has indoor farming facilities in inland locations and their fish are reproductively sterile.

However, the assessment did not take the final step to evaluate the likelihood of harm in the case of  exposure, unlikely as it is. In the ruling, Judge Vince Chhabria pointed out that as the industry expands, future facilities may be built under conditions where the possibility of escape and exposure is more likely. “Understanding the harm that could result from that exposure—and having an explanation of it on record—will only become more important. And if that issue is not properly assessed at the outset, it may never be” (US District Court, p. 11). 
 

US District Court
The Counter

INTERNATIONAL

Mink culled to mitigate transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 variant

Denmark has ordered the culling of their entire mink population (17 million animals) in order to prevent transmission of a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus variant of concern has been found on 5 farms in Northern Denmark and 12 human cases in the same region. So far, it does not appear to induce a more severe disease in humans than that caused by the predominant virus. The Danish government’s decision was based on the fact that the variant displayed a decreased susceptibility to antibodies induced by SARS-CoV-2 in humans after infection.

The SARS-Cov-2 variant has seven unique mutations in the spike protein. Many COVID-19 vaccines under development focus on disabling the spike protein. However, there is still much uncertainty regarding the implications of this variant and the impact, if any, on the efficacy of potential vaccines, according to Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Controlhas stated they will publish a Rapid Risk Assessment by 12 November.

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) Terrestrial Code, which sets global standards for animal disease control, does not address mink as a domestic species. However, an ad hoc Expert Group has drafted guidance for working with farmed animals of species susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2. They assess the risk of transmission through trade of mink carcasses and pelts to be low to medium.

The annual mink harvest occurs in November–December in the northern hemisphere, and so was not relevant until now. Pelts are typically stored in a freezer, which may enable the virus to stay viable on pelts and fur from infected premises and be transported to other regions.

ProMed
CIDRAP
Reuters