E. Coli Trouble & Rural Revitalization

E. Coli Trouble & Rural Revitalization plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service has announced that California-based Glass Onion Catering is recalling approximately 181,620 pounds of ready-to-eat salads and sandwich wrap products with fully-cooked chicken and ham because some of these products have been linked to illnesses. To date twenty-six people in three states have been diagnosed with the same E. coli infection, the USDA says. Glass Onion product is distributed throughout the northwest states at stores like Trader Joe's.

A lot of work is being done to help revitalize rural America. USDA economist, Loren Kusman, says North Dakota has seen the largest population and economic growth but:

KUSMAN: There are some other areas in the west where I think that has also been true. You've seen in some areas with the recreation economy not doing especially well. Manufacturing of course took a big hit during the recession and there's been some recovery but its not been particularly dramatic so those areas are still hurting and it's been true for a fairly long time in this country that there has been proportionally more manufacturing in rural in part because of the lower wage level.

Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray.

The Food and Drug Administration's recent announcement that it's going after trans fat in processed foods has many in the food industry scratching their heads in wonder, as it seems to be an unnecessary move that would set a dangerous precedent when it comes to food regulation. It's hard now days to even find processed foods containing trans fat. It has been more than ten years since food makers reduced or removed trans fat completely from their products. Evidence shows that trans fat can be linked to coronary artery disease. Based on estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the elimination of the remaining trans fat in Americans' diets could prevent an additional 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 additional coronary deaths per year. Partially hydrogenated oils is the primary source of trans fat in processed foods and probably no one would argue that they're healthy, but should we really start banning instead of limiting less than healthy food ingredients? There are those that regard sugar and salt as hazardous to our health and place them in the same category as cocaine and heroine. Will they be targeted next? Better question, how can the FDA ban trans fats, yet allows tobacco products to stay on store shelves?

Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.