10/17/06 El Nino & E. Coli Source

El Nino Effects & E. Coli Source. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey explains how even a weak El Nino system impacts US weather patterns throughout the winter months. RIPPEY: What happens is we end up with a split jet stream across the Western United States. One branch typically head very far to the north up into Alaska or Canada and that takes a lot of energy away from the Northwest. At the same time there's typically a very strong Southern branch of the jet stream and that transports a lot of tropical moisture into the Southwestern United States and that often translates into considerable rain in the valley and high elevation snow in the 4-corner states. Well there are still questions surrounding the spinach infected with E. coli that made nearly two-hundred sick and killed at least three - but food safety officials say they've made a major discovery. Investigators found the same E. coli strain in cattle manure within a mile of the tainted spinach fields. How it may have traveled that mile - and if it`s in fact the source of contamination - is still unknown. That`s where investigators are turning their attention now. One theory is contaminated irrigation water. Others include poor worker hygiene and wild pigs running through pastures and then the spinach fields. And food safety officials note that these are all theories. In fact - there`s no guarantee the manure is the source of the E. coli outbreak. More than 650 specimens have been collected and are currently being tested for the bacteria. Therefore - officials have not ruled out other sources of contamination. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. RediRipe sounds more like a baby wipe then a fruit sticker but like a new baby the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission's tiny sticker is ripe with enough promise that the groups has invested considerable dollars to test the RediRipe on this crop of Washington State Apples. Determining when an apple is ripe both on the farm and in storage has proved difficult and costly. Ripeness testing inefficiencies have cost growers upwards of $300 million a year and that's prior to shipping. RediRipe developed by a University of Arizona professor is unique in that it gages ethylene gas the chemical that fruit release as it ripens, causing the sticker on ripe fruit to turn from white to blue . If RediRipe proves successful, just like a good apple it will move from the packer to supermarket shelves where one day it is anticipated that we consumers will simply look at a sticker to pick the freshest fruit. While RediRipe sounds like a baby wipe in reality is more like a "preg" test for fruit. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.