12/20/06 Moldy Corn & Meatpacking Raids

According to a USDA official - moldy corn  not bird flu  caused a large number of mallard ducks to die last week in Idaho. As many as 25-hundred mallard ducks died along a southeastern Idaho creek bed. But tests conducted at the National Wildlife Health Center found no avian influenza. The ducks mysteriously started dying days earlier around Land Springs Creek  that's nearly 200 miles southeast of Boise. It appears the birds ate mold on corn. The toxin produced by mold can sicken wildlife when ingested. A state official predicted a single contamination source last week - noting the ducks likely gathered at the creek - their mutual roosting point - to die. It was one week ago this morning when federal officials raided Swift and Company meatpacking plants in six states - taking several hundred workers into custody. Agents for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service arrested hundreds on identity theft charges. And Swift says that's taking a toll on production. The six Swift plants represent all of the company`s domestic beef processing capacity and three-quarters of its pork processing. Swift estimates the raid removed up to 40-percent of its workforce. Other meatpacking plants have picked up the slack from the reduced production at the Swift & Company plants - but officials say daily slaughter numbers are still down. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. If you have an allergy to peanuts especially if you are a child, everyday life can be treacherous to navigate even a benign sleep-over can turn deadly if something containing peanut oil is served without your knowledge. Adults suffer as well, nearly 3 million Americans confess to having an allergy to peanuts and 150 die each year from what is considered to be one of the most severe food allergies. While researchers at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Ag Sciences have recently discovered a component in the protein of peanuts that could be tweaked to make it non-allergenic, it is just the initial step in a long process projected to take many more years of genetic research. Peanut protein is what triggers allergic responses in those with over sensitive immune systems, so the search is one to create a ultimate peanut without the specific protein trigger. Even with the breakthrough at University of Florida researchers estimate we are looking at 20 years or more before safe peanut exists. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.