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--></style><title>Gardens, fresh veggies, and a mistake in food
safety polic</title></head><body>
<div><font face="Verdana"><i>Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences </i></font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana">Published online before print August 10,
2015</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana">doi: 10.1073/pnas.1508435112</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana" size="+1">Comanaging fresh produce for
nature conservation and food safety</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana">Daniel S. Karpa, Sasha Gennet et
al</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana">agriculture<b> -</b> biodiversity<b> -</b>
disease ecology<i> - E. coli</i><b> </b> - foodborne
pathogens</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"><br>
<b>Significance</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana">Fresh produce has become the primary cause
of foodborne illness in the United States. A widespread concern that
wildlife vector foodborne pathogens onto fresh produce fields has led
to strong pressure on farmers to clear noncrop vegetation surrounding
their farm fields. We combined three large datasets to demonstrate
that pathogen prevalence in fresh produce is rapidly increasing, that
pathogens are more common on farms closer to land suitable for
livestock grazing, and that vegetation clearing is associated with
increased pathogen prevalence over time. These findings contradict
widespread food safety reforms that champion vegetation clearing as a
pathogen mitigation strategy. More generally, our work indicates that
achieving food safety and nature conservation goals in produce-growing
landscapes is possible.</font></div>
<div><font face="Verdana"><br>
<b>Abstract</b></font></div>
<div><font
face="Verdana"
>http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/08/05/1508435112.abstract</font
></div>
<div><font face="Verdana">In 2006, a deadly<i> Escherichia coli</i>
O157:H7 outbreak in bagged spinach was traced to California's
Central Coast region, where >70% of the salad vegetables sold in
the United States are produced. Although no definitive cause for the
outbreak could be determined, wildlife was implicated as a disease
vector. Growers were subsequently pressured to minimize the intrusion
of wildlife onto their farm fields by removing surrounding noncrop
vegetation. How vegetation removal actually affects foodborne
pathogens remains unknown, however. We combined a fine-scale land use
map with three datasets comprising 250,000 enterohemorrhagic<i> E.
coli</i> (EHEC), generic<i> E. coli</i>, and<i> Salmonella</i> tests
in produce, irrigation water, and rodents to quantify whether
seminatural vegetation surrounding farmland is associated with
foodborne pathogen prevalence in California's Central Coast region.
We found that EHEC in fresh produce increased by more than an order of
magnitude from 2007 to 2013, despite extensive vegetation clearing at
farm field margins. Furthermore, although EHEC prevalence in produce
was highest on farms near areas suitable for livestock grazing, we
found no evidence of increased EHEC, generic<i> E. coli</i>, or<i>
Salmonella</i> near nongrazed, seminatural areas. Rather, pathogen
prevalence increased the most on farms where noncrop vegetation was
removed, calling into question reforms that promote vegetation removal
to improve food safety. These results suggest a path forward for
comanaging fresh produce farms for food safety and environmental
quality, as federal food safety reforms spread across 4.5 M acres of
US farmland.</font></div>
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"The tendency for success to breed complacency and recklessness is
as ingrained in financial markets as it is in any other walk of
life."<br>
</font></div>
<div><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="-1" color="#000000">Banks :
Barbarians at the vault.<i> The Economist</i>, May 15,
2008</font></div>
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now and then, somewhere in the world, one is going to happen.<br>
<br>
"Is this because the same mistakes are made again and again, or is
each crisis unique? The answer is yes to both : each
crisis is unique, and the same mistakes are made again and
again."</font><br>
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<div><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="-1" color="#000000">"While
a bubble is inflating, reckless lending seems merely bold, and
appropriately well-rewarded."<br>
<br>
<i>The Economist,</i> "A cruel sea of capital : A survey of global
finance," May 3rd, 2003.</font><br>
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