The increasing popularity of supermarket sold pre-packed salad could lead to a rise in food poisoning, scientists warned today. Researchers have discovered how salmonella and E.coli germs - more commonly associated with chicken and bovine products - can spread to salad and vegetable leaves. A salmonella outbreak in the UK last year was traced back to imported basil while an E.coli outbreak in America in 2006 was linked back to pre-packed baby spinach. Professor Gadi Frankel, from Imperial College, said consumers needed to be aware of the risk of contaminated salad to avoid potential food poisoning. "In their efforts to eat healthily, people are eating more salad products, choosing to buy organic brands and preferring the ease of 'pre-washed' bagged salads from supermarkets, than ever before," he said.
Researchers have discovered how salmonella and E.coli germs - more commonly associated with chicken and bovine products - can spread to salad and vegetable leaves.
A salmonella outbreak in the UK last year was traced back to imported basil while an E.coli outbreak in America in 2006 was linked back to pre-packed baby spinach.
Professor Gadi Frankel, from Imperial College, said consumers needed to be aware of the risk of contaminated salad to avoid potential food poisoning.
"In their efforts to eat healthily, people are eating more salad products, choosing to buy organic brands and preferring the ease of 'pre-washed' bagged salads from supermarkets, than ever before," he said.
Prepacked salads have been around for decades, and so far they're not exactly topping the list of food poisoning fatalities.
If they start moving up the list it won't be because they're prepacked, but because food manufacturers aren't paying enough attention to hygiene.
Pre-packaged salad should be washed just like regular salad greens... A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
An Italian parish has been ordered by a court to pay €59,000 in damages to a woman who claimed that the loud pealing of bells at the church next to her home had caused her "moral and physical harm" for 23 years. The woman, a retired teacher at Lavagna near Genoa named under Italian privacy laws only as Flora L, began her campaign against the Madonna del Carmine parish in 1985. Five years ago, she resorted to legal action, taking Father Stefano Queirolo, the parish priest, to court. Judge Pasquale Grasso, ruling in the woman's favour, ordered the parish not only to stop ringing the bells at at Madonna del Carmine, but also to lower the level of the bells at the Church of Santo Stefano, a hundred metres away. Not all residents of Lavagna agreed with the ruling, however. Mauro Armanino, head of tourism on the local council, said: "The sound of bells has marked the rhythm of life for generations, for believers and non believers alike."
An Italian parish has been ordered by a court to pay €59,000 in damages to a woman who claimed that the loud pealing of bells at the church next to her home had caused her "moral and physical harm" for 23 years.
The woman, a retired teacher at Lavagna near Genoa named under Italian privacy laws only as Flora L, began her campaign against the Madonna del Carmine parish in 1985. Five years ago, she resorted to legal action, taking Father Stefano Queirolo, the parish priest, to court.
Judge Pasquale Grasso, ruling in the woman's favour, ordered the parish not only to stop ringing the bells at at Madonna del Carmine, but also to lower the level of the bells at the Church of Santo Stefano, a hundred metres away.
Not all residents of Lavagna agreed with the ruling, however. Mauro Armanino, head of tourism on the local council, said: "The sound of bells has marked the rhythm of life for generations, for believers and non believers alike."
this happens in the UK as well, people moving into country villages and then start virulent campaigns against this, that or the other that's been going on for centuries before these loonies arrive. keep to the Fen Causeway
"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Taught me to make sure to find out who my neighbours are on all sides of the building.
More heat waves, far less snow: Using a new more precise climate model, the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology has calculated the impact of global warming on weather patterns in Germany stretching up to the year 2100. For "Remo," Germany is nothing more than an array of boxes, each of them 10 by 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in area and 100 meters (328 feet) tall. But these are no ordinary boxes. Brimming with data, they are designed to forecast changes to Germany's climate between now and the year 2100. This makes "Remo," a climate model developed by the Hamburg-based Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M), more than 20 times more precise, from a spatial standpoint, than the global models used by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A more precise calculation of the consequences of climate change does not exist anywhere in the world. It is intended to serve as a basis for political planning, as well as to enable disaster relief agencies, farmers, vintners, power plant operators and the tourism industry to adjust to the new environment in a timely way. To complete the calculations, commissioned by the German Federal Environment Agency, the MPI-M researchers assumed only a gradual decline in worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases from cars, power plants and factories. At the intersections of the grid made up of virtual cubes, the MPI-M's mainframe computer has calculated various weather variables, such as temperature, humidity and wind speed.
More heat waves, far less snow: Using a new more precise climate model, the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology has calculated the impact of global warming on weather patterns in Germany stretching up to the year 2100.
For "Remo," Germany is nothing more than an array of boxes, each of them 10 by 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in area and 100 meters (328 feet) tall. But these are no ordinary boxes. Brimming with data, they are designed to forecast changes to Germany's climate between now and the year 2100. This makes "Remo," a climate model developed by the Hamburg-based Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M), more than 20 times more precise, from a spatial standpoint, than the global models used by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
A more precise calculation of the consequences of climate change does not exist anywhere in the world. It is intended to serve as a basis for political planning, as well as to enable disaster relief agencies, farmers, vintners, power plant operators and the tourism industry to adjust to the new environment in a timely way.
To complete the calculations, commissioned by the German Federal Environment Agency, the MPI-M researchers assumed only a gradual decline in worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases from cars, power plants and factories. At the intersections of the grid made up of virtual cubes, the MPI-M's mainframe computer has calculated various weather variables, such as temperature, humidity and wind speed.
The ice shelves in Canada's High Arctic have lost a colossal area this year, scientists report. The floating tongues of ice attached to Ellesmere Island, which have lasted for thousands of years, have seen almost a quarter of their cover break away. One of them, the 50 sq km (20 sq miles) Markham shelf, has completely broken off to become floating sea-ice. Researchers say warm air temperatures and reduced sea-ice conditions in the region have assisted the break-up.
The ice shelves in Canada's High Arctic have lost a colossal area this year, scientists report.
The floating tongues of ice attached to Ellesmere Island, which have lasted for thousands of years, have seen almost a quarter of their cover break away.
One of them, the 50 sq km (20 sq miles) Markham shelf, has completely broken off to become floating sea-ice.
Researchers say warm air temperatures and reduced sea-ice conditions in the region have assisted the break-up.
