Depressing Food News From All Over

LifeScience informs us that mussels are declining in North American waters. " ...mussels now are one of the most endangered groups of animals on the continent, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Humans are primarily responsible for the disappearance of mussels through water pollution and changes to their physical habitat wrought by the construction of dams, dredging and the introduction of exotic species."

So eating mussels locally will start to be challenging--we will all be making moules frites with Dutch bivalves, or worse, those huge greenies from New Zealand.

Meanwhile, good old beleaguered China now has a killer pig virus problem, apparently. According to the Washington Post,  "Moving rapidly from one farm to the next, the virus has been devastating pig communities throughout China for more than a year, wiping out entire herds, driving pork prices up nearly 87 percent in a year and helping push the country's inflation rate to its highest levels since 1996. "   International authorities are concerned that the virus may easily spread beyond Asia--it's already in Vietnam and Burma--to affect people worldwide.

The Dole bagged salad people are doing a voluntary recall of their Heart Delight salad mix after one bag in Canada tested positive for the E. coli bacteria.

And then, in Michigan, former president Gerald Ford's bulgy-eyed likeness--the poor guy is even wearing a striped tie!-- has been carved from a corn field at Gull Meadow Farms.

( Thanks to pbs.org for the mussels shot and a nifty-seeming recipe at the webiste link  for "Mussels steamed on the grill with chourico sausage in a white wine butter sauce, served with Texas toast .")

Comments

[KathyF]

"to affect people worldwide"

Are you saying this virus kills people? And nothing is being done about it?

Yikes!

Here we're all holding our breath due to a virus that only impairs sheep and cattle--culling right and left these days. Bah.

[Foodie]

I do not have definite info that this can harm humans--but back in August, the NYTimes reported this:
“They haven’t really explained what this virus is,” says Federico A. Zuckermann, a professor of immunology at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. “This is like SARS. They haven’t sent samples to any international body. This is really irresponsible of China. This thing could get out and affect everyone.”

[Jilara]

Just a note that the article cites freshwater mussels specifically. Most of the ones showing up on menus are saltwater varieties (and, here in California, disappear from menus for the time when they become poisonous or reproducing). Not to say that the decline of freshwater mussels isn't a Bad Thing, especially in terms of disruption of ecosystems.

[Cynthia]

Even if the virus is not transmitted to humans, it can still affect humans. In Asia, pork is a mainstay of the diet. Wiping out the key source of protein would have dire effects, even if no one catches the bug.

[Foodie]

Tks, Jilara--good point that I missed.

[KathyF]

Actually, without pork in Chinese diets the world would be a lot better off:

http://www.scientificblogging.com/hank/china_pollution_its_pigs_more_than_people