FDA links stomach bug in 2 states to Mexican farm WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said an outbreak of stomach illnesses in Iowa and Nebraska is linked to salad mix served at restaurants in those states and supplied by a Mexican farm.
The outbreak of cyclospora infections has sickened more than 400 people in 16 states, in all. The agency says it is working to determine whether the salad mix is the source of illnesses in the other 14 states.
The salad mix was served at Olive Garden and Red Lobster, both owned by Orlando-based Darden Restaurants. Darden spokesman Mike Bernstein said the FDA’s data is “new information.”
“Nothing we have seen prior to this announcement gave us any reason to be concerned about the products we’ve received from this supplier,” he said.
The FDA said it traced illnesses from the restaurants in Nebraska and Iowa to Taylor Farms de Mexico, the Mexican branch of Salinas, Calif.-based Taylor Farms. The company said it is working with FDA investigators, who are looking at the facility, and that the product is out of the food supply. The FDA said its investigation has not implicated packaged salad sold in grocery stores.
Authorities: Bodies of two brothers found in pond LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities said two brothers, ages 7 and 9, apparently drowned accidentally in a pond on their family farm in West Michigan.
Lake County Undersheriff Dennis Robinson told the Ludington Daily News they were found Thursday evening in the spring-fed pond beside a house in Lake Township. Carr Fire Chief Bruce Burke identified the boys as Leander Troyer and his older brother, Jethro. Robinson said the boys had clothes on and it didn’t appear they intended to go swimming. Robinson said the boys didn’t come home on time, so their parents went looking for them and found them on the farm, about 70 miles northeast of Grand Rapids. Robinson told MLive.com authorities are considering the deaths accidental drowning. They’re investigating the deaths, including how the boys got into the pond.
Judge blocks planned horse slaughter at U.S. plants
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A U.S. judge has temporarily halted plans by companies to start slaughtering horses this week. A U.S. District judge on Friday issued a restraining order in a lawsuit brought by The Humane Society of the United States and other groups. They contend the USDA failed to do the proper environmental studies before issuing permits that would allow the horse slaughters.
Two slaughterhouses were set to open this past Monday. But the judge scheduled another hearing for that day.
Announcement hammering stocks of fertilizer companies
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (AP) — A big shake-up in the fertilizer business is demolishing the share prices of companies that make nutrients.
On July 29 Russian fertilizer company Uralkali said it will drop out of a pricing cartel that kept prices up. The move is likely to sharply reduce the price of potash, a nutrient used in fertilizers. Investors are reacting by chopping the share prices of some fertilizer companies by 20 percent.
The Mosaic Co. was down 19 percent after the announcement last week. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan was down almost 21 percent. Potash has been selling for close to $400 per ton. |
