Gene to fight banana wilt found
Stored under News on April 3, 2008
The Nairobi-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation, AATF's scientists are developing a gene that would lead to new banana varieties resistant to the bacterial wilt.The gene has previously been used to combat diseases in tobacco, tomato, broccoli, orchids and rice.
Speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Peter Werehire, the publications officer at the AATF said in the last five years, the disease has spread in the entire Eastern and Central African countries of Uganda, Eastern Congo, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.
"So, the National Agricultural Research Organisation and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture sought to access candidate genes for conferring resistance against the wilt. One such gene was the plant ferrodoxin-like protein gene from sweet pepper," he said.
Werehire said the banana bacterial wilt disease, caused by Xanthomonas campestrispv. Musacearum, is spread through the use of infected banana planting materials, infected cutting tools, vectors and browsing animals.
"When the disease strikes, the leaves of the infected plants first turn dull green before they become scalded. The plants start wilting and the bunches show uneven and premature ripening of fruit," he said.
It has been found to be very destructive with incidence of 70-80% in many plantations and yield losses of 90% have been reported on some farms.
In Uganda for example, the potential national loss is estimated at USD 360 million annually (or 90% of banana’s contribution to the country’s GDP). He said preliminary laboratory tests indicate that transgenic banana plants appear to be resistant to the wilt.
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Bananas still cost peanuts, even with prices rising
Stored under News on April 3, 2008
Yes, we have bananas, but you may notice a lot more dark green ones on grocer's shelves along with higher prices.A cool winter in Central America, flooding in Ecuador and increased demand in Europe are creating a shortage in North America and forcing stores to rush supplies to market greener than usual, says local banana man Ron Chiovitti.
At the same time, transportation costs are skyrocketing, which explains why the price has shot up by 10 to 20 cents a pound.
"Our market has already moved up 10 cents," says Chiovitti, 61, North America's largest importer and distributor of bananas. But even if our favourite fruit rises to 69 cents a pound, it's still the best buy in the produce department.
"Even local apples cost more than a buck a pound," says the former drummer whose Italian great-grandfather began peddling bananas on Toronto streets in the early 1900s. "At three to a pound, a banana might cost you 20 cents each."
Most bananas are bought on impulse and we often don't even notice the price, Chiovitti adds. "If they look nice and they're the right colour, you're going to buy them."
Though his organic banana business is growing 10 per cent a year in volume, he says it's driven by price rather than conscience. If regular bananas are 49 cents and organics 99 cents a pound, consumers will buy a regular bunch. But if regular bananas are 69 and organics 79, he sells more organics.
In a typical week, Chiovitti trucks up to 3.5 million pounds of boxed bananas into southern Ontario from U.S. ports, then ripens them for four to five days in the company's 50 ripening rooms at its Etobicoke headquarters and at the Ontario Food Terminal.
Though he estimates that Canadians eat more than 35 pounds of the super-nutritious fruit a year, banana barons such as Dole and Del Monte have big plans to encourage us to eat even more.
Bunches of Chiquita bananas are already appearing beside the checkout in some local supermarkets. If we follow the U.S. lead, by the end of the year we should see single ripe bananas for sale in high-end coffee shops and fast-food chains.
Will Canadians buy a 99-cent banana with their $3.50 latte?
"We'll see!" says Chiovitti, whose bedside reading includes the current bestseller The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel.
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Runners all set for banana bonanza at Brands
Stored under News on February 7, 2008
BRANDS Hatch will be bombarded with bananas this weekend for a special charity event.Leukaemia Research's Banana Army will unleash 150 runners at the famous Kent racing circuit, near West Kingsdown, for its annual half marathon spectacular on Saturday.
The event, organised by Running Fitness and Saucony with Leukaemia Research, features a traditional 13-mile race, a 10k run and an additional one-mile Bananaman Chase in aid of Leukaemia Research.
The banana bonanza will see entrants running to overtake pacesetters, all dressed in banana suits.
Celebrities set to attend the charity event include television actors from Coronation Street and Holby City.
Kate White, Director of Fundraising of Leukaemia Research, said: "We're proud to be the official charity for the Brands Hatch Half Marathon."
"Our Banana Army running team are revving up for a great race, which will help us raise much-needed money to beat blood cancers."
For more information, visit the event website: www.fun-2-run.co.uk
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'Viagra' banana split a winner
Stored under News on January 17, 2008
Cape Town - The menu of a St Francis Bay chef, who apparently serves up a powerful drug against erectile dysfunction with a banana split, was shrouded in mystery when Die Burger newspaper tried to investigate.One of the items on Big Time Taverna's dessert menu, between Greek baklava and ice-cream desserts is the so-called Viagra, but whether or not it's the real thing is not that easy to determine.
The owner, Peri Tsiotsiopoulos, said that, in fact, he served up Cialis, a schedule four drug that is prescribed for erectile dysfunction.
He said the whole thing began about two years ago at the cheeky suggestion of a visitor from Holland to the Eastern Cape town.
Side effects
The popularity of the dessert had increased by leaps and bounds.
Tsiotsiopoulos said he had sold about 80 of the desserts in December, and men had left the restaurant bouncing like Bambi.
"It's a beautiful thing," he said.
But when Die Burger spoke to medical experts they were less than amused that chefs could be dispensing prescription medicine such as Viagra and Cialis.
"That falls outside the parameters of the restaurant business," said Dr Marmol Stoltz, chairperson of the Western Cape branch of the South African Medical Association.
She said any doctor who encountered such a dish ought to "report it".
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High-fibre banana powder offers health and wellness options
Stored under News on January 10, 2008
A fibre-rich powder from banana powder could boost the fibre content and nutritional content of food, report researchers from Mexico and Venezuela. The research, published in the journal Food Chemistry, taps into the trend for development of ingredients with health and wellness functionality."Due to its high total dietary fibre and indigestible fraction contents the banana fibre-rich powder (BFRP) appears a promising ingredient for functional foods," wrote the authors, from the Centro de Desarrollo de Productos Bioticos del IPN and the Central University of Venezuela.
"Water- and oil-holding capacities of BFRP did not change with the temperature, an important characteristic during the processing of food products where this preparation may be added."
The researchers applied starch liquefaction to eliminate the high starch content present in the fruit and thereby produce a fibre-rich powder capable of being formulated in a variety of diverse functional foods.
Using commercial unripe (hard green) bananas, the liquefied slurry was then mixed with an alpha-amylase enzyme for three hours. After this time, the enzyme was inactivated, and the material centrifuged and dried to obtain the fibre-rich powder.
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Bendy banana ban here to stay
Stored under News on January 3, 2008
A FYLDE Euro MP has gone bananas. Liberal Democrat Chris Davies says that much ridiculed EU rules on bendy fruits are here to stay.The EU banned the importing of bananas of 'an abnormal shape' leading Eurosceptics to criticise the union for meddling and call for an end to the law.
However, Mr Davies says the regulations simply provide quality bananas and says the law is here to stay.
He said: "People think that bananas are just bananas.
"But there's a huge difference between a long, straight one from Costa Rica and a short, curvy one from Cyprus or the Canaries.
"It may not matter much to some people, but it matters a lot to supermarkets buying bananas by the million.
"They want to know what's in the box."
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Philippine banana poised for entry into US market
Stored under News on December 27, 2007
AGRICULTURE Secretary Arthur Yap on Monday said the US Department of Agriculture has assured the Philippines of the speedy processing of the pest risk analysis for local bananas.Once approved, the US will allow the entry of banana, a high-value commodity into the American market and will boost the country’s export earnings by $6 million yearly.
"The Philippines is a leader in banana production and creating a new market would aid the livelihood of farmers in Mindanao where much of the exports are sourced," Yap said.
He added that opening Philippine bananas to an important market such as the US will send a positive signal to small Filipino farmers to diversify into high-value crop production.
In his bilateral meeting with Acting Secretary Chuck Conner of the USDA in Washington on November, Yap had identified bananas to the American official as the Philippine commodity that should be given priority by the US officials in conducting its pest-risk analysis on potential products for imports.
Yap said Conner then assured him that the USDA would move to expeditiously conduct the pest risk analysis for Philippine bananas.
The description of the US Food Safety System explains that "science and risk analysis are fundamental to US food safety policymaking. In recent years, the federal government has focused more intently on risks associated with microbial pathogens and on reducing those risks through a comprehensive, farm-to-table approach to food safety. This policy emphasis was based on the conclusion that the risks associated with microbial pathogens are unacceptable and, to a large extent, avoidable; and that multiple interventions would be required throughout the farm-to-table chain to make real progress in reducing food-borne pathogens and the incidence of food-borne disease."
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UH researchers help slow banana bunchy top disease
Stored under News on December 20, 2007
Hawai'i banana growers who are ranked number one nationally in banana production are being threatened by a perilous pathogen known as banana bunchy top disease. To help slow the spread of the disease, caused by the Banana bunchy top virus, the Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences Department in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at UH Manoa are producing and distributing tissue-cultured banana plants that are free of BBTV. Plants infected early with banana bunchy top virus do not bare fruit, and fruits of later infected plants are typically stunted, unattractive and not saleable, a UH news release said. The disease is transmitted by a small soft bodied insect known as the banana aphid. BBTV was first reported in Hawai'i in 1989 and has since spread progressively."The spread of BBTV in Hawai'i is greatly influenced by the movement and use of infected plant material, thus, the use of field-grown banana suckers as replant material is risky," Cerruti Hooks, a CTAHR entomologist said in a released statement from the school. Cerruti shared that although the bananas may appear healthy, they may already be infected with BBTV. "Using known BBTV-free plants is the safest practice available today for replacing diseased banana plants."
In addition to BBTV, CTAHR nematologist Koon-Hui Wang discovered that many banana fields are infested with plant-parasitic nematodes. These nematode feed, multiply and migrate into the banana root system, where they impair water and nutrient uptake. This affects plant anchorage and toppling might occur under high infestations. Banana suckers collected from fields containing nematodes may already be infested with these organisms, but using tissue-cultured plantlets may also help prevent the unintentional spread of nematodes.
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Chiquita sees better banana business in fourth quarter
Stored under News on December 13, 2007
Banana prices were up across the board in Chiquita Brands International's fourth quarter, the company said Tuesday.Growth has also picked up for the packaged salads category, which was impacted by an E. coli scare last year.
North American banana pricing was up 8 percent, and volume was up 1 percent over the quarter, Chiquita said in a news release. Pricing in core European markets rose 22 percent in U.S. dollars and 8 percent on a local currency basis, and volume fell 7 percent. In the Asia Pacific, pricing rose 4 percent and volume fell 9 percent, and in trading markets, including countries that don't belong to the European Union, pricing was up 2 percent and volume fell 57 percent.
In the company's Salads and Healthy Snacks segment, the net revenue per case was up 1 percent, while volume grew 11 percent over the quarter.
Fernando Aguirre, chairman and CEO, said the company was pleased with the performance in both segments. "At the same time, industry costs, particularly from fuel and purchased raw products, continue to pressure our margins," he said in the release.
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Rescued apes get smuggled bananas
Stored under News on December 6, 2007
Customs officers who seized 2.7 million cigarettes have given the bananas they were hidden among to a Dorset monkey charity as an early Christmas present.The discovery was made at Poole ferry port early on Saturday.
The contraband was found with several hundred boxes of fruit, which has been given to Monkey World, near Wareham, where it will be fed to the animals.
The cigarettes, which were hidden to avoid £472,000 of duty, were found in a lorry arriving from Cherbourg.
Banana headache
Bob Gaiger, HM Revenue and Customs spokesman, said: "The disposal of over 500 boxes of bananas could have been a bit of a headache."
"But we're delighted to have found a way of putting the bananas to such a good use by giving them the primates at Monkey World as an early Christmas present."
Lou Matthews, communications manager at Monkey World, said: "We are extremely grateful to HM Revenue & Customs for this donation and the primates say a big thank you for the bananas.
"Donations such as this are always welcomed."
The Irish driver of the lorry was arrested and released on police bail until 3 March next year.
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Smoothies Are Top Banana in Any Weather
Stored under News on December 6, 2007
You hear blenders churning ice in every major shopping center. Your gym offers vitality in tropical slush form. Instead of bacon double cheeseburger wrappers on the dashboard, you're seeing superwide straws.And all the while, franchisors are seeing dollar signs.
"You can't have too many smoothies," says franchise consultant Dick Rennick. Increasingly mobile and health-conscious consumers are the willing targets of icy beverages marketed as guilt-free alternatives to Wendy's or fiber-rich substitutes for soft drinks.
The number of franchised units offering smoothies as their main products nearly doubled from 2002 to 2006, according to FRANdata, a franchise research firm. An ongoing stream of new companies that entered the industry during that time, such as Chicago-based Froots, plus continued development of established franchising systems, including Maui Wowi and Jamba Juice (JMBA - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating), are the main factors behind the rapid growth.
Yes you can make money in this crowded market, says Rennick, but the minute you blend in, you're slush. Constant innovation is a must, he cautions, and every franchise needs a shtick.
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Panama Banana Workers Denounce Abuse
Stored under News on November 29, 2007
Panamanian banana producers are waiting for authorities to process their reports of unfair practices against the US Chiquita Brands multinational company, which forces them to sell the fruit at a loss and prevents them from exporting to other markets.Workers of the farms in Puerto Armuelles' Multiple Service Cooperative -COOSEMUPAR-, Chiquiri Province, gave away 50,000 banana boxes to the local population on Friday in protest. Salustiano de Gracia, general secretary of the Chiquiri Land Co.
Labor Union, said the US firm, heir of the sadly well-known United Fruit Company, only pays $5 per box, based on a ten-year contract signed in 2003, but that means a loss of $2.18 per box for the producers, who are demanding review of the contract and a price increase to $8.
We are working to give the product away to Chiquita, said the union leader, saying they also suffer the high cost of oil, fertilizers and other supplies and cannot sell the fruit to other wholesalers, such as Spaniards, Italians, or Russians willing to pay more.
The Consumer Protection's Free Competition Authority board of directors reported it is investigating whether Chiquita International Company, Ltd. benefits from a monopolistic practice in the contract signed with COOSEMUPAR.
However this is a meticulous process that will take time, thus Chiriqui's producers are losing their patience because, according to their reports, Chiquita wants to starve them to death.
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Scientists to develop specialty banana
Stored under News on November 29, 2007
Scientists in Lam Dong Province are working on a project aimed to develop and expand the production of a variety of bananas well known locally for their superior quality.For over half a century, La Ba bananas, named after La Ba where they were first planted in Lam Dong Province, have been treasured for their large size, beautiful shape and excellent taste.
At present, around 100 hectares of La Ba bananas are being grown around the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.
According to local planters, La Ba bananas are easy to grow as well as profitable.
"By growing La Ba bananas, I earn seven to eight times as much as if I grow corn," said Ha-Ai from Don Duong District.
Ha-Ai's hectare of the specialty banana yields around VND60 million in annual income.
Despite its considerable commercial value, experts say the Lam Dong specialty banana has been degenerating due to poor cultivation methods.
But the director of the Lam Dong Province Department of Science and Technology, Truong Tro, said the project aimed to study, restore and patent the breed as well as explore its market potential.
Head of the Biology Department at HCMC University of Natural Sciences, Doctor Duong Cong Kien had already successfully helped refine the breed by using tissue transplant techniques.
These techniques will be further developed and transferred to local planters, said Duong Kim Man, head of the Duc Trong District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
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Banana producer faces $8b lawsuit over terrorism
Stored under News on November 15, 2007
VICTIMS of Colombia's bloody civil conflict have filed the largest US lawsuit to date against a top banana producer, Chiquita Brands International, saying the company funded and armed a paramilitary organisation accused of killing banana growers.The civil lawsuit seeks a total of $US7.9 billion ($8.7 billion) on behalf of 393 victims and their relatives and accuses Chiquita of conspiring with the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym AUC, to control Colombia's banana-growing regions.
"It was about acquiring every aspect of banana distribution and sale through a reign of terror," the plaintiffs' lawyer, Jonathan Reiter, said. The suit seeks damages for supporting terrorism, war crimes, wrongful death and torture.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, is the latest of several complaints filed by Colombian victims against Chiquita in the US this year.
The company has admitted paying off violent guerilla groups, including the AUC, who are accused of massacres during Colombia's long-running guerilla war before it disarmed in 2003.
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Jury says Dole maliciously harmed 5 banana workers
Stored under News on November 8, 2007
LOS ANGELES--A Superior Court jury ruled Wednesday that the Dole Fresh Fruit Co acted maliciously in harming five of six workers who say they were left sterile by a pesticide used on a Nicaraguan banana plantation in the 1970s.The ruling sets the stage for Dole to pay punitive damages on top of $3.3 million in actual damages the jury awarded the six workers on Monday. The seven-man, five-woman jury was to return to court next week to determine the amount of punitive damages.
The workers' lawsuit accused Dole and Standard Fruit Co., now part of Dole, of negligence and fraudulent concealment while using the pesticide DBCP in the 1970s. The chemical was used to kill microscopic worms on the roots of banana plants.
"We are quite pleased on behalf of our clients that Dole has seen their day in court and has finally been held accountable for what they did," the workers' attorney, Duane Miller, said after Wednesday's verdict.
Dole attorney Rick McKnight declined comment.
Twelve workers originally filed suit, but in issuing Monday's ruling jurors said only six had been substantially harmed by the pesticide. Wednesday's verdict concluded that only five had been maliciously harmed.
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Banana Workers Union Leader Assassinated
Stored under News on November 1, 2007
On September 23rd Marco Tulio Portela Ramirez was brutally gunned down outside his home as he prepared to go to work at the Bandegua banana plantation, a subsidiary of Del Monte Fresh Produce.Do you eat Del Monte bananas? Do you notice where your bananas come from? Are you willing to take a moment of your time to help the workers whose labor sends over a million tons of bananas to the Unites States each year?
The production of bananas in Guatemala takes place in large monoculture plantations where labor conditions are very poor. Workers receive low wages which often don’t cover the basic needs of their families and endure long 12-hour work days and exposure to dangerous chemicals. Yet employees lack the freedom to organize independent trade unions and negotiate agreements with their employers in order to improve these working conditions. Those who have tried to organize have come under attack from both transnational banana companies and independent banana producers. Illegal firings, plantation closures, temporary contracts, civil law suits, trumped up criminal charges, and violence targeting union leaders have all become commonplace. So far in 2007, four unionists have been assassinated and no charges have been made against the guilty parties.
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Just desserts for 'Banana Splits' fans
Stored under News on October 25, 2007
LONDON - U.S.-based Warner Bros. Entertainment has joined forces with Universal Music Group to revive the Banana Splits, the 1960s kids-TV costumed characters.Comprising four costumed animal-like creatures, the Banana Splits were conceived by legendary animation creators Hanna-Barbera Productions to host breakfast-time cartoons sponsored by Kellogg's Cereals on the NBC TV network.
The popularity of their live-action comic sketches and song performances led to recordings on the then Decca Records, and some of the first pre-MTV music videos.
Now WB Entertainment has used its ACME Lab, launched in 2006 to revive WB's 1,000-plus dormant kids-TV properties, to breathe new life into an updated version of the Banana Splits.
The resurrected Banana Splits, filmed in Australia, will comprise 3-minute long shorts aired on the Time Warner-owned Cartoon Network, and on T-Works, a new multi-platform kids' social-networking service, designed to host all WB cartoons.
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Compromise reached on Buddha with banana
Stored under News on October 18, 2007
A gallery owner who caused a public outcry by exhibiting the statue of an aroused Buddha in a Norwich shop window yesterday said he had reached a compromise with police.The now infamous £125,000 Colin Self sculpture depicts an otherwise serene Buddha with a food offering of a banana and two eggs arranged provocatively in its lap.
Norfolk Police's hate crime unit launched an investigation after complaints about its display in the St Giles Street Gallery. Members of the Buddhist community and a neighbouring business owner had claimed it was offensive.
Officers threatened to seize the work if it was not removed and arrest owner David Koppel.
Mr Koppel closed the business for a week while a solution was found.
Yesterday, the gallery reopened to the public and Mr Koppel said an agreement had been reached with the police. “I have agreed to remove the Buddha with the fruit offering to the back of the gallery away from the view of passers-by,” he said.
“It will be facing the window, as it was, but will now be further inside. I am satisfied that this is a reasonable resolution. For me it was an issue of freedom of artistic expression - this way the public can still appreciate the piece but it should not cause offence.”
He added that the controversy has generated huge interest in the business.
“This exhibition followed on from our most successful exhibition in the five years since we opened, Frank Herrmann's Unseen Beatles,” he said.
“Both exhibitions have received enormous media coverage, for one reason or another.
Continue Reading..
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Lawyer argues that pesticide left banana workers sterile
Stored under News on October 11, 2007
LOS ANGELES - A lawyer for a dozen banana workers from Nicaragua argued Wednesday that Dole Fresh Fruit Co. and Dow Chemical Co. robbed his clients of the ability to have children by overexposing them to a harmful pesticide that left them sterile.Attorney Duane Miller, who represents the workers, made the claim during closing arguments in the three-month civil trial targeting the world's largest producer of fresh fruits and vegetables and the giant chemical company.
"As adults, we decide whether we want children or not," Miller told jurors. "This is a case about a decision made for my clients instead of by my clients."
The lawsuit accuses Dole and Standard Fruit Co., now a part of Dole, of negligence and fraudulent concealment while using the pesticide DBCP in the 1970s.
It also alleges that Dow "actively suppressed information about DBCP's reproductive toxicity."
Dole and Dow deny liability.
During his closing argument, Dow attorney Gennaro "Gus" Filice said the workers did not have enough exposure to DBCP to have any effect. Experts analyzed the exposure and found it to be insignificant, he said.
"These numbers are important," he said. "They tell the story."
Filice also claimed many workers had other health problems that could have made it difficult to have children, including venereal disease and infections.
DBCP was used to kill microscopic worms on the roots of banana plants. It was approved for use in the United States by the Environmental Protection Agency until 1979. In Nicaragua, it was legal from 1973 until 1993.
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Growing bananas: Gardener's friends teased him, but sweet revenge is in sight
Stored under News on October 4, 2007
David Anton didn't say a word about the banana plants he'd ordered through eBay, not until they arrived at his Davis home from Florida on a winter day in 2006.When he unwrapped them, they looked like three, 2-inch blades of grass.
When David showed them to his wife, Joan, she laughed at him.
They'll never grow - it's way too cold here in the winter, she declared. And where are we going to put them anyway?
It wasn't as though David was an unsuccessful gardener.
Though the 52-year-old is no UC Davis plant expert - he's a civil rights attorney - he and his family of four have from two backyard plots produced crops of Japanese eggplants, artichokes, strawberries, beets, broccoli and more.
Gardening even runs in David's family, sort of. Back in his native New Jersey, he watched his father, Stan, keep the weeds down old-school style, cutting holes in black plastic for his tomatoes and corn with an acetylene torch.
David tucked his banana plants into flower pots.
Three months passed. Nothing.
But come summer, they started growing at last. By fall, he'd put the 6-foot-tall plants in small wooden barrels.
Next came the real test: winter.
David eased the plants under the eaves of his house. He clothed them in plastic.
And, they made it.
I'll have to buy you a sombrero and a machete, Joan said.
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Webster Goes Bananas For World Record
Stored under News on September 27, 2007
Go bananas at North Webster Community Center's Center Fest Oct. 13.From noon to 4 p.m., individuals can attempt to break the world record for the most bananas snapped in a minute. To break the record, 81 bananas must be peeled in a minute. Even if the record isn't broken, the first 100 people who try to snap more than 81 bananas in a minute get a free t-shirt.
Banana snapping isn't the only fun event planned for the free Center Fest.
The Banana Split 5K Run/Fun Walk-Run/Bike Ride is from 8 to 10 a.m. Brian Shepherd organized the race, and it is opened to everyone. Prizes will be awarded in different age divisions. Registration for the race is $10 in advance, $12 on the day of the race. Forms are available at the Community Center, local schools, Lance's and Ace Hardware.
From 10 a.m. to noon, take a Community Center Spotlight Tour. Visit the library, Senior Primelife Enrichment Center, YMCA, Art Center and other areas of the Community Center. Enjoy free refreshments, too, such as hot dogs, popcorn and ice-cream from the Kiwanis.
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Illicit banana pesticide is blamed for ‘cancer disaster’ in Caribbean
Stored under News on September 20, 2007
The Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique face a health disaster, with one man in two likely to suffer prostate cancer as a result of prolonged use of illegal pesticides on banana plantations, the French parliament was told yesterday.The water table, land and wildlife in the two French overseas départements will suffer for decades from contamination by chlordecone, a chemical for killing weevils, Dominique Belpomme, a Paris cancer expert, said in a study that was presented to the National Assembly. "This is an extremely serious crisis linked to the massive use of pesticides for a great many years," he said.
Michel Barnier, the Agriculture Minister, said that the situation was "very serious" and promised to "treat the question of chlordecone with the greatest openness". However, other officials played down the report, which was commissioned by Caribbean consumer and environmental associations, as unproven and said that there was no evidence of a health threat from chlordecone use.
The state Institute for Monitoring Health said that ethnic differences probably explained the high incidence of prostate cancer in the islands compared with France. Chlordecone was outlawed in the islands in 1993, but it was used illegally – often sprayed by aeroplanes – up to 2002.
A drop in the birthrate on the islands "stems from other causes than the impact of a health issue on the biology of reproduction," said the institute. Christian Choupin, head of the Martinique and Guadeloupe Banana Producers’ Association, said that the report was unscientific. "One has the impression that people are dying like flies in the French Caribbean, which is far from the reality," he said.
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Chiquita: $25M fine for terror payments
Stored under News on September 13, 2007
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Banana producer Chiquita will pay a $25 million fine and serve five years' probation for once paying millions of dollars to groups in Colombia considered by the U.S. to be terrorist organizations, a Department of Justice spokesman said Tuesday.A worker at a banana plantation in Santa Maria, Colombia, in December 2000.
In so doing, the banana producer avoided prosecution for the company's now-defunct payoff of Colombian terrorists protecting its most profitable banana-growing operation, according to terms of a plea agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.
If approved by U.S. courts, the $25 million fine would represent the largest U.S. criminal penalty ever imposed under federal global terrorism sanction regulations, said Justice spokesman Dean Boyd. The regulations prohibit transactions with people who commit, threaten to commit or support U.S.-designated terrorists and establish penalties for doing so.
Attorneys from the Justice Department's National Security Division and federal prosecutors for the District of Columbia filed a joint sentencing motion Tuesday asking the court to accept the plea agreement, which was reached March 19, Boyd said. A hearing on the matter is set for Monday.
In its motion, the government asked that Chiquita Brands International be fined and sentenced to probation, as well as being required to implement an effective ethics program in connection with the company's guilty plea, Boyd said.
Federal prosecutors accused the Cincinnati-based company of paying more than $1.7 million to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a right-wing paramilitary group, in two parts of Colombia where the company grew bananas.
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Giant banana to blast into space
Stored under News on September 6, 2007
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a giant banana that a Canadian artist's building to blast into space.Cesar Saez is planning to launch the 300m-long inflatable banana into orbit from Mexico next summer to see how people react to his crazy flying fruit.
The finished banana will certainly be hard to miss - it's going to be longer than three football pitches and as high as a 20-storey building in the middle.
That means it will be between 15-20% of the size of the full moon!
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Brighton's banana lady dies
Stored under News on August 30, 2007
A popular market trader known as the banana lady has died at the age of 91.Mary Ellen Mears, who was called Eileen by friends and family, ran a fruit and vegetable store at the Open Market in London Road, Brighton, for more than half a century and worked well into her 80s.
She died at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton after suffering a burst blood vessel at her home in Kipling Avenue, Woodingdean, Brighton, four days earlier.
advertisementMrs Mears moved from Ireland to Seaford in 1928 when she worked as a companion to the family who owned Pye Radio, which was eventually bought out by Phillips.
She met her husband Charles in Seaford as he was stationed there during the second world war. They married in 1940.
In 1948 the family bought the market stall and it was run by Mr and Mrs Mears until Mr Mears died aged 56 in 1969.
After his death, the business was run by Mrs Mears with the help of her children, Pat, Mary, Cyril and Lenny, who all live in Sussex.
Pat Mears said: "When my mum retired she gave her share of the business to Cyril but she still used to come down and do the flats in the morning and cash up in the evening."
"She was called the banana lady because she used to give all the children free bananas."
"Even the funeral director who is sorting things out for us said mum used to give him bananas when he was a kid."
"There must have been a lot of children in Brighton who remember my mum giving them bananas."
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Hurricane Dean destroys banana crops in Jamaica and Dominica
Stored under News on August 23, 2007
Hurricane Dean wiped out banana crops in Dominica and did major damage in Jamaica, officials said Tuesday -- more bad news for an industry that has been struggling throughout the Caribbean.The hurricane, which roared across lush Dominica on Friday, destroyed 99 percent of the mostly rural island's banana crop, Agriculture Minister Colin McIntyre said.
In Jamaica, which was hit by the storm on Sunday, Dean did extensive damage to bananas and other crops in at least four of the country's parishes but precise figures were not yet available, Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke said.
Marshall Hall, chairman of Jamaica Producers -- one of the country's biggest exporters of bananas -- said the export crop was "wiped out" in an eastern Portland parish while 90 percent was destroyed in St. Mary parish, another leading producer of the fruit.
The islands of Martinique and St. Lucia have also reported that their entire banana crops were destroyed by Dean, which caused flooding and toppled trees.
The banana industry in the Caribbean has been struggling for years because of aggressive competition from other parts of the world and the loss of preferential treatment in the European market, but it remains an important segment of the economy in the region.
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Banana cake for birthday boy Zakayo
Stored under News on August 16, 2007
Entebbe, Uganda - Uganda's oldest captive chimpanzee turned 43 on Wednesday with a banana cake and "regular love and grooming" from his female companions, his keepers said.Zakayo, who was taken into captivity after being attacked by poachers, was presented with a specially baked banana cake, which he had been trained to cut with a wooden knife, but instead he chose to grab it with his hands, delighting hordes of school children.
The 67kg alpha male was brought into captivity in 1972 after his group was attacked by poachers in Uganda's south-west. When he first arrived at the centre, which at the time was the Entebbe Zoo, he was housed in a small cage along with four other chimps and visitors were able to offer him cigarettes and alcohol.
The former zoo has now been transformed into the Wildlife Education Centre - a voluntary organisation that rescues animals orphaned or confiscated by poachers - and the animals have their own small island similar to their natural forest habitat.
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Thief gets a banana punishment
Stored under News on August 9, 2007
Police force fed a thief 40 bananas because they thought it would act as a laxative.Officers hoped the fruit would help man pass a necklace he had stolen and then swallowed
But while they sat back and waited for results Sheikh Mohsin passed an uncomfortable night in jail, but not the piece of jewellery.
It was only after police fed him a hearty meal of chicken, rice and bread that it produced the required result.
According to Indian police, Mohsin, 35, grabbed the 45,000-rupee necklace from a woman in the eastern city of Kolkata and popped it into his mouth when police cornered him.
Senior officer Gyanwant Singh said: "Now he wants to go free and doesn't want to even hear about bananas any more."
He said a tired and rueful Mohsin was, however, staring at three years in jail if convicted.
"Bananas were good enough for another thief who had swallowed an ornament a few months ago, but Mohsin was definitely a tough cookie," said one clearly impressed police constable.
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There's a lizard in my bananas
Stored under News on August 2, 2007
SHOCKED Lisa Marie Jacques opened a pack of bananas for her son's lunch -- and found a dead LIZARD inside.Lisa, 30, bought the £1.19 pack from Tesco last week for Joshua, 12.
But she spotted the reptile pressed against a fruit when she opened the pack.
The Specsavers worker said: "It felt horribly slimy, and the smell was horrendous. It really stank."
Lisa, from Bedworth, Warwicks, said Tesco had asked her to bring in the fruit -- but has not yet apologised.
She said: "It's put me and Joshua off bananas for life."
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'Big Banana' Bandit Slips In And Robs Again
Stored under News on July 26, 2007
The "Big Banana" bandit, so named for eating a banana and other snacks while waiting in line before committing heists, robbed his ninth bank in south Orange County, authorities said Wednesday.That makes him the most prolific bank robber currently sought locally by the FBI, officials said.
The suspect held up a Citibank branch about 12:15 p.m. on Saturday at 31872 Del Obispo St. in San Juan Capistrano, said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
In about half the robberies, which were also carried out in Laguna Niguel, San Clemente and Aliso Viejo, the man displayed a semi-automatic handgun in a waistband, Amormino said.
Each time, he has passed the clerk a demand note. No vehicle linked to him has been seen, Amormino said.
In addition to a banana, which earned him his moniker, the suspect has been seen eating chips or drinking a soda, and has entered at least one bank talking on a cell phone, Amormino said.
The man, who always wears a baseball cap, is described as white, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall and weighing 190-200 pounds, with a medium build and black hair, Amormino said.
[News Source w/ video]
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Unique crust makes Milwaukee bakery's banana cream pie tastier than usual
Stored under News on July 12, 2007
You wouldn't think there'd be much to a banana cream pie -- some instant vanilla pudding and sliced bananas arranged methodically in a pre-made crust. Perhaps that's why banana cream pie occasionally gets pushed aside when we see it on diner menus and at potluck functions.Yet if you're a banana fan and the tedium of this pie has you hungry for something more, there is a better pie for you. You only have to look.
At C. Adam's Bakery in Milwaukee, there is so much more to their banana cream pie. Hidden in the hubbub of the Milwaukee Public Market, this tiny bakery pumps out some of the Midwest's tastiest gourmet treats. From raspberry chocolate truffle bars to l'oreos -- a posh, homemade version of Nabisco's famous black and white sandwich cookie -- it's hard not to stop and join the jostling people who feast their eyes on the large glass kiosk housing these delectable treats.
But beside the rows of intricately decorated pastries, a section of classic American pies awaits to be scooped up by the hungry stragglers. In both individual sizes and in 9-inch rounds, chocolate cream, key lime and banana cream sit in perfect formation, the peaks of their cream never drooping.
At first glance, the banana cream pie looks like any other banana pie might look if found at a diner or grocery store bakery. The crust is a little rough around the edges and the cream, although tinged a slight tan from the delicious addition of vanilla, is piled high in heaps of stiff, glorious peaks. But beneath its ordinary exterior lies a depth of flavor. The banana filling is rich and sweet with the taste of ripe bananas. There is no hint of packaged pudding in this pie, only the flavor of silky homemade banana custard that complements the vanilla-infused cream atop the pie so well.
Continue reading - Recipe included.
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U.S. steps into Chiquita tiff
Stored under News on July 5, 2007
The United States government is siding with Chiquita Brands International Inc. again in its 15-year battle against the European Union over access to its lucrative banana market.U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said Friday she would ask a World Trade Organization panel to investigate whether the current system, which favors bananas imported from former colonies in the Caribbean over those from Latin American countries, violates WTO rules.
"We share the concern of Ecuador and several other Latin American banana exporters regarding the continued existence of a discriminatory tariff rate quota in the EU's current banana regime," Schwab said in a statement.
Chiquita spokesman Mike Mitchell said the company viewed the intervention as a positive step.
"We certainly hope the USTR's action ... will continue to press the European Commission to resolve the situation very quickly," he said.
Chiquita has been fighting the European Union over its banana licensing system since the early 1990s. It's a fight especially important to Chiquita because the EU is its most profitable banana market, with companies able to charge higher prices there.
The original system imposed quotas limiting imports from Latin America. The U.S. intervened on Chiquita's behalf, imposing nearly $200 million in annual sanctions against European products after Chiquita said the quotas had cost it $1.5 billion in lost earnings.
The two sides cut a deal in 2001, with the EU committing to converting quotas to a tariff-only system by 2006. But the Europeans put heavy tariffs of 176 euros per ton on bananas from Latin America, Schwab's office said. According to Chiquita, those fees added $75 million in net costs last year, a major factor in the company's $96 million loss.
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Buried 'aliens' are really tree trunks
Stored under News on June 28, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia --Malaysians in a northern village were alarmed by rumors that space aliens had been laid to rest in their neighborhood cemetery, but authorities learned the graves had merely been filled with banana tree trunks for a superstitious ritual, police said Tuesday.Residents feared a local witch doctor had instructed grave diggers to bury extraterrestrials in the rural district of Pasir Mas on Sunday, causing police to detain the man for investigation, said district police chief Haliludin Rahim.
The man was freed after he explained that banana tree trunks, not aliens, had been buried in a ceremony for "medicinal purposes," Haliludin told The Associated Press.
The New Straits Times newspaper said the rumor started because of a misunderstanding after some of the grave diggers claimed to other people that they had been told they were burying aliens.
Witch doctors and spiritual healers are common in rural parts of Malaysia where superstitious beliefs have long been entrenched.
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Banana growers earn more
Stored under News on June 21, 2007
Hawaii banana growers produced 20 million usable pounds of bananas in 2006, almost as much as in 2005, and got a better price for what they grew."Weather for 2006 was mixed for banana production," said Mark Hudson, director of the National Agricultural Statistics Service Hawaii Field Office. "Six weeks of heavy rainfall from late February through March resulted in slow fruit maturation in many orchards."
Statewide banana acreage in 2006 grew 5 percent to 1,200 acres and harvested acreage grew 2 percent to 1,000 acres. Production is down from peak seasons around 2000 and 2001 but higher than most years from the mid-1990s back to the 1940s.
The 20 million pounds utilization was down 4 percent from 2005 but the average farm price rose 12 percent, or more than a nickel a pound, to 49 cents per pound for fresh bananas.
The higher prices pushed the total farm value of Hawaii's banana crops up 7 percent, from $9.2 million in 2005 to $9.8 million in 2006.
In the same period the United States imported 8.5 billion pounds of bananas, with three countries each contributing more than 900 metric tons -- Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala.
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Why we're all going bananas
Stored under News on June 14, 2007
By Kate Colquhoun Thursday June 14 2007They're healthy, cheaper than ever and, believe it or not, they're not actually a fruit. Kate Colquhoun reports
The banana has never been a more popular part of our diet. We spend millions of euro every year on the curvy yellow herb. Yes! It's not, strictly speaking, a fruit at all. And according to reports this week, our favourite "fruit"' has never been cheaper.
The world's favourite "fruit" is now our most popular foodstuff, uniquely portable and with apparently legion health benefits. Rich in iron, it is the perfect prophylactic against anaemia and (if you can face it) rubbing the inside of its skin over your body is said to repel mosquitos. It may stave off depression, can mollify morning sickness and hangovers, and its B6 and B12 vitamins may even help you give up smoking. Old wives' tales would even have us believe that they can help us remember our dreams.
Researchers have now proved that just two bananas, packed with their three natural sugars - fructose, sucrose and glucose - plus their fibre and carbohydrate content, can provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout, delivering an instant, sustained and substantial boost with a trifling calorie count of 107. They are scoffed by tennis pros on centre court. Compared to the lunchtime apple, the banana is also more of a man-food.
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Twinkie making a return to its banana-creme roots
Stored under News on June 13, 2007
By LAUREN SHEPHERD AP Business Writer © 2007 The Associated PressNEW YORK — Twinkie lovers: Get ready to go bananas.
The sweet treat known for its golden spongy cake and its creamy vanilla center is returning to its roots with banana-creme filling — the flavor that first made the snack a hit with sweet-toothed people more than 70 years ago.
Hostess, owned by Kansas City-based Interstate Bakeries Corp., began selling the banana-creme snack cakes last week at retail stores nationwide. The filling tastes just as sweet as the standard vanilla but with a subtle hint and smell of banana.
Old-timers may remember the taste from the pre-World War II years. From 1930, when the Twinkie was invented, to the 1940s, Twinkies were filled solely with banana creme. But a banana shortage during the war forced Hostess bakers to replace it with the vanilla flavor.
Hostess reintroduced the flavor during limited-time promotions in the past, but always took the treat off the shelves when the promotion ended.The company was finally convinced to make the flavor part of its lineup for good after Hostess offered it for four weeks last year for the release of the movie "King Kong." Total Twinkie sales jumped 20 percent during the promotion.
Hostess sells over half a billion Twinkies each year.
Have you tried the original banana flavored twinkies? What is your opinion on them?
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Late, but Great, Banana Split Centenary
Stored under News on June 7, 2007
This week, fans are celebrating the birth of that enduring symbol of America's bygone soda-fountain era, the banana split. On June 8 and 9, Wilmington, Ohio, is holding its 13th annual Banana Split Festival, this year marking the 100th anniversary of the banana split's invention by one of its citizens, E.R. Hazard.
Problem is, Wilmington may have missed the banana boat by three years. Most sundae experts (yes, there are some) think that the banana split was created in 1904, about 275 miles away, by David Strickler, a pharmacy clerk in Latrobe, Penn.
Despite the evidence jeopardizing Wilmington's claim to fame, its centenary bash is still on. After all, the story of how local restaurateur Hazard made culinary history in 1907 by flanking three scoops of ice cream with a banana cut lengthwise is a key source of community pride. For decades, folks have heard how Hazard devised the treat to attract more students from nearby Wilmington College. People have grown up guffawing over how Hazard's cousin, Clinton