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☆ Boar's Head recall expands to include 7 million pounds of deli meat over listeria concerns
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-31 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Aria Bendix | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A recall of Boar's Head products has expanded to include a whopping 7 million additional pounds of deli and poultry items in a deadly multistate outbreak of listeria infections. As of Tuesday, 34 people have gotten sick across 13 states in the outbreak — including 33 hospitalizations and two deaths. Last week, the deli meat company had recalled more than 207,000 pounds of deli meat, including liverwurst and ham products, because they may contain the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. Boar's Head has now expanded that recall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced in a press release Tuesday. Boar's Head said in a statement on its website that it had initiated the recall after a liverwurst sample collected by the Maryland Department of Health had tested positive for listeria.

Persons: Boar's Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture's, Inspection, Brand, Maryland Department of Health, The Maryland Department of Health, Baltimore City Health Department, Centers for Disease Control, Mayo Clinic, CDC Locations: Montebello , California, Illinois, New Jersey, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Virginia, U.S

☆ A new Netflix show featuring a woman who turns into a chicken nugget shows just how much we love the bird
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewThe year of the chicken nugget (2017) and the chicken sandwich wars (2019) might have paved the way for fried chicken's latest role: star of a Netflix show. Next month, the streaming giant is releasing a bizarrely fun-looking comedy based on a Korean web cartoon called, fittingly, "Chicken Nugget." 🐣 Premiering March 15 pic.twitter.com/syGYVrzZS7 — Netflix (@netflix) February 15, 2024The premise of "Chicken Nugget" is silly, of course — but the show underscores the bird's soaring global popularity. And in the early 1960s, a renowned Cornell University professor engineered one of the Ivy League's greatest contributions to humanity: the frozen chicken nugget. It's unclear if the young woman in the forthcoming Netflix series turns into a particular flavor of chicken nugget.

Persons: —, ike, ince, ounger,, oung Organizations: Service, Netflix, Business, ust, EO Locations: oman

☆ Raising a child in China is 50% less affordable than in the US, Beijing think-tank says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AdvertisementThe think-tank said it calculated child-raising costs in China using 2023 data from the National Bureau of Statistics. AdvertisementIn total, raising a child until they are 18 costs Chinese families an average of 538,312 yuan, or about $73,000, Yuwa said. Middle-income families in the US are projected to spend $233,610 raising a child until they are 18, per the USDA. AdvertisementNotably, the average cost of raising a child in China fell slightly compared to Yuwa's 2022 report on the same topic. The think-tank said data from 2019 showed that the average cost was $76,000, or about seven times the country's GDP per capita at the time.

Persons: —, Liang Jianzhang, Huang Wenzheng, Yafu, Yuwa's, Yuwa Organizations: Service, Business, National Bureau of Statistics, Department of, Ministry of Health and Welfare Locations: China, Japan, Beijing, South Korea, Shanghai

☆ The Bureau of Land Management will no longer allow the use of 'cyanide bombs' to kill coyotes
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Associated Press | Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Bureau of Land Management is ending the practice of using 'cyanide bombs' to kill species. AdvertisementThe US Bureau of Land Management says it will no longer use spring-loaded traps full of cyanide on its land — a small win for wildlife activists and advocates concerned with pet and human safety. AdvertisementThe M-44 ejector devices that critics call "cyanide bombs" have unintentionally killed thousands of pets and non-predator wildlife, including endangered species, according to the US Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services. Other federal agencies — including the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service — already prohibit the devices. Between 2000-16, Wildlife Services reported 246,985 animals killed by M-44s, including at least 1,182 dogs.

Persons: —, Mark Mansfield Organizations: Land Management, Service, of Land Management, US Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, Associated Press, National Park Service, and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, Services, American Sheep Industry Association, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Predator Defense, Wildlife Services, BLM Locations: Idaho , Oregon , California, Washington, Idaho, Mansfield, Pocatello , Idaho

Tyson Foods is recalling nearly 30,000 pounds (13,600 kilograms) of breaded chicken ""Fun Nuggets'' after consumers complained of finding metal pieces in the dinosaur-shaped patties. Tyson informed the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service and said it recalled the nuggets voluntarily “out of an abundance of caution.'' USDA said that there had been only one report of a ”minor oral injury associated with consumption of this product.'' They were shipped to distributors in Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin to be passed on to retailers. The USDA urged consumers with the nuggets in their freezers to throw them out or return them to the place of purchase.

Persons: Tyson Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture's, Inspection Service, USDA, Associated Press Locations: , Arkansas, Alabama , California , Illinois , Kentucky, Michigan , Ohio , Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin

☆ Tyson is recalling nearly 30,000 pounds of its dinosaur-shaped nuggets
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A bag of Tyson Foods Inc. frozen chicken is arranged for a photograph in Tiskilwa, Illinois, U.S., on Thursday, May 5, 2016. Tyson Foods is recalling nearly 30,000 pounds of one of its products — dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets — after some consumers reported finding small metal pieces, the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Saturday. The recall is specifically for the 29-ounce plastic bags of the product officially called Fully Cooked Fun Nuggets Breaded Shaped Chicken Patties, the FSIS said in a release. Approximately 29,819 pounds of the Fun Nuggets are impacted, according to the release. FSIS is urging anyone who might be keeping a bag of the Fun Nuggets in the freezer to throw them out and to avoid eating them.

Persons: Tyson, Tyson Foods, FSIS Organizations: Tyson Foods Inc, Tyson, Department of Agriculture's, Inspection Service, Nuggets Locations: Tiskilwa , Illinois, U.S, Alabama , California , Illinois , Kentucky, Michigan , Ohio , Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin

☆ Tyson recalls almost 30,000 pounds of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets after consumers found metal pieces in them
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tyson recalled almost 30,000 pounds of its Fun Nuggets on Saturday, saying they could contain metal. AdvertisementAdvertisementTyson Foods has recalled almost 30,000 pounds of its frozen dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets amid fears that they could contain metal pieces, the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Saturday. The FSIS said that Tyson had recalled around 29,819 pounds of the dinosaur-shaped nuggets, which is around 16,500 packets. In September, the US Department of Labor announced they were investigating Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms, another major poultry producer, over the reports. The Tyson family has become one of the country's richest families, but Tyson Foods announced earlier this year that it was shutting four of its chicken plants as it sought to cut costs amid falling demand.

Persons: Tyson, —, Tyson Foods, Tyson Fresh Organizations: Nuggets, Service, US Department of Agriculture's, Inspection, US Department of Labor, Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms Locations: Arkansas, Alabama , California , Illinois , Kentucky, Michigan , Ohio , Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas

In May, staff at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland, filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel (OSC), which protects federal whistleblowers, alleging mismanagement and unsafe work conditions including poor lab ventilation, broken fire alarms and wild temperature swings. After Reuters exclusively reported the complaint, USDA closed one major research building at the site for repairs. Maintenance tasks should be performed on a schedule ranging from daily to annually, the complaint said. BARC staff conduct research on climate change, invasive pests, crop yields and more. Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: BARC, Leah Douglas, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture’s, Research, Staff, U.S . Department, Reuters, Agricultural Research, U.S . Office, USDA, OSC, Occupational Safety, Health Administration, Centers for Disease Control, OSHA, Thomson Locations: Beltsville, Beltsville , Maryland, Legionella, BARC's

☆ Can Joe Biden and a fistful of cash win rural America for Democrats?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Trump widened his lead among rural voters to 65% in 2020 from 59% in 2016. That includes $20 billion for rural health systems, $20 billion for clean-energy agriculture projects, $11 billion for rural electrification and $13 billion towards rural clean energy projects, the White House calculates. "You get out into the rural areas, and the folks are older and don't have the educational level. USDA data shows 21% of working-age adults in rural areas have at least a bachelor's degree compared to 37% in urban areas. "Biden and [Democratic] Maine Governor Janet Mills: they're too much bleeding hearts.

Persons: Joe Biden's, Andrea Shalal, Rhiannon Hampson, she's, Hampson, We've, Donald Trump, Trump, Barack Obama, Mark Brewer, Suzanne Mettler, Trevor Brown, Brown, Ron Kaufman, Kaufman, Mitt Romney, George H, Bush, Biden, Tom Perez, I'm, John Piotti, James Gimpel, Gimpel, Orange, Dick Bouchard, Janet Mills, Jared Golden, overplaying, TRUMP, Paul Tewes, Matt Hildreth, Nathan Layne, Heather Timmons, Suzanne Goldenberg Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, U.S . Department, Republicans, Democratic, Biden, Republican, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Trump, University of Maine, Cornell, Republican National Committee, Democratic National Committee, Political, Trust, Pew, Center for Information, Research, Civic, Tufts University . White, Family Foundation, Data, University of Maryland, Pew Research, DEMOCRATS Maine, Maine, Reuters, Democrats, Democratic Party, Thomson Locations: Waterville , Maine, U.S, Waterville, Presque Isle, America, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maine, Orono, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Utah, Maine's, Vietnam, Poland, Iowa, Ohio , Montana

☆ The farming industry is struggling with labor shortages and the climate crisis. But agtech like digital cow collars and AI-quality-control tools are solving problems in unexpected ways.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Sabina Wex | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Still, there are concerns about who owns the farm data and how it's being used. Chemeres said that he saw agriculture tech companies bombard farmers with innovations to mitigate this labor shortage. He believes the future of agriculture tech will be "almost surgical," he said, especially as AI comes into the field and becomes more sophisticated. These concerns came to a head in 2020, when Climate FieldView was accused of sharing farmers' data with Tillable, a platform that connects landowners with farmers. Not all tech companies do this.

Persons: Andy Lenkaitis, Lenkaitis Holsteins, Sarah Lenkaitis, Sarah, Lenkaitis, Bill Oemichen, Jeff Chemeres, Chemeres, Croptracker, Oemichen, that's, Bayer, FieldView, it's Organizations: Service, McKinsey, Credit Services, Data, Services, US Department of, The National Young Farmers Coalition, University of Wisconsin Survey Center, University of Saskatchewan, Bayer, US Locations: Wall, Silicon, Charles , Illinois, Minnesota, California, Washington, German

☆ Harvard professor Francesca Gino was accused of faking data. Now her million-dollar empire is crumbling — and scholars are eyeing who's next.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Kate Taylor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

"We believe that many more Gino-authored papers contain fake data," the Data Colada professors wrote. Data Colada found that the raw data showed clear anomalies, such as a distribution infinitely more likely to be produced by a random-number generator than actual people. Soon after, Data Colada ran an article alleging that Gino tampered with data in at least one of her honesty-pledge experiments. A post on Data Colada or a tweet from Brown is like a bomb going off in the behavioral-science world. Others who attempted to build on Gino's studies are grappling with having wasted time, money, and energy.

Persons: It's, Francesca Gino, Gino, Michael Sanders, Greg Burd, —, Hugo Boss, Gino coauthoring, Swarthmore College's Bhanot, Maurice Schweitzer, Simine Vazire, Sanders, Goldman Sachs, Schweitzer, they'd, Uri Simonsohn, Joe Simmons, Leif Nelson —, Data Colada, Dan Ariely, Ariely, Chris Goodney, Harvard, Colada, Nick Brown, Brown, Jeff Lees, Lees, There's Ariely, Brian Wansink's, HBS's Amy Cuddy's, Cuddy, Amy Cuddy's, Marie Claire's, Allison Williams, Astrid Stawiarz, Marie Claire Simonsohn, Simmons, Nelson, they're, Gordon Pennycook, Pennycook, it's, Bhanot Organizations: TED, Twitter, LinkedIn, Harvard, Wharton, Swarthmore College, Harvard Business School, Alaska Airlines, King's College London, Tione, University of Trento, Sant'anna, Studies, Carnegie Mellon University, University of North, Wired, Forbes, Google, Swarthmore, University of Melbourne, Disney, Lavin Agency, Data, Duke University, who's, NBC, BuzzFeed News, Bloomberg, Getty, Privately, Higher Education, Hill, Duke, US Department of, Cornell University, New York Times Locations: Trento, Pisa, University of North Carolina, HBS, Guatemala, Boston, New York, British, Guatemalan

SAN FRANCISCO, June 16 (Reuters) - Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk expects his brain-chip startup Neuralink to start its first human trial this year, he said on Friday in France. Speaking at the VivaTech event in Paris, co-founder Musk said Neuralink plans to implant a tetraplegic or paraplegic patient during a webcast monitored by Reuters. The FDA acknowledged in an earlier statement to Reuters that the agency cleared Neuralink to use its brain implant and surgical robot for trials but declined to provide more details. On at least four occasions since 2019, Musk predicted that Neuralink would soon start human trials. Neuralink employees who sat on the company's animal board, which has come under federal scrutiny for potential financial conflicts, stood to benefit from the implant's quick development.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Neuralink, didn't, Rachael Levy, Hyunjoo Jin, David Gregorio Our Organizations: FRANCISCO, Billionaire, Reuters, Twitter, SpaceX, Food, Drug Administration, FDA, Department of Transportation, U.S . Department of Agriculture's, Thomson Locations: France, Paris, U.S, Washington, San Francisco

☆ Ron DeSantis is banning Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida, accusing China of taking up swathes of farmland: 'We don't want the CCP in the Sunshine State'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis has signed a new bill banning Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida. DeSantis cited concerns that Chinese investors have been buying up too much farmland in the state. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Monday that bans most Chinese citizens from purchasing land in his state. The new bill, SB 246, prevents Chinese nationals from buying land in Florida unless they are also American citizens or permanent residents. Investors from Canada own the most US land out of any foreign country, holding 12.8 million acres worth around $11.6 billion, per the department's 2021 report.

The last two times U.S. corn exports were lower than the 2022-23 expectations were 2019-20 (36.1 million tonnes or 1.78 billion bushels) and 2012-13 (16.5 million tonnes or 730 million bushels). CHINA BOWING OUTOn Thursday, USDA confirmed the week's second cancellation of U.S. corn sales to China, bringing the total to 560,000 tonnes (22 million bushels). As of April 20, China had 8.6 million tonnes of U.S. corn on the books for 2022-23 delivery, and 3.7 million still awaited shipment. Outstanding corn sales to China are comprised mostly of new purchases since March, implying those are among the ones now being cancelled. China only began accepting Brazilian corn shipments at the end of last year, though Japan frequently imports several million tonnes.

March 27 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink has approached one of the biggest U.S. neurosurgery centers as a potential clinical trials partner as it prepares to test its devices on humans once regulators allow for it, according to six people familiar with the matter. Barrow has helped standardize brain implant surgeries in which the patient can remain asleep, a key step in making it more acceptable to a broad set of the population, Ponce said. This is in line with Musk's vision for Neuralink's brain chip. The billionaire CEO of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and majority owner of Twitter has said Neuralink's brain implants will become as ubiquitous as Lasik eye surgery. Neuralink's implant is a brain computer interface (BCI) device, which uses electrodes that penetrate the brain or sit on its surface to provide direct communication to computers.

☆ The 'Harvard diet' may be the standard for living a long and healthy life—here's what to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

You've definitely heard of the Mediterranean diet and the MyPlate method , but what about Harvard University's Healthy Eating Plate ? The Harvard diet is actually Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate, and it can be used as a guide for "creating healthy, balanced meals," according to "The Nutrition Source," a section of Harvard's site that provides nutritional information. Add in whole grains (1/4 of your plate)In comparison to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's MyPlate method, the Harvard diet specifies the type of grains that you should eat. Get some healthy protein (1/4 of your plate)More than most diets, the Healthy Eating Plate dives into which proteins are healthy for you and which you should limit in your diet. The Harvard diet encourages you to alternate between water, tea and coffee to pair with your meals, especially with little to no sugar.

☆ U.S. regulators rejected Elon Musk’s bid to test brain chips in humans, citing safety risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Rachael Levy | Marisa Taylor | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +19 min

Companies that do secure human-testing approval typically conduct at least two rounds of trials before applying for FDA approval to commercially market a device. "Everybody in the industry was saying: 'Oh my God, they're going to run straight into a brick wall,'" Ludwig said of Musk's bid for FDA approval. For example, NeuroPace, which makes the brain implant to treat epilepsy, received final FDA approval in 2013 – 16 years after the company's launch. Beyond grants, it provides access to government experts who advise on how to gain FDA approval and commercialize a device. Musk's emails to Neuralink staffers often come from his SpaceX address, said two people who reviewed them.

☆ China claims it successfully cloned 3 'super cows' that make vastly more milk than normal cows do
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

China claims it's cloned three cows that make up to 18 metric tons of milk per year. "Super cows" are hard to breed since they're identified at the end of their lives, per state-affiliated media. The scientists say they plan to build a herd of 1,000 super cows in the next two to three years. The calves were cloned from "super cows" — unusually productive cows that can make 18 metric tons of milk per year and 100 tons of milk in their lifetimes, pro-government tabloid The Global Times reported. "We plan to take two to three years to build up a herd comprised of over 1,000 super cows," Jin said, per The Global Times.

But to reach its ultimate destination - supermarket shelves - cultivated meat faces big obstacles, five executives told Reuters. California-based cultivated meat company GOOD Meat already has an application pending with the FDA, which has not been previously reported. Regulatory approval is just the first hurdle for making cultivated meat accessible to a broad swath of consumers, executives at UPSIDE, Mosa Meat, Believer Meats, and GOOD Meat told Reuters. But it will take hundreds of millions of dollars for GOOD Meat, for example, to build bioreactors of the size needed to make its meat at scale, Tetrick said. But cultivated meat companies have the advantage that they can claim their product is real meat, Tetrick said.

☆ Elon Musk reportedly told workers at his brain-chip startup to imagine they had bombs strapped to their heads to make them work faster
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk told Neuralink staff to imagine they had bombs strapped to their heads to drive faster work, Reuters reported. Employees told Reuters Musk's push for speed led to an increase in the number of animals killed in testing. One former staffer said that Musk told workers he'd initiate a "market failure" at the company if employees couldn't speed up progress, Reuters reported. Earlier this year, Musk told workers in an email that the company wasn't moving fast enough, per Reuters. It's not the first time Musk has been known to push employees to work at a break-neck pace.

☆ Mississippi River water woes, retail overstock trailers: Latest supply chain stresses for economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The towboat Roberta Tabor pushes barges up the Mississippi River in Granite City, Illinois, US, on Friday, July 9, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAccording to the National Weather Service Memphis Office, the Mississippi River is projected to tie the all-time record of -10.70 feet, either later today or tonight. The Mississippi River is a vital waterway for trade and the lower water levels have impacted the amount of commodities that can be imported or exported out of New Orleans. "Our members depend upon adequate water levels in the Mississippi River system, to reach domestic and international export markets. The East Coast congestion has had a massive impact on vessel reliability.

U.S. corn and soybean yields will be of top priority in Wednesday's reports, due at noon EDT (1600 GMT). Corn yield was lower in just five of the last 20 Octobers, most recently 2016 and 2012, the latter decent company for 2022. The Midwest this year recorded its driest September since 1979, though drier Septembers have not necessarily promoted lower soy or corn yields in October. Nine of the 11 Crop Watch soybean fields yielded at or just below pre-harvest expectations. Crop Watch corn harvest is only starting, but nationally the pace is 1 point ahead of average.

"These defendants exploited a program designed to provide nutritious food to needy children during the COVID-19 pandemic." The alleged scheme was tied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Federal Child Nutrition Program aimed at feeding needy children. The program, which was expanded during the pandemic, allows private restaurants to run federally funded food distribution sites, as long as they are sponsored by a non-profit organization. Prosecutors said restaurant owners and others paid bribes to Feeding Our Future employees to get the organization to sponsor sham distribution sites. Defendants created dozens of shell companies to run the fake distribution sites and to launder the proceeds of the scheme, prosecutors said.

☆ Feds charge dozens in Minnesota in alleged scheme to steal $250 million in pandemic aid
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Prosecutors say few meals were actually served, and the defendants used the money to buy luxury cars, property and jewelry. "This $250 million is the floor," Andy Luger, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, said at a news conference. According to court documents, the alleged scheme targeted the USDA's federal child nutrition programs, which provide food to low-income children and adults. But during the pandemic, some of the standard requirements for sites to participate in the federal food nutrition programs were waived. Luger said the scheme involved more than 125 million fake meals, with some defendants making up names for children by using an online random name generator.

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