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SACRAMENTO -- A former official of a major California tomato processor has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges involving bribes paid to food companies, the first charges against a senior executive of the firm at the center of a federal corruption investigation, prosecutors said Wednesday. Jeffrey Beasley, former vice president for industrial sales at SK Foods in Monterey, will admit that he took part in plans to pay the bribes and ship tomato products with misleading content labels, inferior quality and inflated prices, the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento said. A former SK Foods sales broker, Randall Rahal, has...

Sacramento has been churning out Campbell's tomato soup for 62 years, and through all that time, the goal has remained the same: Keep the iconic soup tasting the same way it has since 1897. That just got a lot harder. In late July, the Campbell Soup Co. began shipping a new formulation of its oldest and often best-selling brand with a 32 percent cut in sodium that brings it in line with federal health guidelines. In the processed-food business, that's a huge risk. Salt is an effective and cheap flavor enhancer with no known substitute. Even a 10 percent cutback...

Hillard Green has the right idea. The old adage "Waste not want not" applies for sure in these days of exorbitant food prices. And those of us who grow our own have always known the value of preserving nature's bounty for off-season use. Since tomatoes are easy to grow and often plentiful, you may find yourself up to your ears in the ripe, scarlet fruit as frost approaches—and a few hints on the preservation of the harvest may be welcome. I've also taken the canning jar shortage into account in preparing this article, and have included some guides to the...

The plant fungus that caused the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s has shown up in Plattsburgh, and experts say residents need to act quickly. It's called "late blight" and it affects eggplants, potatoes and tomatoes. The fungus hasn't made it this far north in about a decade, but it moves quickly and can kill an infected plant in as short as a week and a half. The signs that your plants have late blight are brownish lesions on the leaves which make them look wet. Late blight was discovered in the region at unnamed major box stores on Friday....

Two Florida farms have decided to participate in a deal to increase the wages of the state's tomato pickers in an agreement with a farmworker advocacy group and upscale Whole Foods Market, the grocery chain announced Thursday. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Whole Foods said the farms will pay pickers 1 cent more per pound of tomatoes sold to the Austin, Texas, based company. Whole Foods will foot the bill. Florida provides most of the nation's domestic winter tomato crop. Florida workers earn about 47 cents per 32-pound bucket. That can mean an average of about $12 an hour...

Scientists have developed purple tomatoes which they hope may be able to keep cancer at bay. The fruit are rich in an antioxidant pigment called anthocyanin which is thought to have anti-cancer properties. A team from the John Innes Centre, Norwich, created the tomatoes by incorporating genes from the snapdragon flower, which is high in anthocyanin. The study, published in Nature Biotechnology, found mice who ate the tomatoes lived longer. Anthocyanins, found in particularly high levels in berries such as blackberry, cranberry and chokeberry, have been shown to help significantly slow the growth of colon cancer cells. They are also...

Freddy Strano spent much of last week mowing down 100 acres of perfectly good tomatoes. The Homestead grower was trying to cut his losses and bring to a close what has been an awful season. Strano estimates he has lost $500,000 or more this winter. The problem: He couldn't sell his tomatoes for anywhere close to what it cost to grow and harvest them. ''They were beautiful tomatoes, some of the better ones we've had in years,'' said Strano, whose family has been in the tomato business since 1939. ``The prices were just horrible. It's demoralizing. It's going to cripple...

Soggy sandwiches will soon be history, for the world's first non-leaking tomatoes are about to go on sale in the UK. Leading retail-chain TESCO will be selling drip-free tomatoes by the end of the week.s The packs of four will be on shelves for 99p, reports The Sun. Usual tomatoes leak eight per cent of water after being sliced. Tesco buyer Emma Pettitt said: “It’s the best thing since sliced bread.” The non-leaking tomatoes were grown in Holland and are part of a long-term tomato seed breeding programme that began in 1986. After trials using more than 100 varieties the...

NEW YORK: Chairman Senate Muhammadmian Soomro may be having a friend in White House if Barak Hussain Obama finally succeeds in his presidential bid. Hardly a few people know about Soomro's link with Obama, which he never discussed it in public. But in private interactions with influential Pakistanis here in the US, Obama disclosed that Soomro's father was his host when he went on a hunting expedition in Jacobabad during his visit to Pakistan in 1981. While in Karachi, Obama had stayed at the residence of his college friend, Hassan Chandio. In Jacobabad, he was the guest of Soomro...

Q: How does information from state and local levels flow to and between the federal agencies? A: The whole system is flawed. The relationship between FDA and CDC is strained; it’s improved but still lacking. It’s not clear who is really in charge. Authority is split up in a way that decisions get bogged down and you don’t have anyone in command. You need that to effectively launch and oversee an outbreak investigation. I’m not sure who’s in charge. We have people identified as being in charge. We need someone that understands outbreaks, not just manages them. In this case,...

Searching high and low for someone to blame for contaminated tomatoes, CNN’s Lou Dobbs tried: imported produce; a “moronic” Food and Drug Administration; and finally, President George W. Bush. In the June 16 edition of “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” Dobbs slammed the FDA and the president for not controlling the salmonella outbreak. After claiming that the FDA is “led by complete moronic, unengaged incompetents” and calling them “idiots,” Dobbs proceeded to link the spread of salmonella to Bush. “As for this administration, were a responsible president at the helm of this country, I would wonder why he is not taking action,...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican growers on Wednesday called a U.S. warning against certain types of their tomatoes unjust, saying it has brought exports to a halt and could cripple Mexico's $900 million industry. Growers said their produce is subject to double the scrutiny that U.S. tomatoes face: inspected first by Mexican officials and then again at the border when crossing into the U.S. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still hunting for the source of a salmonella outbreak linked to three types of raw tomatoes that has sickened 167 people in 17 U.S. states since mid-April. It has...

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida's tomato industry is in "complete collapse" and growers in California and Mexico are having trouble selling their crops as U.S. regulators hunt the source of a salmonella outbreak linked to certain tomato varieties, growers said on Tuesday. In Florida, the No. 1 U.S. tomato producer, $40 million worth of tomatoes will rot unless the U.S. Food and Drug Administration quickly traces the source of the outbreak and clears the state's produce, an industry official said. "We've had to stop packing, stop picking," said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange. "The stuff...

<p> FDA Home Page | Search FDA Site | FDA A-Z Index | Contact FDA Salmonellosis Outbreak in Certain Types of Tomatoes Updated: June 9, 2008 Topics on this Page IntroductionUpdate on the OutbreakNews UpdatesAdvice for Retailers, Restaurateurs and Food Service Operators Consumer Health Information What Is FDA Doing?Information About Salmonella How Do I Report a Tomato Complaint? Introduction The Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak appears to be linked to consumption of certain types of raw red tomatoes and products containing raw red tomatoes. The bacteria causing the illnesses are Salmonella serotype Saintpaul,...

Watering Tomato Plants With Diluted Seawater Boosts Levels Of AntioxidantsWatering tomato plants with diluted seawater boosts levels of antioxidants, scientists report. (Credit: Courtesy of public-domain-photos.com) ScienceDaily (Apr. 29, 2008) — Watering tomatoes with diluted seawater can boost their content of disease-fighting antioxidants and may lead to healthier salads, appetizers, and other tomato-based foods, scientists in Italy report. Besides their use in a variety of ethnic food dishes, tomatoes are one of the most commonly grown home garden vegetables, particularly cherry tomatoes. Scientists have linked tomatoes to several health benefits, including protection against prostate cancer and heart disease. Researchers have known...

The quest for the perfect tomato began in New Brunswick nearly 50 years ago and ended, for now, in a field south of Tel Aviv, Israel. After eight years of taste tests from chefs and tomato lovers, agricultural scientists at Rutgers University say they have resurrected one of the most delicious Jersey tomatoes ever. The elusive "Ramapo" tomato seed has been reproduced in Israel and 572,000 certified organic seeds were shipped this month to New Brunswick. The Ramapo tomato, named after a New Jersey Indian tribe and developed at Rutgers in 1968, will be back for this summer's growing season...

Zatta Melon

LONDON: Craving for something sweet and sour at the same time? Don't think twice. Just have a bowl of spicy and creamy tomato soup to satisfy your desire. Yes, a bowl of hot tomato soup every day can boost fertility among men, according to scientists. Researchers at the UK-based University of Portsmouth have discovered that lycopene, which gives tomatoes their bright red colouring, can turn sperm into super-sperm, sources reported. The conclusion came after the researchers studied the effect of lycopene in the diet on a group of six healthy men, all in their early forties. They were asked to...

The California Tomato Commission is supposed to be in the business of promoting the blessed red globe with funds that come from growers and shippers. But something else has been happening with the tomato money. Private plane travel. Four-figure dinners at Morton's. Conferences in Cabo San Lucas, with friends and family along on the commission dime. It took auditors 128 pages to document it all. The story of the California Tomato Commission is an all too familiar one. When a government thinks that nobody is watching, bad things can happen. There are just too many governments, boards and commissions for...

The state Department of Food and Agriculture is asking Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate the Fresno-based California Tomato Commission after an audit turned up lavish spending on trips and meals. In several cases, employees and board members charged the commission for travel by family and friends. They also spent freely at board meetings, including a dinner meeting at which the bill included almost $600 worth of wine. The audit covered the 2003 through 2005 fiscal years. It did not provide a total for the spending deemed questionable. "The Tomato Commission operated like a private trade association, not a government...

We have always been told there is no recovery from persistent vegetative state - doctors can only make a sufferer's last days as painless as possible. But is that really the truth? ...For three years, Riaan Bolton has lain motionless, his eyes open but unseeing. After a devastating car crash doctors said he would never again see or speak or hear. Now his mother, Johanna, dissolves a pill in a little water on a teaspoon and forces it gently into his mouth. Within half an hour, as if a switch has been flicked in his brain, Riaan looks around his...

Scientists in Himachal Pradesh have come up with a hybrid variety of tomato that is larger, redder and highly resistant to diseases. The hybrid tomato is called 'Garima' and is developed at the department of vegetables at the Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry near Solan, 60 km from here. The Solan hills produce the bulk of the state's tomato, so much so that the region is also called the 'tomato bowl' of Himachal Pradesh. "This tomato has a 20 percent higher yield and also weighs far more than the traditional varieties grown in the region," said Arun Joshi, a...

BRANSON — In the wake of Big Idea Productions' bankruptcy and sale to new owner Classic Media, VeggieTales characters are struggling to define their post-Big Idea lives. In a modest but clean condominium in Branson, Mo., Bob the Tomato sits on a rented couch and nibbles cheese curls. The window overlooks the busy thoroughfare jammed with tourist traffic. Bob's chin shows three days of stubble, his eyes the emotional scars of a recent bout with depression, but tonight he'll be performing again for the first time since Jonah — A VeggieTales Movie. After bouncing around the country for the past...

Got this from a friend today. It's sort of fun and a great way to waste time :-) Chose your side and throw tomatoes! http://www.peltthepundits.com/Default.aspx

Scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have identified why it is good for us to consume large quantities of tomatoes - and say that the best way to eat them is cooked up with some olive oil and cheese. Scientists have long believed that the carotenoids found in fruits and vegetables have a cancer preventive effect. In particular, studies have found that as the consumption of tomato products increases, risk of certain types of cancer decreases - even more so than when a variety of vegetables are eaten. Over the years, studies have found that the risk of up...

Ordering a sandwich for lunch today? How about some lettuce and a slice of cardboard with that? Cardboard. That's how customers describe the taste of winter tomatoes to produce-man Joe Procacci. Looking to improve off-season flavor, Mr. Procacci developed a tomato called the UglyRipe. It's exactly what its name implies. Scarred by crevices, it's not much to look at, but its growers advertise it as "exceptional" in taste. Customers apparently agree. Procacci initially saw sales of his Florida-grown tomatoes triple - until the Florida Tomato Committee put the kibosh on the UglyRipe last year because it doesn't meet the committee's...

Call them fat. Call them odd looking, just don't call them tasteless. Joe Procacci calls his tomatoes "UglyRipes."

Fried Green  Cucumbers It's been a rough few months for tomatoes. They've been swirled in California floods. They've been smashed by Florida hurricanes. They've been picked at by Mexican bugs. The result has been a national tomato shortage that has sent prices climbing like a vine seeking light. With costs up and quality down, some national restaurant chains are reconsidering their marketing strategies to keep the thought of juicy, tender tomatoes off customers' minds, or switching recipes to make up for the absence of certain hard-to-find varieties. The popular Juice Joint Cafe in Northwest Washington, meanwhile, has at least...

<p>Our Position: A big water tower painted like one, complete with worm, would not make a fine city landmark.</p> <p>The campaign to repaint a 10-story South Sacramento water tower as a big red tomato, complete with tomato worm, makes us remember a guy we knew in grade school who had the unfortunate nickname of Stumblefoot. His height had sprouted faster than his sense of coordination.</p>

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The district attorney has decided not to file charges against KNTV news anchor Terilyn Joe for allegedly throwing eggs and tomatoes at landscapers working outside her home.</p> <p>San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan said there was not enough evidence to show Joe threw food at workers outside of her Russian Hill condominium on Memorial Day.</p>