IFAS News
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences – University of Florida
Mosquito threat emerges as season peaks, UF researchers report
August 30, 2011
Topic(s): Entomology and Nematology, Environment, Household Pests, IFAS, Pests, RECs, Safety
Caption at bottom. Click here for high resolution image.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Mosquitoes aren’t just a nuisance, they’re also an economic and health concern, say University of Florida researchers.
July, August, and September are peak months for mosquito activity in Florida, and the state spends about $151 million each year trying to control the biting insects.
Controlling mosquitoes is important for economic development and tourism, said Jonathan Day, a University of Florida medical entomology professor at UF’s Florida Medical Entomology Lab in Vero Beach.
UF researchers find bacterial imbalances linked to deadly disease that strikes infants
June 30, 2011
Topic(s): IFAS, New Technology, Research, Safety
Cutline at bottom. Click here for high-resolution image.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — New findings by the University of Florida may help lead to a cure for a deadly disease that primarily afflicts premature newborns.
Necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, is the death of tissue in the bowels that causes inflammation, abdominal distention, bleeding, and in about 25 percent of the cases, mortality. It most often occurs in newborns during the first weeks of life.
Current treatments for NEC depend on the severity and include surgical and non-surgical techniques. Medical care for infants with NEC is estimated to cost up to $1 billion each year in the United States.
UF research finds salmonella responds differently to tomato varieties, ripeness
September 23, 2010
Topic(s): Agriculture, Cultivars, Food Safety, Safety, Vegetables
Caption at the end of the story
Multimedia available: http://news.ufl.edu/2010/09/21/salmonella-multimedia/
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida researchers have discovered that tomato variety and maturity influence the ways salmonella bacteria respond to the fruit.
The findings, published Aug. 31 by the online, open-access journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) ONE, suggest researchers may be able to develop tomato cultivars more resistant to salmonella contamination.
Also, by monitoring tomato ripeness, it may be possible to reduce fruit’s susceptibility to contamination during and after harvest, said Max Teplitski, an associate professor in soil microbiology. (more…)
UF Food Summit to showcase Florida food issues, sustainability
April 1, 2010
Topic(s): Agriculture, Food Safety, Green Living, Safety
The University of Florida Office of Sustainability will host the first Florida Food Summit April 12-13. The event at UF’s Reitz Student Union will facilitate networking, dialogue and visioning among members of the Florida food system. The summit will help develop the connections needed for robust farm-to-institution programs and is part of the Office of Sustainability’s “40 Days of Change” campaign – a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
The event will begin with a welcome reception, followed by discussion panels focusing on local food systems at the local and state level. Other events include film screenings, multimedia presentations, a “Food on the Lawn” fair and farmers market.
“Food on the Lawn” will take place on UF’s Plaza of the Americas from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 12, featuring food demonstrations, educational displays and local produce for sale. A photography exhibition, “Range, Furrow, and Grove: Images of Florida Agriculture,” will also be on display April 5-17 in the Reitz Student Union Gallery. (more…)
New UF-housed wildfire ‘strike team’ teaches safe burning techniques
August 12, 2009
Topic(s): Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Safety
Click here for high resolution image.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When it comes to fighting fires, it’s usually the guy with the hose that gets all the hero worship. But as ever-increasing temperatures and droughts bring a greater threat from wildfires, sometimes it’s the guy with a torch who can do the most good.
“Fire is an art,” said Parker Titus, a specialist with more than 400 controlled burns on his resume. “It’s one of the most powerful influences on our natural systems. Knowing how to use it — and not let it get out of control — is an essential part of the conservation effort.”
This week, Titus and his crew, the newly formed Northeast Florida Resource Management Support Team, will be sharing that knowledge with 40 students and public agency employees.
The team will help teach how to stay safe while practicing controlled burns as part of a weeklong basic wildland firefighter training program conducted by the University of Florida, The Nature Conservancy and the Natural Areas Training Academy.
UF researchers turn up the heat on bedbugs with new low-tech treatment method
July 7, 2009
Topic(s): Agriculture, Entomology and Nematology, Household Pests, New Technology, Pests, Safety
Caption at bottom. Click here for high resolution image.
Multimedia available: http://news.ufl.edu/2009/07/07/bed-bugs-multimedia/
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Bedbug infestations are notoriously hard to eliminate, but University of Florida researchers have developed a low-cost, low-tech method to kill the bloodsucking insects in furniture and bedding, using heat.
With less than $400 in equipment they created a portable chamber big enough for a bed or dresser. Heaters inside the chamber gently raise its air temperature to a minimum of 113 degrees Fahrenheit – enough to destroy the insects but not damage the items.
Treatment takes from two to seven hours, said urban entomologist Phil Koehler, a professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. In a study, the method killed 100 percent of bedbugs in nine out of 11 trials conducted in dormitories and apartments.
The study appears in the current issue of Journal of Economic Entomology.
“You’re very limited in what you can do to fight bedbugs,” said Koehler, an author of the study. “This is a good way to relieve infestations in bedding and other items people have close contact with, and it controls all life stages of bedbugs.” (more…)
Mosquitoes aplenty this July Fourth bring disease concerns for North Florida
July 1, 2009
Topic(s): Entomology and Nematology, Environment, Household Pests, Lawn & Garden, Pests, Safety, Weather
Caption at bottom. Click here for high resolution image.
Caption at bottom. Click here for high resolution image.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Recent weeks of heavy rain have left conditions statewide ripe for a Fourth of July rife with mosquitoes. For some North Florida areas, however, the pests are more than a holiday annoyance — they bring the threat of the eastern equine encephalitis virus, known as EEEV.
“This year doesn’t look like it’s going to be tremendously unusual in terms of overall cases of mosquito-borne diseases,” said Jonathan Day, a professor of medical entomology with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “But transmission of [EEEV] tends to be very focal, and there are some areas that are looking risky.”
EEEV is best known for being deadly in horses, but humans can contract the virus as well.
According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus can cause a severe infection of the central nervous system in humans, and is fatal for nearly a third of those afflicted.
So far this year, 26 horses have been found to be infected in North Florida, with five more in the state’s Panhandle.
Fern Gene Reduces Arsenic in Model Plant; Could Make Rice Safer, UF Expert Says
March 25, 2009
Topic(s): Agriculture, Biocontrols, Pollution, Safety
Caption at bottom of page. Click here for high resolution.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Chinese brake fern accumulates huge quantities of arsenic, but one of its genes caused a model plant to do just the opposite, a discovery that surprised University of Florida scientists and could lead to low-arsenic rice varieties.
A UF study, published online this week in the journal Plant, Cell and Environment, showed that when mouse-ear cress plants with the added gene were grown in arsenic-laden soil, their leaves contained as little as one-seventh the arsenic of control plants. (more…)
Three UF Food-Safety Experts to Serve on 12-Member FDA Task Force
January 28, 2009
Topic(s): Families and Consumers, Food Safety, Safety
- By:
Stu Hutson – (352) 273-3569
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Whether E. coli on spinach or Salmonella in peanut butter, it seems food-borne illness outbreaks are becoming all too familiar to the average shopper. On Jan. 29, when a national task force of 12 experts meet in Washington, D.C. to discuss how to improve America’s food safety – three of the experts will hail from the Gator Nation, with two from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
“I think that this shows that the University of Florida, and IFAS in particular, has an enormous amount of the food safety expertise in the form of experienced staff and resources,” said Douglas Archer, a task force member and IFAS associate dean for research. “The three of us get to draw on that – to use that potential to begin to help solve some bigger problems.” (more…)
Florida Food Safety 101: How to produce safer veggies
October 11, 2007
Topic(s): Agriculture, Crops, Families and Consumers, Food Safety, Safety
By:
Stu Hutson 352-392-0400Source:
Keith Schneider keiths29@ufl.edu, 352-392-1991 ext. 309
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — From fast food to dog food — new cases of contaminated cuisine seem to be a regular part of the modern news cycle. Tomatoes haven’t escaped mention in the ever-growing list, but the likelihood of their reappearance is about to shrink.
The Sunshine State produces half the fresh tomatoes eaten in the United States. The task requires more than 30,000 farm workers, growers and packers — all of whom will be required to undergo training in food safety practices developed by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the Florida Tomato Exchange, in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. (more…)
