Analysis of commercially available rice imported into the US has revealed it contains levels of lead far higher than regulations suggest are safe. Some samples exceeded the "provisional total tolerable intake" (PTTI) set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by a factor of 120.
The report at the American Chemical Society Meeting adds to the already well-known issue of arsenic in rice. The FDA told the BBC it would review the research. Lead is known to be harmful to many organs and the central nervous system.
It is a particular risk for young children, who suffer significant developmental problems if exposed to elevated lead levels. Because rice is grown in heavily irrigated conditions, it is more susceptible than other staple crops to environmental pollutants in irrigation water.
Recent studies have highlighted the presence of arsenic in rice - prompting consumption advice from the UK's Food Standards Agencyand more recently from the FDA.
However, other heavy metals represent a risk as well. Dr Tsanangurayi Tongesayi of Monmouth University in New Jersey, US, and his team have tested a number of imported brands of rice bought from local shops.
The US imports about 7% of its rice, and the team sampled packaged rice from Bhutan, Italy, China, Taiwan, India, Israel, the Czech Republic and Thailand - which accounts for 65% of US imports.
The team measured the lead levels in each country-category and calculated the lead intake on the basis of daily consumption. The results will be published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Health (Part B).
Feedlogic Corporation has released results
from a three-year trial which demonstrate the value of blending feed on farm to
more closely match the dietary requirements of the animals.
The trial was conducted at a 1,200-head
commercial hog finishing site in Minnesota and showed a net improvement in
profitability of over $3.75 per marketed pig by blending feed versus feeding
standard phase diets. The savings came primarily from a reduced feed cost per
pound of gain.
More than 12,000
pigs were involved in the trial over a total of 10 turns. The trial facility
was set up with a FeedSaver blending system which allowed half of the pigs
(approx. 600 head) to be fed the standard phase diets and the other half to
receive a blend of two standard diets – typically the first and fourth diets
used in the standard phase program.
Feed for both groups was weighed through
the FeedSaver system, allowing an accurate comparison of feed consumption
between the groups. The blended diets were changed with every 10 lbs/head of
consumption; the phase diets as per the standard feed budgets.
The results of the
trial confirm previous theories that altering diets more frequently than the
standard industry practice can improve feed conversion and lower feed cost per
pound of gain. They also provide strong evidence that the blending does not
come at the cost of carcass premiums.
The clip of highway between Lethbridge, Alta., and the U.S. border looks like a golden ocean up against a sky so wide, blue, quiet and cloudless that it's easy to wonder if the laws of gravity apply, as if a traveller could fall off the surface of the earth and float away.
Then comes Warner, pop. 382, immediately recognisable by a row of six wooden grain elevators, paint chipping, the town's name emblazoned in white and blue letters. After watching miles of formless horizon, it's a thankful beacon, as welcome as an old lighthouse to a lost mariner.
Grain elevators were once such a common sight on the prairie that it wouldn't be unusual to see a dozen lined up along a track. Now, Warner's is believed to be the last working grain elevator row in the country.
"It's huge for us, it really is. Without them we'd rely entirely on residents. Because we don't have any other large industries in town," said Sandi Hedlin, town councillor.
These icons of prairie architecture have disappeared at an alarming rate. From a peak of more than 1,700 wooden grain elevators in the 1930s, Alberta's provincial government now knows of only about 120. The ongoing takeover of Viterra - the country's largest grain handler - by an Australian company has left a question mark hanging over many of the wooden elevators still standing.
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