From Taiwan avian flu H5N2 to see Belgian dioxin crisis

                     

Taiwan bird flu H5N2 of chicken, duck farms rushing through the entire island, after the birds owners informing the quarantine bureau, Pingtung epidemic prevention center only required reinforcement antibody to birds to cover H5N2 bird flu, resulting in a Taiwan epidemic outbreak. In 1999, a small country in Europe, Belgium also experiencing a food security crisis: farm animal feed contaminated by dioxin, leading to meat and dairy products, eggs banned the export, and triggered a global panic. But Belgium’s bitter experience has turned them over to a Michelin kingdom out of the global food security indicators. What about Taiwan?

                           

"Even an egg can be traced back to the source in Belgian" a local Taiwanese restaurant business owner said. “Implement the auditing is the key.” "Every time I see any news about food safety. The next day, on-site visits will show up. Although to reach the standard of the food Safety Authority inspectors have to pay a lot of costs, but if not, definitely paying more afterwards.” said a Brussels Chinese supermarket owner,

                               

The Belgium national Food Safety Authority is like a combo of Taiwan Council of Agriculture's Department of Animal Husbandry, Agriculture and Food Agency, anti-seizure Bureau and the Ministry of Health, Welfare Unit Comprehensive Food and Drug Administration, emphasizing to start from the source. They put the entire food supply chain processes into the same jurisdiction mechanisms. In the Food Safety Authority, led by the European Food Safety Management, Belgium has became a pioneer. 2014 Economist Intelligence Unit Global Food Security Index (Global Food Security Index), Belgium at the "food security" (Food Safety) secondary indicators scored full marks, ahead of the global average of 56.1 points.
   
Painful memories of dioxin crisis 16 years ago, hit the Belgium national food industry, but the whole country was forced to start from scratch, and now look at it actually a pretty good thing. The Belgian meats bear the brunt of the storm, for example the well-known brand of raw ham Ganda Ham. They therefore establish fully automated traceability system, now getting "an Oscar gourmet circles," said the international flavor of the evaluation (ITQI) top award of three stars certainly delicious. Belgian dioxin incident once again for Belgium to realize that food safety is the most important thing from senior supermarket to traditional markets, for both the rich and the poor, are the same set of standards.

When Taiwan's food safety crisis, bird flu ... one after another to strike the entire food industry, it seems to lead the food industry to a dead end. Please take a look at Belgium, the same small, not many resources country, to learn how Belgium has pour her people together to create a safe and competitive ‘resume retroactive” Michelin kingdom!

Demands of food safety as incomes grow

                                               

A Taiwanese company is embroiled in a scare after it was found selling hundreds of tonnes of tainted lard oil to food makers, bakeries and restaurants, forcing the recall of cakes, bread, instant noodles, cookies, dumplings and other food items at home and in Hong Kong.

                                                 

Sales of US fast food giant McDonald’s in China were hammered this year following news reports alleging that a supplier mixed expired meat with fresh deliveries.

Every morning, food samples are laid out on a long table at a pristine laboratory run by a German firm in Singapore, but they are not meant for chefs or gourmets. Testing company TUV SUD is watching out for contaminants that could harm consumers in Singapore and other parts of Asia, a region recently rocked by food-safety scandals.

“I’ve been working in the industry for the past 25 years, and every few years, there’s something major,” said Mr.Yong, a vice president for food safety at TUV SUD. “It’s an ongoing challenge because there are parties who want to make more from less, so they are always trying to make poor-quality food look good. So there’s always temptation for them to do something illegal.”

                                       

The intensification of food production has also given rise to concerns over the excessive and improper use of pesticides in crops and antibiotics in animals.
India uses less pesticides per hectare than Taiwan and Japan, but still reports a bigger number of pesticide residue cases, due mainly to improper application and the type of chemicals used.

“Unsafe food causes a great number of acute and lifelong diseases, from diarrhea to various forms of cancer, with more than 200 diseases spread through contaminated food,” UN Asia-Pacific Food and Agriculture Organization director Hiroyuki Konuma said. Tourism and trade, and can result in economic losses, he added.Changing consumption patterns driven by Asia’s expanding middle class, the globalization of the food chain and the transfer of new diseases from animals to humans have made it more complicated to combat the risks, experts said.

TUV SUD Global Product Services chief executive Ishan Palit said most checks are being done at the tail end of the chain, although more countries are hiring third-party firms to conduct tests at source. “Strong control at the border is not good enough,” Palit said. Government policymakers must also update food-safety policies, experts said.

Aeroponics,Taiwan Chicfarm wmv

                               

Aeroponics to Feed the World 9 billion people in the future?

                                               

Do we need to change our concepts of what people eat to meet the world’s nutrition demands? Insects, lab-made meat, algae and 3D-printed fortied food could be affordable and practical routes to reducing malnutrition. The challenge for the development sector is how these ideas can be put into practice and do we really want to eat them?

In the first half of this century, as the world’s population grows to around 9 billion, global demand for food, feed and fiber will nearly double while, increasingly, crops may also be used for bioenergy and other industrial purposes. New and traditional demand for agricultural produce will thus put growing pressure on already scarce agricultural resources. And while agriculture will be forced to compete for land and water with sprawling urban settlements, it will also be required to serve on other major fronts: adapting to and contributing to the mitigation of climate change, helping preserve natural habitats, protecting endangered species and maintaining a high level of biodiversity. As though this were not challenging enough, in most regions fewer people will be living in rural areas and even fewer will be farmers. They will need new technologies to grow more from less land, with fewer hands.

Then the problems to be resolved:
1.Will we be able to produce enough food at affordable prices or will rising food prices drive more of the world's population into poverty and hunger?

2.How much spare capacity in terms of land and water do we have to feed the world in 2050?

3.What are the new technologies that can help us use scarce resources more efficiently, increase and stabilize crop and livestock yields?

4.Are we investing enough in research and development for breakthroughs to be available in time?

5.Will new technologies be available to the people who will need them most - the farmers?

6.How much do we need to invest in order to help agriculture adapt to climate change, and how much can agriculture contribute to mitigating extreme weather events?

All the questions are leading to the answer of 21st century Aeroponics.
                                 

                                           Large scale integration of aeroponics

                                       

             Aeroponic Graduate Program:Hanoi Agricultural University, Hanoi, Vietnam

In 2006, the Institute of Biotechnology at Hanoi University of Agriculture in joint efforts with Stoner established the postgraduate doctoral program in aeroponics. The university's Agrobiotech Research Center, is using aeroponic laboratories to advance Vietnam's minituber potato production for certified seed potato production.

                                   

            Aeroponic potato explants on day 3 after insertion in the aeroponic system, Hanoi

The historical significance for aeroponics is that it is the first time a nation has specifically called out for aeroponics to further an agricultural sector, stimulate farm economic goals, meet increased demands, improve food quality and increase production."We have shown that aeroponics, more than any other form of agricultural technology, will significantly improve Vietnam's potato production. We have very little tillable land, aeroponics makes complete economic sense to us”, attested Thach.
Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in January 2007. The impact of aeroponics in Vietnam will be felt at the farm level.

Aeroponic integration in Vietnam agriculture will begin by producing a low cost certified disease-free organic minitubers, which in turn will be supplied to local farmers for their field plantings of seed potatoes and commercial potatoes. Potato farmers will benefit from aeroponics because their seed potatoes will be disease-free and grown without pesticides. Most importantly for the Vietnamese farmer, it will lower their cost of operation and increase their yields, says Thach.

                   

Please start eating pesticide free food

                                         

A recent study conducted by researchers from RMIT university, published in the journal Environmental Research found that an organic diet for just one week significantly reduced pesticide (commonly used in conventional food production) exposure in adults.  Thirteen participants were randomly selected to consume a diet consisting of at least 80% organic or conventional food for precisely 7 days, afterwards crossing over to the alternative diet from which they started. Urinary levels were used for analysis. The study found that urinary dialkylphosphates (DAPs) measurements were 89% lower when they ate an organic diet for seven days compared to a conventional diet for the same amount of time. 

                                   

A new groundbreaking  discovery found that the most active ingredient in Monsanto’s best selling herbicide “Roundup” is responsible for fueling breast cancer by increasing the number of breast cancer cells through cell growth and cell division. 

A chronic kidney disease has been affecting poor farming regions all over the world, and a new study that was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health suggests that Roundup, or glyphosate, becomes highly toxic to the kidney once mixed with “hard” water or metals like cadmium and arsenic. These metals often exist naturally in the soil or are added via the fertilizer. Because of this, Sri Lanka has completely banned Monsanto Herbicide citing the deadly link to Kidney disease.

                                                

Taiwan Farmer Spraying Pesticides Caused Himself  Kidney Dialysis

Just two weeks ago I had a friend that did not believe the difference between organic food and non-organic food was big, these studies clearly illustrate that it is, it’s quite significant. So hopeful this encourages you to start eating pesticide free food.

These new studies, and the several others referred to in this article further confirms the evidence relating to the negative health effects of organophosphate pesticides like glyphosate, showing that there is significant pesticide exposure in adults who feel they are on a “normal diet” in contrast with a dramatically reduced exposure when the same individuals switch to an organic diet. There is a reason that multiple countries around the world have banned GMOs and the pesticides that go with them.

A link between pesticides and autism

                                                   

A California study out on June 23 found that pregnant women who lived near farms where pesticides are applied had a two-thirds higher risk of having children with autism.

                                     

The findings in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives examine the association between living near commercial pesticide applications and having offspring with autism, but do not show cause and effect.

                                       

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that ranges in severity and has been on the rise in recent years. Health authorities say it now affects as many as one in 68 children in the US.

                                                 

The latest research was based on data about commercial pesticide applications in California, combined with residential addresses of about 1,000 participants in a study of families with autistic children.

                           

“What we saw were several classes of pesticides more commonly applied near residences of mothers whose children developed autism or had delayed cognitive or other skills,” said principal investigator Irva Hertz-Picciotto, vice chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at University of California, Davis.

Aeroponics for roses and grapes in our greenhouse

Wood tree or vine plants such as roses、 grapes、 Passion fruits、 peach trees… etc., can be carried out by aeroponics cultivation, also a fast-growing, high quality features. Roses, if aeroponics production of flower cutting, forming an industry will not be a problem, for aeroponics method has enhanced the competitiveness of the rose industry, in addition to huge roses, but with a more brilliant colors, much pure, more ornamental value, also greatly improved yields, Japan and the Netherlands are now in developed aeroponics roses as a primary mode of future rose industrialization.

                                           

                                           

Cultivation of grapes usually in the southern region, with a high costs of whole production, due to rainfall and more severe pest, strict management. Through the application of aeroponics agriculture cultivation, a low investment cost, easy management, greatly reducing the cost of production and it has features 、 techniques as below:

                                       

1, By aeroponics, grape plants grown in a clean environment away from the soil, and soil pests (worms base) are able to control the route of pests transmission than soil cultivation.

2, By farming aeroponics, grape roots in an environment of optimize the growth in oxygen, minerals, water of 3 factors for the growth rate greatly accelerated.

3, The traditional soil cultivation includes weeding, fertilizing irrigation management to spend a lot of cost, time and labors, which are also the traditional soil tillage farming’s limitations and obstacles, not to mention the soil is a breeding place for pests, increasing the number of pesticide spraying to reduce insecticide and disease, thus forming a high-cost soil pesticide farming industry, and the worst part would be the serious injury to our mother earth-land. After apply farming aeroponics, no weeding、 fertilizer、pesticides in need and disease prevention and the number of insecticide can be greatly controlled, so that the cost is greatly reduced, and the growth rate can be accelerated.

4, Grape plants prefer aeroponics instead of hydroponics is because its roots’oxygen metabolism has higher requirements, and the use of aeroponics allows oxygen to maximize the volume, not like hydroponics constantly getting mold root fungus, the grapes of entire slot withered or died.

5, Aeroponics grapes are growing 3-5 times faster than cultivated in soil, or even higher. In addition, net bare roots without soil,are also easy to transplant and off-site relocation.

                                         

Cultivation of grapes after 4 months of aeroponics farming, the same growth of soil growing will take 2 or 3 years to achieve.