- Author: Brenda Roche
In October 2009, UC Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County was awarded a grant from the “UCLA REACH U.S. Legacy Project” to implement the “East Los Angeles Nutrition Project” - an exciting new initiative that aims to increase the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables for residents of East LA through healthy corner store and restaurant “makeovers.” East LA was chosen for this project not only because Cooperative Extension is located in this area and has strong ties to the community, but also because residents have poor access to healthy, affordable food. This predominantly low-income, Latino community has many fast food restaurants, few grocery stores with high quality fruits and vegetables, and one of the highest rates of...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Last Friday afternoon, the sales manager at Produce Express in Sacramento, Jim Mills, drove to Chiam Lee's small farm south of Galt to pick up six cases of the most delicious strawberries you've ever tasted. Mills delivered them to Karen's Bakery in Folsom, a company that needed superb fruit for a charity event.
It used to be, Lee only sold strawberries at his roadside stand, and rarely six cases at a time. But thanks to a connection facilitated by UC, he has a new and much larger market for his produce.
This transaction is just one example of the markets that have been opened in the Sacramento and Fresno areas for farmers of Southeast Asian descent. With funding from the USDA...
- Author: Janet L. White
In most California homes there are few commodities more precious, or more taken for granted, than clean tap water. We use it without hesitation for drinking, cooking and washing produce.
However, recent news reminds us that not everyone can take clean water for granted. In rural California, where some households rely on well water, up to 2 million people have been exposed to unhealthy levels of nitrates in their water at some time during the last 15 years.
Synthetic fertilizers used in agriculture are major contributors of nitrates to our water, but a growing number of farmers are taking steps to reduce this problem by adopting micro and drip irrigation technologies, and by...
- Author: Janet Byron
By assigning a simple, 15-digit identification number to cows, UC researchers can track each one from conception to carcass, garnering valuable data for studies on cattle fertility, genetics, and health, and helping to select breeding animals with desirable beef characteristics such as flavor and tenderness.
In today’s beef market, an individual cow may change ownership many times during its lifetime as it travels from the ranch of its birth, to stocker and feedlot, to slaughterhouse, and finally supermarket or steakhouse. In the process, valuable data is lost along with the ability to “trace back” particular steaks to the original cow.
For several years, UC Davis researchers have been attaching a round, electronic ear...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
When food calorie content was posted on menu boards at Kaiser Hospital cafeterias, a significant number of patrons altered their food choices, according to a pilot menu labeling study conducted by UC Berkeley researchers.
The results are compelling because the California menu labeling bill (SB 1420), which requires chain restaurants to put calorie counts on menu boards, goes into full effect next year.
In the Kaiser pilot study, more than 500 patrons completed cafeteria exit surveys. Nearly a third of respondents who noticed the calorie information said they changed their food choices as a result. Nearly all of them agreed that calorie information should be available and 80 percent said they felt Kaiser was helping them...