spinach news stories on Newser

Radioactive Milk a Threat —if You Drink 58K Cups

Matt Cantor — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:01:09 CDT

Japan is finding elevated radiation levels in milk, spinach, and water —scary, right? Richard Knox at NPR sits down with RPI health physicist Peter Caracappa to crunch some numbers about what those levels mean. The gist: The max radiation a US nuclear worker is allowed to be exposed to in...

Japan Finds Radiation in Water, Milk, Spinach

Polly Davis Doig — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 08:21:32 CDT

Japan has detected elevated radiation levels in spinach and milk in the prefecture containing its foundering Fukushima nuclear plant and a neighboring prefecture, reports the Wall Street Journal . Milk produced roughly 30 miles away from the plant had around five times the normal amount of radioactive material iodine-131, while spinach...

Teen's Drive-Thru Spinach Prank Seriously Burns Clerk

Nick McMaster — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:10:49 CST

A Nevada teen and apparent YouTube copycat has turned himself in for a bizarre attack on a Boston Market clerk. The 17-year-old tossed hot creamed spinach back at the clerk after ordering it in the drive-thru. It's similar to pranks posted on YouTube in which teens throw cold drinks—emphasis...

All That Folic Acid May Give You Cancer

Wesley Oliver — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:53:01 CDT

Health experts once trumpeted folic acid, but now warn against taking too much of a good thing, the Economist reports. For more than 10 years, aspiring mothers have been told to down double the recommended dose with vitamin pills, and some countries have added folic acid to grain products. It's...

After E. Coli Outbreaks, Food Industry Looks to Tracing Tech

Kevin Spak — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:30:00 CDT

In the wake of health scares like the 2006 E. coli outbreak traced to tainted spinach, the food industry is scrambling to reassure the public—and hoping to head off a congressional response, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Voluntary efforts are under way to make tracing easier. For example, one...

Farmers Hunt Wildlife to Keep Greens Clean

Ambreen Ali — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:21:35 CDT

To please cautious companies, farmers have turned hunters in California's Salinas River Valley, where 60% of the nation's lettuce grows. They’re stalking wild pigs, poisoning ponds and erecting fences—disrupting wildlife and destroying habitats in the process—to avoid another E. coli contamination, the AP reports. But some question the...

Spinach, Eggs Fight Blindness

Sam Gale Rosen — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:55:24 CDT

Nutrients found in spinach and eggs help stave off age-related blindness, a new study shows. Macular degeneration, the most common cause of vision loss in the elderly, was 35% less likely to develop in people who consumed the most eggs, spinach, and other leafy greens, which are rich in lutein...

Producer Recalls 68K Pounds of Calif. Spinach

Caroline Zimmerman — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:07:43 CDT

A California produce company is recalling over 68K pounds of bagged spinach after a sample taken from one of the company's packing plants tested positive for salmonella, the San Jose Mercury News reports. But Metz Fresh has likely averted a repeat of last year's contaminated spinach mess, corralling 90% of...

FDA Knew About Food Dangers

Sam Gale Rosen — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 08:24:39 CDT

The FDA knew for years about problems at the peanut butter plant and spinach farms that led to major disease outbreaks, but took minimal steps to redress them. The agency's food safety arm can't keep up with the explosion in the amount of food it is supposed to regulate, the...