Posts Tagged “feature”
Nearly 200 young men in the U.S. were asked to follow diets containing a variety of fruits and vegetables before testing to see what effect it had on sperm. Researchers at Harvard University found yellow and orange foods were found to help make the sperm stronger, according to a story in The Daily Mail.
The boost was attributed to pigments called carotenoids because the body converts some of these into health-boosting antioxidants. These include beta-carotene, which the body can make into the antioxidant vitamin A.
The sperm-boosting qualities come from chemicals called carotenoids, which give such foods their familiar colour. Antioxidants help to neutralize free radicals, destructive groups of atoms that are a by-product of metabolism and can damage cell membranes and DNA.
Sweet potatoes and melons can enhance the quantity and sperm quality, but carrots were found to improve sperm performance by between 6.5 and 8 per cent, according to a report in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
Red fruit and veg, particularly tomatoes, which contain the anti-cancer chemical lycopene, were associated with fewer abnormally shaped sperm. They contributed to between 8 and 10 per cent more ‘normal’ sperm, said the research, which could make a significant difference for couples having problems conceiving.
The news comes amid reports that the quantity and quality of male sperm is declining in Western countries, with some studies showing that average sperm counts have fallen by over half.
A previous study from Harvard showed that men eating diets containing most saturated fat had the lowest sperm counts and poorer quality sperm. However, men who ate more ‘good’ fats – including omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and some plants – had better quality sperm than those eating less.
Carrots have long been prized for their proven ability to help maintain eye health. They are a prime source of vitamin A, which the retina of the eye needs to function. The vitamin’s antioxidant properties may help prevent cataracts and a deficiency causes night blindness.
It is another big season for apple haulers. There are about 120 million bushels of U.S. fresh-market apples were in storage as of November 1st, 10 percent more than last year at the same time.
The November total also is 10 percent higher than the five-year average.
The nation’s leading apple shipper, Washington state, has about 99 million bushels of apples still in storage…..Michigan has about 8.3 million bushels left to ship, while New York has 7.4 million and Pennsylvania 1.7 million.
Michigan apple shipments are expected to be 10 times as plentiful as last year’s puny output.
In a typical year, Michigan’s 9.2 million trees produce 20 million to 23 million bushels.
The state’s 2013 harvest is projected to be around 30 million bushels, which roughly equals out to 382 medium-sized apples for every state resident; 12 for every American.
Nationally, about 21.6 million bushels of galas have yet to be shipped, up from 20.6 million bushels. Granny smith holdings were up from 11.5 million to 14.5 million bushels.
Red delicious in storage dropped from 35.5 million to 35.2 million bushels, fujis from 15.5 million to 13 million bushels and golden delicious from 12.4 million to 10.8 million bushels.
Holdings of traditional Eastern varieties including mcintoshes, jonathans, empires, romes and cortlands were up significantly from 2012, when freezes devastated Michigan and New York crops.
Washington apple shipments – grossing about $6400 to New York City.
Michigan apples – about $3000 to New York City.
Very light volume with vegetables from the California and Arizona desert areas have started, but it will December before any significant loadings occur.
The transistion from Salinas and Santa Maria to the Coachella and Imperial valleys should provide better volume than has occurred in recent months for up north, but we’re still talking mid December before this occurs — particularly with broccoli. Shipments should continue through March.
There has been limited volume underway since last week from the Coachella Valley with red leaf, green leaf, butter leaf, spinach and this week romaine is starting. There’s also other items becoming available soon from the Coachella Valley such as artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and fennel.
A small amount of desert lettuce got undeway last week at Yuma, AZ, while more lettuce should start around Brawley, Calif., the first week of December.
In the weeks ahead keep a close eye on weather reports for the desert areas as the whims of Mother Nature in the winter can drastically affect available loadings.
Meanwhile, back in the San Joaquin Valley, table grape shipments continue steady in good volume averaging nearly 1,400 truck loads per week….A similar situation remains with carrots, primarily from Kern County, which are averaging about 450 truck loads each week.
Desert veggie loads (not accounting for multiple picks) – grossing about $6500 to New York City.
There are Florida produce loading opportunities available, but keep in mind it is autumn and volume is much lighter than it will be next spring. However, there are hauls available for vegetables, and strawberry loadings will be available this year, earlier than normal.
Vegetable growers in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties are shipping cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, herbs and fall watermelons while also preparing land and planting for later winter crops. In Miami-Dade County loadings of the fall vegetables and winter plantings have started. Cabbage and leafy greens are in the ground in Flagler and Putnam counties. Florida growers are also shipping eggplant, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, fall watermelons and some specialty items.
Florida strawberry shipments will be starting earlier than normal this year.
Light loadings typically begin in late November, and slowly build in early to mid-December, with good volume occuring by late December.
Because of earlier maturing berries this year, excellent volume will be taking place in time for Christmas holiday deliveries. Produce truckers should expect high volume by late November and early December, with shipments hitting full stride around December 20th or so.
Florida strawberry shipments could be up as much as 20 percent this season. Big volume loadings typically occur through March and finishing by mid-April.
Florida veggies – grossing about $2400 to New York City.
LongHorn Steak House went decades without serving so much as one Brussels sprout. Nor, for that matter, a slice of butternut squash, according to an article recently in USA Today.
But this year, its new Brussels Sprouts Au Gratin has emerged as its most popular side dish. In January, when it plans to roll out butternut squash risotto, “I guarantee you we’ll be the largest seller of butternut squash in the country,” boasts executive chef Kurt Hankins.
Restaurants have little choice. Americans are eating — make that, demanding — fresh veggies at the one place no one expected them to: the restaurant. Gone are the days when meat ‘n’ potatoes basked in all the menu glory and an indistinguishable medley of peas, carrots and green beans were pushed to the wee corner of the plate. When Americans go out to eat — when most folks prefer to splurge — they’re increasingly splurging with vegetables, reports USA Today.
So much so that vegetable offerings on restaurant menus nationally have jumped 11% over the past three years, reports Technomic, the restaurant research specialist. Chief among them is kale, the leafy, dark-green vegetable that has seen a remarkable 400% increase in appearance on restaurant menus over the past five years. About 67% of Americans says a vegetarian meal can be just as satisfying as a non-veggie version, Technomic reports.
About nine in 10 consumers say that menus containing a full serving of vegetables are more healthful, reports Technomic. But that’s not always the case, warns Hope Warshaw, a registered dietitian and author of Guide to Healthy Restaurant Eating. She’s no fan of what LongHorn is doing with Brussels sprouts, and what it soon will be doing with butternut squash, the USA Today article says.
“Vegetables that are slathered, smothered and buttered come loaded with calories, so what’s the gain?” she asks. Instead, she advises: “Eat your vegetables pristine.”
Even so, the veggie fan club is a rapidly growing one, whether the vegetables are pristine or not. Parents, too, are driving this trend.
At Applebee’s, 80% of kids’ meals were served with fries just a handful of years ago. Now, more than 40% are served with veggies, and that number keeps growing. McDonald’s has plans to keep boosting the veggie offerings in its Happy Meals. “We want to have kids consume more fruits and vegetables around the world — and we want to make access easier,” says McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson.
There still will be a lot of potatoes for hauling this season which will extend into next summer despite the fall crop in the United States being down 5 percent compared to 2012.
Here’s a glimpse of the leading potato shipping states:
Idaho 132.9 million hundred weight (cwt)., down 6.3 percent; Washington 96 million, up less than 1 percent; Wisconsin 27.9 million, down 5.2 percent; Oregon 21.6 million, down 5.9 percent; Colorado 20.3 million, down 1.5 percent; Michigan 16.8 million, up 5.4 percent.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $5400 to New York City.
Washington Potato Shipments
Year to date, loadings have been running a little ahead of schedule compared to recent years.
Most of this is due to early season shipments in July and August when potato supplies were very short across the country. Washington’s fresh producers account for 26,000 acres of the 160,000 acres of potatoes in the Evergreen State. About half of that total are russet potatoes, and the other half is a mix of reds, yellows, whites and other specialty potatoes.
Washington state, Columbia Basin potatoes – grossing about $4800 to Atlanta.
Red River Valley Potato Shipments
The North Dakota potato crop will come in at 22.6 million cwt. down about 10.1 percent from last year. Some folks were forecasting shipments to be down 25 to 30 percent at one point.
81,000 acres were planted in North Dakota compared to 88,000 last year, and harvested acres dipped from 84,000 last year to 78,000 this year.
Potato production in Minnesota dropped from 18.8 million cwt. in 2012 to 17.5 million this year, a drop of just under 7 percent. All but 2,000 of the 47,000 planted acres planted in Minnesota were harvested.
Red River Valley potatoes – grossing about $1900 to Chicago.
Texas produce shipments, largely out of the Lower Rio Grand Valley, are led by citrus, onions, cabbage and greens. However, if you are loading produce out of South Texas, chances are you are picking up fruits and vegetables grown in Mexico and delivered across the border to a distribution warehouses in McAllen, Pharr, etc.
Mexico has emerged as the source of about 60 to 65 percent of the fresh produce that is shipped from south Texas to markets across the U.S. and much of Canada.
About 40 percent of fruits and vegetables consumed in America have been imported.
In fact, Texas has surpassed Arizona, which includes Nogales, in terms of total volume of fresh fruits and vegetables coming across the border from Mexico. In 2012, approximately 160,000 truck loads of Mexican produce were hauled into Texas, with 100,000 of those truck loads crossing the border at the Pharr-Reynosa Bridge alone.
With the nearing completiton of the Mazatlan-Durango highway and Baluarte Bridge in Mexico, the volume is expected to keep increasing.
Part of this expansion is believed to be coming at the expense of California. That state’s high taxes, and ever increasing rules and regulations continue to add costs to the operations of businesses, both in produce and trucking alike. This is making Mexico more attractive for agricultural operations.
South Texas produce – grossing about $4200 to New York City.
From sweet potatoes to green beans, cranberries and more, here’s an outlook for fresh produce hauls relating to items popular for the Thanksgiving holiday, which is November 28th.
The leading states for sweet potato shipments are North Carolina, California, Mississippi and Louisiana. There will be 20 percent fewer loadings of North Carolina sweet potatoes this season, although it may not be noticeable during the next few weeks, since Thanksgiving is the most popular holiday for the product. There also is less sweet potato volume from Mississippi and Louisiana.
North Carolina sweet potatoes – grossing about $2250 to New York City.
Mississippi sweet potatoes – about $1800 to Chicago.
Cranberry Shipments
The harvest of cranberries in Wisconsin is late this season and is still going on. However, good supplies for hauling are available from Central Wisconsin, as well as the other leading state, Massachusetts.
Green Beans
This is a seasonal low point for Florida produce shipments, but some vegetables, including green beans are being hauled. Beans are now originating out of the Belle Glade and Homestead areas.
Imports
Spanish, Morroccan and Chilean clementines will be arriving at U.S. ports by boat in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Most of the arrivals will be on the East Coast.
Peruvian Onions
Sweet onions from Peru have become a popular items during the past decade and volume has increased significantly. In fact, many of the leading domestic sweet onion shippers, are acting as the importers and have growing operations in that South American country. Arrivals are occurring in good volume at U.S. ports on the East Coasat and should continue into Feburary.
Having a trailer in good condition is as important as ambient (outside) temperatures in affecting the condition of a load of perishable produce.
With age, trailer insulation deteriorates, notes Rich Macleod of TransFresh Corp. of Salinas, CA. However, a bigger threat to trailers are the beatings they take from forklifts and pallets “that tend to attack those sidewalls. They tend to stretch them, buckle rivets, punch holes. All of that gradually degrades insulation. Then moisture gets into that insulation,” Macleod states.
Drivers should check the manufacturer’s stated value of insulation over time that collects moisture. It is the damage not only to interior walls, but outside trailer walls that excellerates the degrading process, he notes. These same principals apply to summertime hauling as well as loads in wintertime.
“If you have damage to the outside of the trailer and are driving though a rain storm, moisture is getting in the insulation. Then you get in some 25-degree (F.) weather and the insulation with moisture is freezing. Then there is no insulation value,” Macleod says. ” You are just creating an ice block. Now you are hauling around an ice block instead of insulation.”
The condition of trailer doors also is important. Make sure the door is sealing properly.
Macleod says the rules for temperature control in the trailer are the same for summer and winter, except when it gets down to 25 degrees F. or less. Then there is more leeway in moving the set point on the reefer unit upwards to protect the load.
Additionally, Macleod notes if hauling tropical fruit that is subject to cold temperature injury, be especially careful with the loading pattern, as well as make sure the reefer unit is performing as it should.
Manufacturers of trailer refrigeration units have made significant progress in controlling air temperature, air return and air output sensors because of improved and better written computer programs, he notes.
Macleod says this results in loads of fresh product being less likely to freeze, or to become too warm. It used to be the air going into the trailer unit was above the set point, it would put out an unlimited amount of cold air. In some cases the cold air going through the air chute would freeze product in the back of the trailer. This gets the BTUs in the trailer without having to drop the temperature.
“They have been able to write the programs into the reefer unit that controls the air out put much more effectively so you don’t get the temperature extremes such as freezing and warming in the load, because you are able to control that air flow much better,” Macleod says.
Now manufacturers have designed equipment to control the air to go only a certain amount of degrees from the set point. Additionally, the fan will go into high speed for air circulation, rather than at a lower speed, to encourage air mixing.
(Rich Macleod is vice president, pallet division North America for TransFresh Corp., Salinas, CA. TranFresh provides Tectrol, a service where the atmosphere integrity of berry shipments is maintained at a 10 percent or higher CO2 level. This provides better quality arrivals of berries and longer shelf life.)
Whether it is in the heat of summer, or in a bitter winter storm, a produce hauler’s main concern for a load of fresh produce is maintaining the best possible temperature range, according to Rich Macleod of TransFresh Corp., Salinas, CA.
However, he notes the cold winter months can be more difficult in some respects for items ranging from tropical fruits to Mexican tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and bananas. The challenge comes from keeping such products in a very tight temperature range, which reduces your options.
As an example, Macleod points to hauling tomatoes. A driver normally wants the product tranported in the 50 to 55-degree F. temperature range.
If those tomatoes are being loaded against the trailer sidewalls and the refrigeration unit is set at 50 degrees F., there may be some “hot spots” because air circulation is not as good. Hauling tropical fruits is not as critical in this situation.
However, it can be critical for a cold sensitive product such as bananas, especially if those bananas are loaded against the sidewalls, or the air flow on the trailer floor is blocked. If it’s zero degrees outside, there are going to be some cold spots in the trailer. It can do some pretty signficant damage to bananas, which will turn gray when ripened, Macleod says.
“The general rule is you need good air flow around the load and under the load by keeping the product away from the sidewalls and on pallets off of the floor (of the trailer)….whether it’s cold outside or hot,” Macleod states.
When hauling “colder” crops such as broccoli or strawberries, he says the rules are pretty much the same as they are in summertime. The trailer’s cold spots in winter are the same as the hot spots in the summer, because these occur where there is the least air flow.
Macleod notes it is easier to maintain a temperature range of 30 to 34 degrees F. in the winter because the reefer unit isn’t fighting the outside heat of summertime.
“Now if it is zero degrees outside and the wind is howling, I’d be watching that temperature pretty closely. The drivers are usually pretty good about paying close attention to it. The temperature in the trailer becomes more critical when the outside temperature drops to 25 degrees F., or below,” Macleod says.
(Rich Macleod is vice president, pallet division North America for TransFresh Corp., Salinas, CA. TranFresh provides Tectrol, a service where the atmosphere integrity of berry shipments is maintained at a 10 percent or higher CO2 level. This provides better quality arrivals of berries and longer shelf life.)