A1A South

Clemson, N.C. – March 6, 2008 – A new study from the Journal of Supply Chain Management illustrates the real potential for contamination of globally sourced foods and proposes a conceptual framework of supply chain quality management.

Led by Aleda V. Roth of Clemson University with co-authors Andy Tsay of Santa Clara University, Madeleine Pullman of Portland State University, and John Gray of Ohio State University, the study utilized information from trends of U.S. food imports from China, subsequent recall events, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data to highlight the inherent difficulties and risks posed by global food supply chains.

Various quality problems have been associated with foods and ingredients imported from China. There exists limited capacity of current regulatory bodies to police product flows, including lack of enforcement by the FDA. Problems often arise when pursuit of profit is not held in check by regulatory forces, resulting in noncompliance with laws and standards, and even corruption. These problems have led to a contamination of Chinese-made products.

How should these challenges be handled? Roth says that “adding on inspections and stricter regulations alone may be neither sustainable nor effective in the long run.” US regulations requiring tracing of ingredients one step forward and one step backward in the supply chain is inadequate in 12,000 mile, complex supply chains. In China, for example, inputs to food ingredients are combined from millions of small farms. And there are often many intermediaries involved in the various stages of getting food from the farm to table. Moreover, longer distances affect food freshness and quality and often necessitate the addition chemical preservatives and dyes.

The authors have posed a different path—one that offers a deeper understanding of the root causes and robust solutions. Their path follows from a conceptual framework called the “6Ts” of supply chain quality management. Each of the “6Ts”–traceability, transparency, testability, time, trust, and training–are critical to the preservation of the public welfare through a safe food supply. The “6Ts” represent the key necessary inputs and outputs to ensure that high-quality food is delivered to consumers.

“A major contribution of this paper is to bring to the forefront the critical challenges posed by the global sourcing of food and to provide an agenda for further discussion and research regarding global food supply chains,” the authors conclude.

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This study is published in the January 2008 issue of the Journal of Supply Chain Management. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact journalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.net.

Source: Blackwell Publishing

Outsourcing food supplies to a country not known to be overly concerned about environmental controls and quality standards strikes me at best as bordering on criminally negligent.

Egypt has reported its 46th case of bird flu in a human being after an 11-year-old boy tested positive for the H5N1 strain, the UN health agency said Wednesday.

The boy from Menofia governorate was hospitalized with symptoms on February 26, the World Health Organization said on its Web site.

Egypt is one of the countries most affected by the H5N1 strain outside Asia, where the outbreak began in 2003. The country lies on a main route for migratory birds, which are believed to have brought the disease. Experts also link outbreaks in countries such as Egypt to a lack of financial resources and public awareness about the disease.

Source: Jerusalem Post

If I were in the same situation of having to choose between the somewhat remote possibility of contracting H5N1 as opposed to the certainty of the family going hungry, I’d be out there hiding the poultry along with everybody else because that would be in the best interest of the family.

H5N1 is not going to be eradicated.  I’m not even sure it can be kept under any kind of control.

JAKARTA (AFP) — Bird flu samples sent by the Indonesian government to the World Health Organisation show no sign the virus has mutated into a deadly form transmissible between humans, a WHO official said Thursday.

Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by bird flu, sent 15 virus samples from two people who died of bird flu to WHO last month, the first such transfer since August 2007.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl confirmed in an email to AFP from the body’s Geneva headquarters that the samples had not shown any signs of mutation.

Scientists fear a human-to-human mutation of the virus would kick off a worldwide pandemic that could kill millions.

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said the samples had been sent out of “goodwill.”

WHO had warned last year that Indonesia’s reluctance to share flu samples put its own population at risk because any vaccines developed would not be designed to combat Indonesian strains of the H5N1 virus.

Indonesia had halted sharing samples in December 2006, saying it feared multinational drug companies could use them to develop vaccines that were not affordable for poor countries.

In August last year, a sample of the bird flu virus that killed a woman on Bali was sent to a World Health Organisation laboratory to allay fears that there had been a human-to-human transfer.

H5N1 is endemic across nearly all of Indonesia, where humans and poultry live in close contact. Of the 105 overall deaths reported since the disease emerged here, 11 have occurred this year.

Source: AFP

Well, I believe that even we nonmedical people are able to figure that out for ourselves due to the lack of people suddenly dying with flu symptoms worldwide. I do not believe that we will know about it before it has been unwittingly spread around the world courtesy of airline travel.

RIYADH, 3 March 2008 — A Sri Lankan maid, who was tortured brutally by her employer’s wife, has been forcibly sent home without being paid a year’s salary.

“I was tortured severely. The sponsor’s wife burned me with an iron rod, poured disinfectant and gasoline on me and threatened to burn me alive; she also said she would cut my hair to make me ugly,” said Madhuwanthie, the 28-year-old Sri Lankan woman.

Madhuwanthie has — through the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) — sought the intervention of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh to contact her sponsor and get her salary dues.

Madhuwanthie, who worked for the household for 21 months, has only received pay for the first nine months of her employment. “Every time I asked for my salary, they would beat me and threaten to hand me over to the police on false charges,” she said in a letter to SLBFE. “I did not have the opportunity to contact the embassy since the telephone was out of my reach.”

According to a Sri Lankan Embassy official, the mission needs to come up with a system whereby it is informed when a domestic worker is sent on final exit.

“This is a clear case of sponsor deserting worker. The sponsor sent the maid home stealthily without anyone’s knowledge fearing he would be questioned for torture and nonpayment of salaries,” said the official.

He added that it would be better if the mission could tackle problems in the presence of both the employer and the employee. Third party inquiries are ineffective since both sides cannot be heard together and a firm commitment from the sponsor cannot be obtained. However, he said the mission would take up the matter with the relevant authorities.

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh receives an average of nine cases of runaway maids each day. The mission has opened a 24-hour cell to accommodate such cases and report them to the proper authorities. The country’s missions in Jeddah and Riyadh also run safe houses for such workers till problems are resolved. Common complaints by the maids include nonpayment of salaries, harassment and being forced to continue work beyond contract periods.

Source: Arab News

If nonpayment of salaries and abuse of employees are common problems, I feel so sorry for the people that are in such straitened circumstances that they have to go anyway.

JEDDAH, 3 March 2008 — Early morning shoppers at a supermarket in Jeddah were left reeling yesterday, with some falling unconscious, after a well-built Syrian man clinched a knife and decapitated his 15-month-old nephew in front of his mother in the store’s fruit and vegetable section.

In a brutal murder that has shocked the city, the 25-year-old man beheaded the boy, who was out shopping with his mother — in full glare of shoppers and staff at Al-Marhaba supermarket on Sari Street around 9.30 a.m. The man, who is the boy’s maternal uncle, apparently killed the boy following a dispute with his sister and brother-in-law.

Eyewitnesses said that the man picked up a knife from inside the store and severed the boy’s head. The mother and a shopper standing close by fainted, while several other stood in shock and disbelief over what had happened.

A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Arab News, “The murderer was in a dispute with the boy’s mother and her husband. He chopped off the boy’s head in front of the mother to get back at her.” He added that the mother has been left traumatized and is in hospital. The boy’s father was at work at the time of the incident.

Following the murder, police sealed off the supermarket while forensic experts gathered evidence. Ambulances were also called to the scene. The supermarket reopened for business at around 1.15 p.m. “It happened so quickly. Before people could intervene, the man had cut more than half way through the child’s neck,” said Abu Muhammad, a grandfather in his mid-60s.

A Saudi till attendant at a nearby cafe said, “One of my colleagues went to see what was going on and returned shivering. He saw the kid’s body and so we gave him the day off. He was in a bad state.”

An eyewitness, who lives in the neighborhood, said that the victim’s family lived close by and frequented the supermarket. “I’ve seen the murderer carrying the same child and playing with him on a number of occasions,” he added.

“No one could bear the gruesome sight of the boy’s decapitated body lying on the floor,” said Muneer, a Turkish car mechanic, who works at a garage close by. “How could someone do such a thing? I just can’t understand it… I still can’t believe it,” he said, shaking his head.

When the store reopened, employees were still in a state of shock. A guard, standing at the entrance, stood frozen and oblivious to the rush of shoppers. Pain and anguish were writ large on his face.

Source:  Arab News

Hope that they deal with that bastard appropriately.