Why health experts aren’t warning about coronavirus in food [Associated Press]
Chicken with salmonella can make you sick. So can romaine lettuce with E. coli and buffets with lurking norovirus. So why aren’t health officials warning people about eating food contaminated with the new coronavirus? The answer has to do with the varying paths organisms take to make people sick. … When it comes to food and COVID-19, experts say the biggest risk is contact in grocery stores with other customers and employees, rather than anything you eat. … It may be harder for viruses to survive on food itself.
https://apnews.com/2a70719849f6643e4f721dca11148b96
Farmworkers, mostly undocumented, become ‘essential’ during pandemic [New York Times]
… It is an open secret that the vast majority of people who harvest America’s food are undocumented immigrants, mainly from Mexico, many of them decades-long residents of the United States. … The “essential work” letters that many now carry are not a free pass from immigration authorities … But local law enforcement authorities said the letters might give immigrant workers a sense of security that they will not be arrested for violating stay-at-home orders. … For many workers, the fact that they are now considered both illegal and essential is an irony that is not lost on them, nor is it for employers who have long had to navigate a legal thicket to maintain a work force in the fields.
With tight living spaces and work that’s not conducive to social distancing, H-2A farmworkers are at risk [Santa Maria Sun]
… One of the remaining complexities is housing. The H-2A program requires that employers provide living spaces to visa recipients, an issue that’s sparked past debate in Santa Maria. … According to Abraham Melendrez, an organizer for the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), the way that H-2A workers are housed poses a huge threat to their health amid the spread of the coronavirus. … Scaroni, whose company is the largest full-service H-2A provider in the nation, said Fresh Harvest Inc. is “prepared to quarantine people if we have to, one person per room.”
‘Buy more fruits and vegetables’: L.A.’s produce wholesalers are seeing a 90% drop in sales [Los Angeles Times]
… Carlos Franco of Elias Produce has tons — literal tons — of fruit sitting in his walk-in cooler right now with no place to go. The 29-year-old produce distributor is one of 88 vendors at the 7th Street Produce Market downtown who’ve seen an alarming drop in sales in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, with many reporting declines of 90% or more. … A major hub for wholesale produce distribution across the region, the market’s largely Latino mom-and-pop vendors supply restaurants, food service companies, bakeries and small neighborhood markets throughout Southern California, the majority of which have drastically cut the amount of food they are ordering in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing closures.
https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2020-03-31/produce-vendors-wholesale-market-coronavirus
There was no March Miracle: California’s dry winter continues, Sierra snow survey shows [Sacramento Bee]
… Despite a few March storms, the Sierra Nevada snowpack remains well below average, California officials reported Wednesday, suggesting that water supplies will be tight this summer and fall. … The results from the site at Phillips, near the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort, were roughly in line with electronic sensors measuring the snowpack elsewhere. Those sensors show the snowpack’s snow water equivalent at 15.2 inches, or 53 percent of normal. Officials had hoped for a March Miracle after a nearly rain-free February in most parts of the state. The weather disappointed them.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/weather-news/article241695866.html
Berkeley Farms to close; 315 jobs to be lost [Bay Area News Group]
… Dean Foods, the Dallas-based parent company of Berkeley Farms, confirmed Wednesday it will close its Hayward facilities, most likely by the end of April, thus bringing an end to more than 100 years of Berkeley Farms’ presence in the Bay Area. … The closure comes amid Dean selling most of its operations to Dairy Farmers of America, for $433 million, as part of Dean’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, which began in November 2019. … Producers Dairy Foods, which is based in Fresno, has entered into an agreement to purchase Berkeley Farms’ trademarks from Dean Foods.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/01/berkeley-farms-to-close-315-jobs-to-be-lost/
