Nevertheless, whatever reasons behind such break down, the poor automatic gate system you have in place probably contributed much. Hence, with money tight and the economy sputtering along, you may be looking for affordable gate openers for you to keep down the cost while keeping the cool factor. Yes, www.ilusectronics.com the highly focused, full service electronics store offers superior consulting and design services for access control, gate entry systems, intercoms and door phones. They’re continuously expanding into a broader line of electronics and have made sure that their products meet the standard of performance and dependability.

A FOOD handler at a North Adelaide restaurant has contracted Hepatitis A, forcing SA Health to issue a public health alert.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Paddy Phillips said the food handler worked at Yakatori Takumi restaurant on Melbourne St and was believed to have caught the infection overseas.

SA Health had assessed the risk to patrons of the restaurant as low.

“However, it is possible that patrons who ate at the restaurant between September 21 to October 4 may have been exposed to the Hepatitis A virus,” he said.

“An alert has been issued to all GPs to be aware of the case and to arrange for appropriate testing for any patients presenting with possible Hepatitis A infection.”

He said there was no risk to restaurant patrons visiting the restaurant from October 5 onward.

Initial symptoms are usually fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and malaise.

s, followed by dark-coloured urine and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes).

“Any restaurant patron with these symptoms should seek medical advice from their GP,” Prof. Phillips said.

Most people recover within two weeks, though some may be ill for several months.

Only rarely is the infection more serious.

The incubation period is between 15 and 50 days.

Hepatitis A vaccination is available and is highly effective in preventing infection.

It may also be effective in preventing illness if provided within two weeks of exposure, so recent patrons to the restaurant, even if not unwell, may wish to see their GP for a vaccination.

Persons who have had Hepatitis A in the past or who have been vaccinated for Hepatitis A are immune and should not be at risk of infection.

There have been five reported cases of Hepatitis A in South Australia so far in 2011, compared to four cases in 2010. 

Folks are lining up for the usual three-day supply of free groceries, such as tomato soup, cheese and pasta.

But there’s more: fresh sweet corn and green beans, picked the day before from 140 acres of vegetables tended on a Franklin farm by an anti-hunger public policy group. Fresh vegetables are expensive at the store, but crucial to battling chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, which run rampant in cities with high poverty rates.

A hunger that’s hard for many people to imagine lingers beneath staggering new poverty numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Milwaukee’s poverty rate was 29.5% last year, up from 27% in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That means 171,521 people – including nearly half the city’s children – lived below the poverty line in 2010, as Milwaukee remained among America’s 10 most impoverished big cities.

Poverty among Milwaukee’s children was 46.1% last year. Among minorities, 41.4% of Milwaukee’s black residents and 32.3% of Hispanics were poor.

For a family of four, with two children, the poverty threshold was an income of $22,314.

“I get $700 a month, and I never thought I could survive on that,” Webb Evans, 52, said while waiting recently for the Central City Churches food pantry to open at the ELCA Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 3022 W. Wisconsin Ave.

“You make it stretch the best way you can,” said Evans, who receives Medicare with disability because he is diabetic and has chronic arthritis. Evans is divorced with grown children and a 2-year-old. He said he lost his most recent job managing an apartment building about two years ago after he was convicted of burglary.

Evans is eager to pick up sweet corn and green beans at the food pantry.

“I love fresh produce because I’m trying to lose weight and get rid of my diabetes,” he said. “I’m down from 324 pounds to 267 pounds. I eat healthier than I used to. It has to become a lifestyle.”

Fresh green beans at the store would cost Evans about $2 a pound; sweet corn, about 50 cents an ear.

So far this growing season, the Hunger Task Force has delivered 230,315 pounds of vegetables from its Franklin farm to 80 food pantries and 20 soup kitchens and homeless shelters in Milwaukee County. By the time all the corn and apples are picked and delivered, the anti-poverty public policy group estimates its harvest will grow to 325,000 pounds. Pumpkins, acorn squash, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, spinach and bok choy still are in the fields.

Fresh produce in demand

Fresh vegetables are the wave of the future for food banks, if you consider that 10 billion fewer cans of food are manufactured each year in the U.S. than 30 years ago.

Canned food is shelf-stable and easy to donate, but food pantries are seeing a greater need for fresh, nutritious vegetables, as obesity and obesity-related illnesses rise, said Ross Fraser, national spokesman for Feeding America. Feeding America is a national network that provides food to about 5.7 million Americans each week through food pantries, soup kitchens and other sites.

The Milwaukee County Farm and Fish Hatchery in Franklin is uniquely situated to feed the local demand for fresh vegetables during the growing season. The 151 acres – 140 acres in vegetables – used to be tended by the County Correctional Facility-South. Inmates picked vegetables, and corrections staff supervised them and managed the farm and hatchery, which stocks fishing ponds in county parks.

But when the correctional facility’s food service was privatized, the county stopped providing inmates and county workers to the farm.

Since December, no inmates have worked at the farm. One corrections employee was transferred to the Milwaukee County Parks Department to run the hatchery. The farm manager is an information technology specialist from the Hunger Task Force who once worked on a farm. Hunger Task Force pays $1,500 monthly rent to the county to grow vegetables there.

What the food pantries and meal programs can’t use immediately, Hunger Task Force sends to The Gathering, a food preservation program that freezes apples for applesauce and pie filling, and cans fresh tomatoes for tomato paste, said Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Hunger Task Force.

Volunteers from Milwaukee-area companies – such as Cargill, MillerCoors and Northwestern Mutual – provide some of the seasonal farm labor.

The farm also employs about 18 people for six-month stints through the federal Transitional Jobs Program. The pay is $10 an hour, supplemented by Harley-Davidson. The Hunger Task Force allows workers to miss no more than three days without a medical excuse, or they lose the job, which is intended to help them transition to something more permanent, Tussler said.

Some of the Transitional Jobs workers picking sweet corn earlier this week previously received vegetables from the farm at meal sites or food pantries supplied by the Hunger Task Force.

“I’m glad to work here because it helps people; it’s rewarding work,” said Kenneth Stallworth, 55, who recalled visiting a food pantry four or five years ago to pick up fixings for Thanksgiving.

“There are a lot of hungry people out there, and this is good quality food,” Stallworth said. “When you don’t have money, you don’t eat the healthiest. I’ve eaten a lot of mayonnaise sandwiches.”

Stallworth said he hopes to find a factory job after finishing his six-month stint at the farm.

Food bank farms

While it’s uncommon for an organization that supplies food banks to have its own farm, it’s not unheard of, said Fraser, of Feeding America.

A Feeding America food bank in Vermont recently purchased a farm. Many food banks have orchards, or they farm public land that is deeded to them, Fraser said.

“There’s a big movement afoot to make the food we provide as nutritious as possible,” he said.

The Central City Churches food bank also taps Whole Foods for produce that’s nearing the end of its prime, said Alicia Ellis, outreach ministry director.

The Hunger Task Force has seen an 11% increase in the number of people served in the past five years, said spokeswoman Dana Hartenstein. In 2010, it delivered 8.7 million pounds of food.

Deberah Estell, 54, was second in line at the Central City Churches food bank earlier this week that is served by the Hunger Task Force.

Like Evans, she’s diabetic and lives close to the Wisconsin Ave. church that houses the food bank. Her husband also is diabetic, and has congestive heart failure and dementia. They have Medicaid to help with his medical bills, as well as supplemental Blue Cross and Medicare insurance.

“We pay all our bills and have $25 left to buy groceries,” Estell said. By Karen Herzog, Journal Sentinel

Epicurious is a free app from Conde Nast Digital for most devices (one Epicurious application even works on HP printers without need of another device). The iPad version opens to a home screen titled “The cook’s companion” and a menu of timely categories such as “grilled mains,” “picnic ideas,” and “summer cocktails.”

Tap on any of the category titles to browse recipes, which come with photos and opportunities to save a recipe as a favorite or to share it by e-mail or on Twitter, Facebook, or other social network.

From the search page, you may delve by choosing and mixing criteria – say, main ingredients and dietary considerations – though my attempt at a sausage-and-bacon dish that was also low in calories was, of course, too much to ask.

If you select favorite recipes and want to sync them among devices, there’s a $1.99 in-app fee to create a virtual and portable “recipe box.”

In the Kitchen, from Television Food Network G.P., is an app that costs $1.99 for Apple and Android devices and promises to put the Food Network and 45,000 recipes “at your fingertips.” The iPad version opens to a screen full of celebrity chefs’ mug shots, including those of Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, and 28 others. Tap on any face, and get a list of that chef’s favorite recipes. There’s no extra charge for the recipe-box function.

If you’re missing ingredients, just tap to select the ones you need, and they’ll be added to a shopping list you can call up when you get to the store. The app even has a built-in cooking timer, and a unit converter.

So you’re cooking up a storm and suddenly realize you haven’t got the banana the recipe calls for. What to do? Fire up Cooking, a free app for Apple and Android from Portable Knowledge L.L.C. Among other things, the app suggests ingredient substitutes. Replace that banana with boiled turnip mashed with sugar. I’m not making it up.

The advertising-supported app has more cooking sense than a room full of grandmothers, which is especially useful for kitchen newbies. It defines hundreds of potentially unfamiliar terms – such as giblets, what it means to papillote, and the difference between dredging and drizzling. And it bills itself as a “cooking app with absolutely no recipes.”

Food Meter and Food Scanner, both apps subtitled “Good Food or Bad Food?” by Arawella Corp., use bar codes and a large database of restaurant menus to tell you whether that macaroni and cheese is going to nourish you or kill you.

Food Scanner is a $1.99 version that uses the iPad2 camera to scan bar codes. Food Meter is a free version that requires you to type bar-code numbers. Either way, the app gives you a quick look at nutritional information, and a score on a flashy meter to indicate whether an item is healthful. By Reid Kanaley

The findings, the researchers said, have implications for future research into how brain functions and development relates to later disorders such as autism.

“It is probably because the human voice is such an important social cue that the brain shows an early specialisation for its processing,” said Anna Blasi, study researcher from Kings College London.

“This may represent the very first step in social interactions and language learning,” Blasi was quoted as saying by LiveScience.

For the study, published online in the journal Current Biology, the researchers scanned the brains of babies between 3 months and 7 months while they were asleep.

They played neutral humans sounds, such as coughing or yawning, and compared the babies’ brain reactions with those produced when the babies heard sounds of water or toys.

The part of the brain that in adults reacts to human vocalizations lit up when the researchers played the neutral human sounds, the researchers said in a statement.

“We were very surprised to find that the area of the temporal cortex that responded to the human voice more than to environmental sounds was so similar in its location to the adult area showing the same specialization,” Evelyne Mercure of University College London said.

When the babies heard sad sounds such as crying, there was an increase in activity in the regions linked to emotional processing in adults, which could mean babies are already able to empathise and understand different emotional states.

“We are now carrying out more research in this area to help us understand how differences in brain development arise, and if we can use these to accurately identify babies who will go on to suffer from disorders such as autism,” study author Declan Murphy, of King’s College London, added. Indian Express

Yet we don’t spend enough time discussing what happens to food once it’s in the home. Or what doesn’t happen. Which is cooking. And that part is pretty simple.

Not long ago, cooking was a common topic. Weekly food sections of newspapers were filled with it. Churches self-published cookbooks by the pile. There were even real cooking shows and cookbooks.

Now, if it weren’t for the vibrant but dwindling community of bloggers, we’d hardly see actual cooking discussed at all. There are but a fraction of the food pages there once were in newspapers, and most cookbooks are offshoots of TV “cooking” shows, almost all of which are game shows, reality television shows or shows about celebrities.

Like many professional urbanites with grown children, I often succumb to the temptation to work late and eat out with friends. That experience, effortless and pleasurable in anticipation, is usually expensive — even when it’s at a theoretically inexpensive restaurant — and frustrating; more often than not it’s unsatisfying. (Note that this means it’s also sometimes satisfying, which is why I keep doing it; it’s a gamble.)

When I cook, though, everything seems to go right. I shop an average of every two weeks in a supermarket, and make a couple of trips a week to smaller stores. I’m aware that my choices are mostly imperfect, but I rarely conclude that I should make a burger and fries for dinner or provide a pound per person of prison-raised pork served with fruit from 10,000 miles away, followed by a cake full of sugar and artificial ingredients. Yet, for the most part, that describes restaurant food.

This time of year, I’ll buy local greens and local fish and wind up eating half or less of the food I would have if I had eaten out. Dessert only happens if someone else buys or makes it because I won’t do either; I might schlep home a piece of watermelon. The starter, if there is one, might range from bread with butter or oil to homemade hummus or other bean dip to home-roasted or fried nuts, or some salami or ham, hunks of which remain in the fridge for weeks.

That’s pretty much it. The investment is minimal: A quick shopping trip takes me a half-hour, including the walk or drive. It takes me about half or three-quarters of an hour to cook, not including the time that it took to make that bean dip or bread, both of which last for days. The time spent eating is relaxing and uninterrupted by the insipid ritual: “Is everything tasting to your liking?” or “You guys O.K.?” It takes 10 minutes to clean up.

Compared with a restaurant, the frustrations and annoyances are minimal, the food is as good or better-tasting, unquestionably healthier and more environmentally friendly, and much less expensive. Saturday night, for example, I fed four people a dinner of nuts, a small frittata, fish, salad and watermelon for far less than two of us would have spent at Applebee’s.

It’s not that I’m unconcerned about the supply side. I can’t help bugging myself with questions about whether the food I buy is “good” enough: pesticides? fertilizer? endangered fish? carbon footprint? fair pay for farmworkers?

But these are shopping questions, not cooking and eating questions. Shopping is the time to be critical. (Eating is the time to enjoy.) Buy things that you feel answer to your standards, and you’ll be a cut above most restaurant food in every category. You’ll know exactly what you’re putting in your mouth and how much of it. (Who buys 20-ounce steaks for one person at home?) You’ll move in the right direction, cooking and eating less meat and junk and more plants.

In most restaurants, the questions are pointless because you relinquish all control. At McDonald’s, the main goals seem to involve making the food safe and consistent, not producing it ethically. (They would surely argue with this, and, perhaps, they’ve made some progress. But really?) In pricier restaurants, the goal seems to be to impress you with presentation, originality and glamour.

I recognize that I’m privileged, though, in fact, I have friends who are better cooks than I am, who have access to better food and who have more leisure. I recognize, too, that there are many people for whom time and money and skills and even access are challenges. The thing, though, is not to discount this argument simply because not everyone is in a position to benefit from it, but rather to use it to benefit those it can, and to create the same possibilities for everyone. By Mark Bittman, The New York Times

And furthermore, the researchers predict that over the next few decades the world population will balloon so rapidly that there will not be enough livestock to feed everyone. As a result, laboratory-grown beef, chicken and pork would become necessary.

A burger, grown from 10,000 stem cells extracted from cattle, is currently being developed by the Dutch team of researchers. The stem cells are left in the lab to multiply more than a billion times to produce muscle similar to beef. Scientists call this product ‘in vitro’ meat.

“I don’t see any way you could rely on old-fashioned livestock in the coming decades,” said Mark Post, professor of physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The first burger could be on a plate, ready to eat within 12 months, he said.

“We are trying to prove to the world we can make a product out of this, and we need a courageous person who is willing to be the first to taste it,” Post told the Scientific American magazine. “If no one comes forward then it might be me.”

Scientists were able to grow strips of pork using the same method in 2009. They said it was not particularly tasty, nor appetizing. It was grayish in color and had a texture similar to that of calamari. Fish fillets have also been grown in a NY laboratory using cells taken from goldfish muscle tissue.

Scientists believe that even if the cultured meat doesn’t taste quite the same as livestock meat, they are convinced the public would eventually get used to it, especially if they had no other choice.

“When we are eating a hamburger we don’t think, ‘I’m eating a dead cow.’ And when people are already far from what they eat, it’s not too hard to see them accepting cultured meat,” said a colleague of Post.

As the world’s population rapidly increases, global meat consumption is expected to double by 2050.

The Dutch government has invested more than $2 million (US) in the research and development of lab-grown meat. The scientists believe that test-tube burger is only the first stage in a new food revolution that could solve the world’s hunger issues.

Utrecht University researchers calculate that an initial 10 stem cells could produce up to 50,000 tons of meat in two months. And an Oxford University study found that this process would consume up 60 percent less energy, 98 percent less land and produce as much as 90 percent less greenhouse gas than conventional farming. redOrbit

June is National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month, no better time to remember that it’s important to eat a daily rainbow of fruits and vegetables, from ruby-red grapefruit to bright green apples to berries of a variety of hues. (Way better for you than those beige french fries.)

“Most of the colors provide different nutrients, so if you stick to only one color, you’re going to miss out on a lot of vitamins and minerals,” says Elizabeth Ames, a registered dietitian at the Central Texas Medical Center in San Marcos.

“A lot of my patients have two or three things that they really enjoy, and that’s it. It’s important to start kids off young with eating many different colors so they learn to like a variety of fruits and vegetables.”

MyPlate, the USDA’s new icon that replaces the Food Pyramid to guide Americans in eating a healthful diet, recommends filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables. Any fresh, canned, frozen or dried fruit or vegetable or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice counts.

Here’s a look at what each color group offers, according to the American Dietetic Association:

DEEP YELLOW/ORANGE

(Pineapple, apricots, cantaloupe, carrots, corn, peaches and sweet potatoes):

Reduces risk of some cancers and supports healthy vision and immunity.

BLUE/PURPLE

(Blueberries, blackberries, purple cabbage, eggplant and plums):

May have antioxidant and anti-aging benefits, keep memory sharp and the urinary tract healthy and reduce cancer risks.

RED

(Beets, cherries, cranberries, red peppers, pomegranates, red onions, watermelon and tomatoes):

May support heart health, immunity and vision and reduce cancer risks.

GREEN

(Broccoli, asparagus, avocados, grapes, green beans, kiwis and leafy greens such as spinach):

May help maintain healthy vision and reduce cancer risks.

WHITE/TAN/BROWN

(Bananas, cauliflower, onions, white potatoes and turnips):

Some contain nutrients that may reduce the risk of cancer and help support heart health. By Jessica Belasco, San Antonio Express-News

These are some of the foods I associate with summer, a time when we all tend to obsess over this question: What can we throw on the old Weber tonight?

“You can grill, but try to grill lean beef, chicken or salmon,” says Dr. Jim Sears, a pediatrician and host of “The Doctors,” a nationally syndicated talk show that airs Monday through Friday on Fox CT.

This father of two, who will appear at the Summer Funfest at the Connecticut Expo Center Saturday and Sunday, travels the country speaking about good nutrition for the entire family. He even shares his personal story about dropping 40 pounds by becoming passionate about sports and healthful eating.

“Take your kids shopping with you,” Sears advises. “Use the grocery store as a classroom.” Tell them to become detectives and look for these buzz words: “hydrogenated” and “high fructose corn syrup.”

Also, point out ingredients that contain colors and numbers that indicate food dyes, he says. Do more than just browse the fruits and veggies aisle.

“Play a game,” says Sears. “Ask the kids to look for things that are red, yellow and dark green.” Power foods, filled with antioxidants, will then become familiar to them.

Even though we often hear startling reports about childhood obesity rates, Sears believes there’s reason to be hopeful.

“I think people are listening,” he says, to the good nutritional information that’s seeping onto the bookshelves and airwaves these days. While obesity statistics have been steadily rising over the last decade, he says, numbers have plateaued a bit over the past year: “I hope that trend continues.”

Snap peas. Big, beautiful tomatoes bursting with flavor. Shiny yellow squash, zesty zucchinis and berries, berries, berries. Summer is also the season to patronize our local farm stands and buy fresh produce that hasn’t spent time in planes or trucks. We should take the kids for a stroll through the fields of plants sprouting from the dark, rich soil. Heck, let’s plant new gardens at home and grow our own green peppers and crisp corn. It’s never too early to teach our kids the importance of eating well. Their lifelong habits are forming right now. By Sarah Cody, Hartford Courant