Bad news for vegetarians
2016年3月28日 星期一
2016年3月26日 星期六
「日本式」に学べ…3月25~26日「北北基桃聯合災害防救演習」
今年初訪問日本，在東京臨海廣域防災公園參觀時，發現災害通常會伴隨其它災害，例如地震造成的瓦斯外洩可能引發火災、人們急於返鄉造成交通癱瘓等等。日本的防災準備考慮得很全面，這是台灣應該借鏡的。
台北市政府將在3月25日辦理「北北基桃聯合災害防救演習」，整合中央、地方，跨縣市聯合救災，更納入民間機關團體參與演練，藉由大量民眾參與，提升防災意識和應變能力。這次演習情境設定為山腳斷層全段錯動，模擬地震芮氏規模6.9，本市最大震度7級，所可能引發的「複合式災害」，演習項目有：地震避難疏散演練、防災公園開設演練、醫療院所接收大量傷病患後的處置作為、台北車站特定區複合式災害防救演練。跟以前不一樣的是，這次的演習增加很多項目：
一、第一次四縣市同步跨區聯合演習。
二、第一次進行跨夜聯合演習。
三、第一次以台北車站全區為演習場域，並首次開放車站月台進行演練。
四、第一次有中央前進協調所加入演習。
五、第一次開放防災公園，由市民參與夜宿，體驗災民處境。
二、第一次進行跨夜聯合演習。
三、第一次以台北車站全區為演習場域，並首次開放車站月台進行演練。
四、第一次有中央前進協調所加入演習。
五、第一次開放防災公園，由市民參與夜宿，體驗災民處境。
整個演習會持續到26日的凌晨兩點半，有些人問我：「有需要搞到這麼晚嗎？」我只能說，災害發生是沒有挑時間的！期盼在中央、地方、民間的共同努力之下，建構讓人民安心的首都生活圈。
北北基桃聯合災害防救演習：
http://www.eoc.gov.taipei
http://www.eoc.gov.taipei
2016年3月23日 星期三
Recycled water is good for your health, UCLA researchers say
California—a state known for its progressive, earth-friendly ethos—has been slow to recycle an important and scarce resource: water.
2016年3月22日 星期二
雞蛋要不要進冰箱，見仁見智，重點是整個過程要"一致"
EATING AND HEALTH
Why The U.S. Chills Its Eggs And Most Of The World Doesn't
Robert S. Donovan; Flickr / Alex Barth; Flickr
Go in search of eggs in most foreign countries and you might encounter a strange scene: eggs on a shelf or out in the open air, nowhere near a refrigerator.
Shock and confusion may ensue. What are they doing there? And are they safe to eat?
We Americans, along with the Japanese, Australians and Scandinavians, tend to be squeamish about our chicken eggs, so we bathe them and then have to refrigerate them.
But we're oddballs. Most other countries don't mind letting unwashed eggs sit next to bread or onions.
The difference boils down to two key things: how to go after bacteria that could contaminate them, and how much energy we're willing to use in the name of safe eggs.
To understand when the rift happened, let's rewind. About a hundred years ago, many people around the world washed their eggs. But there are a lot of ways to do it wrong, so the method got a bad reputation in certain parts of the world. A batch of rotten eggs, which had been washed in Australia, left a bad impression on its British importers.
By 1970, the U.S. Department of Agriculture had perfected the art of the wash with the help of fancy machines, and it required all egg producers to do it. Meanwhile, many European countries were prohibiting washing, and Asian countries never got on board with it. The exception was Japan, which joined the egg-washers after a bad spate of salmonella in the 1990s.
So what's the deal with washing and refrigeration? Soon after eggs pop out of the chicken, American producers put them straight to a machine that shampoos them withsoap and hot water. The steamy shower leaves the shells squeaky clean. But it also compromises them, by washing away a barely visible sheen that naturally envelops each egg.
"The egg is a marvel in terms of protecting itself, and one of the protections is this coating, which prevents them from being porous," says food writer Michael Ruhlman,author of Egg: A Culinary Exploration of the World's Most Versatile Ingredient.
The coating is like a little safety vest for the egg, keeping water and oxygen in and bad bacteria out. Washing can damage that layer and "increase the chances for bacterial invasion" into pores or hairline cracks in the shell, according to Yi Chen, a food scientist at Purdue University. So we spray eggs with oil to prevent bacteria from getting in, and refrigerate them to keep microorganisms at bay.
Why go to the trouble of washing eggs? A lot of it has to do with fear of salmonella.
"It just sort of seeped into our culture that chickens are dirty, or crawling with bacteria," says Ruhlman. (The Saltstumbled into this when our post started a #chickens*$!storm.)
Salmonella enteritidis can infect a chicken's ovaries, contaminating a yolk before the shell firms up around it. Cooking usually kills the bacteria before they can harm you; still, eggs contaminated with salmonella are responsible for about 142,000 illnesses a year in the U.S., according to the Food and Drug Administration.
In some European countries, egg-laying hens are vaccinated against salmonella. In the U.S., vaccination is not required, but eggs must be washed and refrigerated from farm to store, and producers must follow a host of other safety measures.
"They're different approaches to basically achieve the same result," says Vincent Guyonnet, a poultry veterinarian and scientific adviser to the International Egg Commission. "We don't have massive [food safety] issues on either side of the Atlantic. Both methods seem to work."
The important thing, he says, is to be consistent.
"Once you start refrigeration, you have to have it through the whole value chain, from farm to store. Because if you stop — if the eggs are cold and you put them in a warm environment — they're going to start sweating," says Guyonnet.
No one wants sweaty eggs. They can get moldy. Another perk of consistent refrigeration is shelf life: It jumps from about 21 days to almost 50 days.
In a lot of countries, constant refrigeration just isn't possible because it's simply too costly.
"Some of the countries cannot afford cold storage during the whole supply chain," says Chen.
And as for why the U.S. and Europe developed such different attitudes about washing, it's also hard to tease apart how much is about safety versus egg aesthetics.
"In North America, we like to have everything superclean. So they probably initiated the washing of the egg very early on," leading down the refrigeration path, says Guyonnet.
But in a lot of places, "a dirty egg with poop on it is no big deal. You brush it off when you get home," says Guyonnet, who was raised in France and now lives in Canada.
A 38-country survey by the International Egg Commission found that people feel strongly about how their eggs should look. The Irish, French, Czechs, Hungarians, Portuguese, Nigerians and Brits hanker for brown eggs. Canadians, Finns, Americans and Indians prefer white shells. Dutchmen and Argentines don't seem to care.
2016年3月18日 星期五
Stand To Work If You Like, But Don't Brag About The Benefits
That Standing Desk Might Not Be The Magical Solution
An analysis of 20 studies failed to find good evidence that standing at a work desk is better than sitting.
全球變暖影響食物質量會導致死亡率升高 (英国牛津大学)
气候变暖冲击食品来源
全球變暖影響食物質量會導致死亡率升高
.......食品不充足對人類健康影響
根據這項第一個評估全球氣候變暖可能影響人類飲食質量研究顯示，由於人類對水果與蔬菜攝取量減少，而水果和蔬菜中含有的維生素和礦物質卻是抑制心髒病、中風和飲食相關的癌症發生的重要因素。根據報告初步估計，到2050年時，由於食用維生素不足，造成營養不良死亡的人數將會增加，估計是現在的兩倍。氣候變化所帶來的健康風險遠比想像的大很多。
這份研究報告的領銜作者、牛津大學的斯普林曼教授還強調，就算依照最保守的每人食物獲取量減少估計，還是會導致人們食品能量來源與飲食結構改變，且這些改變會對健康帶來嚴重後果。
當然，這份研究報告也指出，全球氣候變暖也有其有利的一面，比如會減少癌症，心髒病等的發病率，而且減少食用肉類也會減少肥胖者發病率，估計到2050年會減少死亡人數為2萬9千人。
而且這份報告還指出，世界不同地區受到氣候變暖衝擊程度不同。低收入和中等收入國家受到氣候變暖影響會更大，特別是在太平洋的一些島國家和東南亞地區的國家等會受到更大的衝擊。根據這份研究報告顯示，到2050年，中國和印度兩國死亡人數會佔全球由於氣溫變化導致死亡人數的四分之三，中國會到增加24萬8千人，而印度會增加死亡人數為13萬6千人。
研究報告中的不確定因素
當然，哥本哈根大學教授約翰波特教授評論稱，該研究報告深入分析了迄今為止氣候變化對食品和人類健康影響的最前沿預測。他表示，應該考慮到分析中所涉及的不確定因素，將預測年限定為2050年是可以理解的。但他也警告稱，2050年後氣候變化所帶來的消極影響可能會更大。......
2016年3月15日 星期二
2016年勞動安全系列講座 (台灣職業安全健康連線)
2016年勞動安全系列講座
政府拚經濟，勞工流血汗，長工時換來低薪資；過去愛拚才會贏，現在只剩下過勞之島。除了過勞－這幾年大家愈來愈重視的議題之外，勞動現場還隱藏著許多的風險，影響每個勞工的安全與健康。
台灣職業安全健康連線自2月起至11月，邀請相關學者專家，每個月最後一個星期二晚上7點在慕哲咖啡（台北市紹興北街3號），邀您一同來瞭解勞工的健康風險。
台灣職業安全健康連線自2月起至11月，邀請相關學者專家，每個月最後一個星期二晚上7點在慕哲咖啡（台北市紹興北街3號），邀您一同來瞭解勞工的健康風險。
訂閱：
文章 (Atom)