Free Republic

The CDC is advising folks in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island to avoid eating whole, fresh papayas from Mexico. They also say not to eat fruit salads or mixes including Mexican papayas. If you encounter papayas and have doubt about their country of origin, the CDC says to be on the safe side and throw them out. The agency recommends washing and sanitizing places where papayas are stored, including counter tops and refrigerator shelves. Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration wants importers, suppliers, distributors and other food service providers to halt sales across all states of...

Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Federal health officials reported several more cases of salmonella infections among four separate outbreaks linked to the consumption of yellow Maradol papayas. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a total of 235 people were sick in at least two dozens states after eating the fruit, causing two deaths. The CDC has expanded its investigation to various different strains of salmonella in papayas sold by four farms in Mexico. The largest includes papayas grown at the Carica de Campeche farm in Mexico and sold under the brand names of Caribeña, Cavi and Valery. Among...

A University of Illinois faculty member is leading an effort to perform sex changes on papayas. That's right, the large, yellowish, sweet fruit. Papayas, it turns out, have not just one but three sexes: male, female and hermaphrodite. The third produce the yummy fruit while the male and females are mostly useless to farmers. U. of I. plant biology professor Ray Ming secured a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to change the papayas' sex to grow only plants that produce hermaphrodite offspring. Currently, farmers don't know which plants are hermaphrodite until the plants have grown and flowered,...