FEBRUARY 19, 2007

MY Africa: These zebras are a few of the native African animals that live at the wildlife park Africa Mía outside the northwestern Guanacaste city of Liberia. Animals that thrive in the area's hot, dry climate such as ostriches, deer and antelope, have been brought to the preserve, where guests can view them on safari tours.

STREET Party: Mexican singer Alejandra Guzmán (second from right) and her dancers rocked the Pacific port city of Puntarenas Saturday at a concert to close the second weekend of Carnaval festivities. Ticos headed to the coast from around the country to experience the food, music, tope (horse parade) and other traditions of Carnaval.

ICE Announces New Cell Phone Network

Costa Rica will soon step into the next generation of cell phone technology, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), the country's state-run telecommunications monopoly, announced Friday.

Company Recalls Peanut Butter Possibly Linked to Salmonella

Peanut butter being recalled by a U.S. food company because of a potential link to the food-borne illness salmonella was found Friday on the shelves of one Costa Rican grocery store and in the pantries of a couple of Tico Times readers.

Contaminated Sardines Caused Pelicans' Death

The food chain took a turn for the fatal in a recent case of 500 brown pelicans found dead on an islet in the Pacific Golf of Nicoya. Scientists have discovered that these birds ate sardines contaminated with a toxic algae, according to the daily La Nación.

Nurses Call Off Strike

ICE Announces New Cell Phone Network

Costa Rica will soon step into the next generation of cell phone technology, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), the country's state-run telecommunications monopoly, announced Friday.

The institute plans to acquire 1.3 million 3G cellular lines to be installed by April of next year, according to an ICE statement.

3G networks are long-range networks that were designed to facilitate high-speed wireless Internet access, massive e-mail use, video telephony and other services cell phone users can access in places with wireless connections. 3G networks can support more voice and data users than the existing technologies, especially in urban areas.

GSM and TDMA are the cell phone technologies now offered in Costa Rica. The new 3G lines would nearly double the amount of cellular lines nationwide.

The announcement comes after ICE decided earlier this month to cut short its $149 million contract with the multinational telecommunications firm Alcatel, which was operating 400,000 GSM lines for the institute. The announcement came amid allegations that Alcatel officals had dished out $9.6 million in bribes for the contract (TT, Feb. 9). ICE officials had been considering buying another 200,000 GSM lines from the company after Costa Rica ran out of these lines last October.

No company has been contracted as the provider of the 3G network. The institute plans to begin the public bidding process next month, the statement said.

-Tico Times

Company Recalls Peanut Butter
Possibly Linked to Salmonella

By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net

Peanut butter being recalled by a U.S. food company because of a potential link to the food-borne illness salmonella was found Friday on the shelves of one Costa Rican grocery store and in the pantries of a couple of Tico Times readers.

ConAgra Foods, based out of the U.S. city of Omaha, Nebraska, is recalling all varieties of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter that have a product code beginning with 2111 printed on the jar's lid, according to a statement posted on the company's Web site.

The Tico Times Friday received an e-mail with accounts of two readers discovering they had jars of Peter Pan peanut butter purchased here with this code.

Zaida Oviedo, manager of Supermercado Saretto in the western suburb of Escazú, said she had not heard news of the recall; however, upon checking, she discovered several Peter Pan peanut butter jars on the store's shelves with a product code beginning in 2111.

Oviedo said she plans to call the importer from whom she bought the peanut butter to find out more about the recall.

According to ConAgra Foods, customers with this product should discard it, but save the product lid and mail it, along with their name and mailing address, to the company for a full refund. The company's U.S. mailing address is ConAgra Foods, P.O. Box 3768, Omaha, NE 68103.

ConAgra Foods is “working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate a statistical report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that these products may be linked to the food-borne illness salmonella,” the statement said.

ConAgra Foods provides grocery retailers, restaurants and other food establishments with products including Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice and Hunts.

For more information on the recall, consumers can call a hotline set up by ConAgra Foods in the United States at 866-344-6970.

Contaminated Sardines Caused Pelicans' Death

The food chain took a turn for the fatal in a recent case of 500 brown pelicans found dead on an islet in the Pacific Golf of Nicoya. Scientists have discovered that these birds ate sardines contaminated with a toxic algae, according to the daily La Nación.

The sardines consumed an algae called Diatomea, which appears in Pacific waters and can kill pelicans but is not dangerous to humans, according to Public Health Minister María Luisa Avila.

“Fortunately, this is not an infectious disease,” Avila told the daily, citing reports from scientists at Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Heredia, north of San José, who had been researching the pelicans' cause of death.

The dead birds were found by Costa Rican Coast Guard officials and taken to UNA on Feb. 9 (TT, Feb. 16)

Dead pelicans are continuing to pop up in Pacific waters near San Lucas Island as baby birds whose mothers were killed by the toxic sardines are starving to death, according to La Nación. Their carcasses are being eaten by crocodiles and carnivorous birds.

-Tico Times

Nurses Call Off Strike

Nursing assistants unified under the Social Security System (Caja) Workers' Union (UNDECA) Friday called off a strike planned for today to protest a resolution that would have cut their bonus pay by 15%, according to a statement from UNDECA.

The union negotiated with the Social Security System (Caja) and the Public Health Ministry to do away with the resolution, which would have affected 4,500 health-care workers with the Caja, 500 with the public Health Ministry, 300 with the National Insurance Institute (INS) and 1,500 with the private sector. These workers would have lost between ¢30,000 ($58) and ¢70,000 ($135) in bonus pay, the statement said.

Nursing assistants care for patients at hospitals and clinics, performing tasks such as bathing, giving vaccines and other injections and checking vital signs.

The union plans to continue pressuring the Public Health Ministry and the Caja to “emit a decree that assures the right of nursing assistants to this 15% bonus to avoid problems in the future,” said UNDECA secretary general Luis Chavarría, adding that the union will give these institutions a “reasonable time frame” to develop and emit this decree.

The union also announced Friday its plans to join several other groups in a protest to oppose the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) on Feb. 26. About 400 members of unions around the country have united to form the Health Workers' Front Against CAFTA.

The group worries this controversial trade pact, which is being debated in the Legislative Assembly, would hike the costs of health-care services and medical goods.

Just talking about lemons makes many a mouth pucker, and given a choice between an orange and a lemon, most would surely pick the orange. But even so, lemons do serve their purpose in our diets, and may benefit us more than we realize.

Lemons ( Citrus limonia ) and relatives, such as the sour mandarin ( C. trifoliata ), are well liked by Costa Ricans, and can be found in many backyards across the country, particularly in the coastal and midrange elevations of the country. In fact, lemon trees produce very well in the coastal regions, where orange trees often do poorly.

It is believed that the first lemons were originally cultivated in the hot, semi-arid Deccan Plateau in Central India about 2,500 years ago. Most of us were taught that Marco Polo was responsible for bringing citrus trees from the Orient to Europe, though lemons arrived in Spain during the Islamic conquest.

Lemons, along with other citrus trees, reached the New World with the Spanish. Christopher Columbus in his second voyage to the New World in 1493 brought lemon seeds to the Americas. Lisbon and Genoa lemons are two good examples of European stock.

Today, nurseries around the country offer several types of lemons. The Meyers lemon, named for Frank N. Meyer, who first bred it in 1908, is perhaps the most popular, and is a hardy cross between a lemon and an orange. This yellow, juicy, mildly sour lemon can't be beat for making lemonade, salad dressings and ceviche.

Pucker Up: Lemons are an excellent source of vitamin C for preventive health care.

Ed Bernhardt | Tico Times

Though you can usually grow lemon trees from seeds, it may take many years before these trees produce their first harvest of fruit. For this reason, it is a good idea to pick up a grafted lemon tree at your local nursery. Grafted trees often produce in the third year after planting.

To make your trees grow vigorously and bear early fruit, be sure to add plenty of organic compost in the planting hole. Then you can add small amounts of limestone, ashes and rock phosphate around the tree several times a year to ensure your tree has maximum fertility, health and vitality.

Like most citruses, lemon trees do best in well-drained, fertile soil and full sunlight. Though lemons are generally compact trees, you can prune the tips of each leading stem to create a low-growing, bush-like tree, which makes harvesting easy, even for kids.

Keep an eye peeled for aphids, which sometimes attack the new growth of citrus trees and may cause stunted growth. These insects can be controlled naturally with a solution of several tablespoons of mineral oil to one liter of water; shake well and spray the leaves with a hand sprayer. Repeat once a week until results are obtained.

Keep the area beneath the tree weed free and be careful not to accidentally cut the trunk of the tree with a machete. Citrus trees are very susceptible to soil pathogens, which infect the injured bark and can cause serious damage to the trees. Many Tico gardeners like to paint the trunks of their fruit trees with white cement or whitewash, which helps reduce the chance of infection.

We all know the story of how British sailors were named “limeys” when doctors onboard ships discovered that limes, which are high in vitamin C, prevented scurvy. They made the crews drink limewater every day to prevent this condition while sailing.

Lemons and limes are an excellent source of vitamin C, and one of the most important antioxidants in nature. One hundred milliliters of lemon juice contains approximately 50 milligrams of vitamin C and five grams of citric acid.

Lemons and limes also contain unique flavonoids called flavonol glycosides, including many kaempferol-related compounds that have antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. Researchers have discovered that lemon and lime juice has a strong protective effect against many pathogenic bacteria, particularly Vibrio cholera, which causes cholera. In Ayurvedic medicine, a cup of hot water with lemon juice is prescribed first thing in the morning to tonify and purify the liver.

One of the most valuable discoveries we have come across for the use of lemon rinds came from our Tico neighbors. They taught us you can cook the rinds (three or more lemon rinds per liter of water) for several minutes, strain, and use the solution as a cleaning agent. The disinfectant works wonderfully for household cleaning, and eliminates that black mold so common in the tropics. It also leaves a fresh, lemon scent, and we no longer need to use those toxic chemical cleaners.

Lemon tree, oh so pretty, and the flowers, oh so sweet, and the fruit of the lemon, you just can't beat.

For more information on tropical home gardening, visit www.thenewdawncenter.info or e-mail Ed Bernhardt at thenewdawncenter@yahoo.com.