Adding his own twist to the Latin American strongman railing against American policies, President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras began talking to journalists on Tuesday. “Here I have the box of melons,” he said, according to CNN. “Permit me to make a demonstration.”
He “cut open the fruit, sliced off a chunk, put it in his mouth and chewed vigorously,” CNN continued, and then unleashed his fiery anti-American punchline:
“I eat this fruit without any fear,” he said with his mouth full. “It’s a delicious fruit. Nothing happens to me!”
To sharpen the F.D.R. echo in other words: the only fruit to fear is fear itself.
The Food and Drug Administration strongly disagrees. On Saturday, it issued an urgent recall of cantaloupes from Agropecuaria Montelibano, a grower in Honduras that sends more than 2 million boxes to the U.S. each year:
Based on current information, fruit from this company appears to be associated with a Salmonella Litchfield outbreak in the United States and Canada. The import alert advises FDA field offices that all cantaloupes shipped to the United States by this company are to be detained.
President Zelaya’s melon demonstration was the latest salvo in a week of objections to the measure from Honduran officials. On Sunday, the trade minister, Fredys Cerrato, said that the recall threatened a $100 million industry and the jobs of 5,000 Honduran workers. On Tuesday, the grower put its losses so far at $8 million, which Mr. Cerrato said should be reimbursed by the United States..
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He “cut open the fruit, sliced off a chunk, put it in his mouth and chewed vigorously,” CNN continued, and then unleashed his fiery anti-American punchline:
“I eat this fruit without any fear,” he said with his mouth full. “It’s a delicious fruit. Nothing happens to me!”
To sharpen the F.D.R. echo in other words: the only fruit to fear is fear itself.
The Food and Drug Administration strongly disagrees. On Saturday, it issued an urgent recall of cantaloupes from Agropecuaria Montelibano, a grower in Honduras that sends more than 2 million boxes to the U.S. each year:
Based on current information, fruit from this company appears to be associated with a Salmonella Litchfield outbreak in the United States and Canada. The import alert advises FDA field offices that all cantaloupes shipped to the United States by this company are to be detained.
President Zelaya’s melon demonstration was the latest salvo in a week of objections to the measure from Honduran officials. On Sunday, the trade minister, Fredys Cerrato, said that the recall threatened a $100 million industry and the jobs of 5,000 Honduran workers. On Tuesday, the grower put its losses so far at $8 million, which Mr. Cerrato said should be reimbursed by the United States..
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
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