FDA RUSHED APPLE JUICE ARSENIC LEVEL REPORTS
WILDCATS DON’T WANT TO BE GATOR BAIT
PERSPECTIVES — A4
SPORTS — B1
LET THEM SEE CAKE ARTS & LIFE — A12
DAILY WILDCAT
Wednesday, december ,
DAILYWILDCAT.COM
SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA SINCE 1899
Student fee helps support programs
ON THE JOB
By Brenna Goth DAILY WILDCAT
GORDON BATES / DAILY WILDCAT
Crystal Lopez, an animal sciences senior, harvests a sample of meat for bacteria screening particles during her work shift on Thursday at the UA Meat Science Laboratory. Lopez’s job tasks include analyzing meat to determine the nutritional content and screening for bacterial presence.
Bacteria meets its match in the Meat Science Lab By Brenna Goth
C
DAILY WILDCAT
rystal Lopez isn’t squeamish. The animal sciences senior has worked at the UA Animal Sciences Meat Science Laboratory for more than three years. The job requires her to come in close contact with the carcasses of freshly harvested animals. The lab has facilities to slaughter and store cattle as well as other animals. Within 24 hours of the harvesting, all cattle must be tested for E. coli based on food safety protocol set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Testing the animals is one of Lopez’s primary jobs. A carcass is chosen at random for Lopez to swab and test each week. Lopez walks down the hall of the lab during her Thursday shift, dressed in a white coat reaching past her ankles and a hairnet. She opens the door of the meat freezer to reveal
about 12 beef carcasses hanging from the ceiling and beef heads with eyes still intact. The site disturbs some visitors, Lopez said. But Lopez, who participated in Future Farmers of America in high school, said she was not taken aback during her first time there. “I was actually pretty OK with it,” she said. “I initially watched the entire harvesting process. It’s interesting how quickly it’s happening.” Lopez then climbs on a ladder to reach the chosen carcass and swabs three areas: the round, the flank and the brisket. These areas have the highest risk of contamination, Lopez said. The UA harvests its own animals as well as those brought to the facility by local families and farms. The UA harvests other animals such as goats, ostriches and pigs, but only the cattle require E. coli testing. Meat harvested elsewhere is also occasionally brought to the lab for testing, Lopez said.
Lopez mixes what she collected from the swab with a vial of powder. She pours the liquid into a SimPlate dish and then places it in an incubator. Results are usually ready in about eight hours. The liquid can change color, and if it fluoresces under a black light, it means there’s probably E. coli in the sample, Lopez said. “There’s usually not,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had one.” Lopez, who works 12 to 15 hours a week, also does nutritional analysis at the lab. People pay to have their products — like beef jerky — tested for moisture content and mineral content as well as the protein, sodium and carbohydrate content. The lab then prints a report so the producer can create nutrition labels. The process is the most difficult aspect of her job, Lopez said. “I have a deadline to get it out but there’s a lot to do with it,” Lopez said. “There’s a lot that can go wrong.”
Kelly visits UA campus, promotes new book By Elliot P. Hopper DAILY WILDCAT
U.S. Navy Captain Mark Kelly, author and husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, discussed her current condition and their new book on Tuesday at Centennial Hall. Audience members included Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, City Council members, UA students and local residents. The book is titled “Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.” “It’s an honor to welcome Captain Kelly and we are honored to have him choose the Tucson Festival of Books as well as the UA community,” said Brenda Viner, co-founder of the Tucson Festival of Books, which presented the event. “We will all continue to give him and Gabby a warm Tucson welcome.” Kelly’s discussion opened with Giffords’ medical status. He said Giffords spends five hours a day in physical therapy. “Gabby works really, really hard every single day. In the beginning in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), we would see drastic improvements hour to hour,” Kelly said. “We still see that, not hour to hour, but more so week to week.” Attendees were given the opportunity to listen to a small audio recording of the congresswoman, which originally appeared on the Arizona Daily Star’s website. “I miss you, I miss Tucson, the
When she started, Lopez worked in multiple areas of the lab, including packaging and labeling the meat butchered on site as well as doing laundry. Now, she works primarily in the lab, which she said is her favorite place to work because it’s unique. “It’s different from other things people get to do,” Lopez said. Lopez will graduate from the UA this month and hopes to continue working in the lab. She wants a career in some aspect of the livestock industry, she said. Her ambitions in the lab have raised a few eyebrows from friends and classmates, however. “They’re a little shocked because I’m so little and I’m a girl,” Lopez said. “They give me this look like, ‘Interesting, I wouldn’t have thought that.’” Online at : Check out video of the Meat Science Lab at dailywildcat.com/multimedia
HI
61 36 LOW
Finale, Italy Endwell, N.Y. Byesville, Ohio
54 / 43 39 / 29 39 / 25
QUOTE TO
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NOTE
Thanks to Frank Busch, Mike Candrea and Sean Miller for winning. There is only so much to write about as a reporter covering a bad team.”
SPORTS — B1
ROBERT ALCARAZ / DAILY WILDCAT
U.S. Navy Captain and former astronaut Mark Kelly speaks to NPR Correspondent Ted Robbins about his book, “Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope,” at Centennial Hall on Tuesday. Kelly also signed copies of his book for audience members.
mountains, the blue sky, even the heat. I’m getting stronger; I’m getting better. I want to get back to work. Representing Arizona is my honor. I miss you, I miss home. I will see you really soon,” Giffords said during the recording. Kelly said Giffords still continues to have trouble with communication, but her personality has not changed. “She is an incredibly passionate person,” he said, and she “reads people’s feelings very well.” Kelly had a difficult time talking about the death of 9-year-old
Christina-Taylor Green, one of the victims killed on Jan. 8. “A little girl who was interested in democracy, who was only 9, was killed,” Kelly said. “I was surrounded by a lot of help. I had a lot of people around me. I got lucky and had a lot of help. It’s always good to have people around to bounce things off of.” He commended the work that Giffords’ staff has continued to do without her presence, and expressed gratitude for the nation’s continued support.
KELLY, A11
WORTH
NOTING This day in history
>> 1787: Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. >> 1941: The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. >> 2001: A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Armenia, killing 25,000 people. >> 2002: Iraq formally declared to the U.N. that it had no weapons of mass destruction.
Access to scholarship information and career counseling are among the top funding priorities for students, according to the 2011 UA Student Services Fee survey. The fee provides about $2.5 million in funding to different services and programs on campus each year, according to its website. The funding comes from the $80 fee students pay each year, with a small portion of that money going to administrative fees and programs at UA South. Student Affairs has administered a survey the past several years to gauge student support of funding initiatives. This year, the 36,573 undergraduate and graduate students who paid the fee were notified of the survey through an email invitation and 5,521 usable responses were compiled, according to the survey’s report data. More than 75 percent of students supported funding the top five initiatives, which include access to scholarship and financial aid information, expanded career-related opportunities, academic support services, career counseling and career-based learning and internships for juniors and seniors. The survey results will be used by the Student Services Fee Advisory Board, which is composed primarily of students, to help choose which proposals to fund. “The main purpose is to provide the board with a tool,” said Jim Van Arsdel, adviser for the Student Services Fee Advisory Board and assistant vice president of Student Affairs. “But it’s one of several tools.” Departments within Student Affairs can submit proposals for funding by mid-January. The board recommends which proposals to fund, and the allocation is ultimately determined by Vice President of Student Affairs Melissa Vito, Van Arsdel said. The Think Tank is funded in part by the fee as well as services such as Project RUSH, which allowed the hiring of additional employees to expedite the lines for financial aid questions. Initiatives to increase late-night security
STUDENT FEES, A5
Site aids cultural awareness By Amer Taleb DAILY WILDCAT
A UA website’s toolkit is helping journalists report more accurately and improve their relationship with Indian groups. UANativeNet.com, a partnership of several UA groups, shares information on Indian tribal governance and law. It has resources for attorneys, educators and journalists, but the site can provide useful information for anyone looking to learn more about the topics, said Melissa Tatum, NativeNet contributor and associate director of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the James E. Rogers College of Law. Reporting on Indian affairs can be difficult for journalists that aren’t familiar with tribal customs. Common journalist mistakes, like reporting that Indians don’t pay any taxes or don’t follow U.S. laws, coupled with Tatum’s experience of answering the same questions in different interviews, sparked the idea for NativeNet’s journalist toolkit. The toolkit lists information ranging from common mistakes to avoid to recommending experts to contact. It’s particularly useful in Arizona because the state has so many tribes, said Rhonda LeValdo, president of
NATIVENET, A5