The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "vegetables" ...
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Danger on Your Dinner Plate
The food industry has quietly taken over most of the role of the FDA in inspecting what Americans eat, as inspection firms paid by food makers have certified as safe meat and vegetables that have sickened millions and killed thousands of people. After the story, the FDA passed strict food safety rules and for the first time required certification of private inspectors.
Tags: Food industry; FDA; food safety; meat; vegetables; private inspection firms
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Polluted Mashavera
The documentary examines the pollution caused by a Georgian gold mining company. Fruits and vegetables grown nearby and exposed to the pollution are being sold all over Georgia. There may be a link between the mining and the growing number of people in the region with cancer.
Tags: environment; cancer; pollution; gold mining; international
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The Blueberry Children
This investigation reveals that child labor is still a large issue in the United States. They found children “as young as 5 years old” in the fields picking fruits and vegetables. The child labor laws are rarely enforced, which is why nothing was being done to stop this practice. Further, many of these children were picking blueberries, which were some of the largest blueberry fields and were supplying national grocery store chains.
Tags: agriculture; operations; federal; human rights; lawmakers; regulators; kids; supermarkets; farmers
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Organic Inc: Natural Foods and How They Grew
This book traces organic food back to its anti-industrial origins more than a century ago. It describes the evolution of the organic food movement from then to the $11 billion industry it is today. The book shows how the evolving industry came close to betraying the ideals at the heart of its free-market success; this section includes battles over USDA regulations and the way food is produced.
Tags: agriculture; farming; groceries; grocery stores; USDA; FDA; fruits; vegetables
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Hidden Hazards: A Legacy of Neglect
Robert McCabe unmasked a failed environmental protection system on the local, state and federal level in Chesapeake, Virginia, that permitted developers to build housing on lands with serious pollution problems. In his first report, McCabe explained how in one subdivision, the lead contamination is so high that home buyers in part of the neighborhood will be forbidden to grow vegetables or to water their lawns with groundwater. Furthermore, their homes sit over an old dump site with high levels of underground combustible gas.
Tags: pollution; Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ); River's Edge at Quailshire; environmental hazards; lead contamination
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Shameful Harvest
This investigation exposed how U.S. and California-based supermarket chains, including the Wal-Mart, indirectly contribute to illegal child labor by buying produce from countries where child labor is common, if not legal. Reporters made three trips to Mexico to talk to laborers; their strong commitment to the story helped them to understand and report on the complex distribution system that starts in foreign fields and end in the supermarket.
Tags: migrant labor; child workers; harvest; immigration; INS; vegetables; produce
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Pump Station #2
An investigation by KGO-TV revealed that "the emergency water supply for San Francisco's fire hydrants was in critical condition. If the water stopped flowing to the hydrants during a disaster such as an earthquake or firestorm, the engines that power the back-up system would blow up. There are two pumping stations in the city that, in an emergency, would draw water out of San Francisco Bay to send to the fire crews. But, the engineer in charge of the stations was failing to maintain the engines. He hadn't changed the oil in more than ten years on the job. (KGO-TV) commissioned independent tests that showed the engines were in critical condition -- that they would blow up, if run at full load for any length of time. (KGO-TV) also revealed that the chief engineer was busy with many other projects at the station that had nothing to do with public safety. The former appliance repairman used the fire department's building to store old washers, dryers, mattress springs, furniture, a bowling ball and other junk. He set up a putting green, and would drive golf balls off the walls. He parked his personal car inside the pumping station for weeks on end, to do body work. He tended a garden of vegetables and spices."
Tags: San Francisco Bay; earthquake; fire hydrants; pumping station; public safety; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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How the little guy gets crunched
A Time special report investigates how campaign finance contributions have changed laws, regulations and policies. The main story in the report focuses on the trade war that the American government launched against Europe on behalf of the banana baron Carl Lindner, a major contributor both to Republicans and Democrats. Lindner's company, fruit-and-vegetable giant Chiquita, was restricted to export its low-cost bananas to the European market, Time reports. In response, the U.S. government imposed higher tariffs on European goods. The trade war did not affect consumers of luxurious goods from overseas, the story reveals. Instead, it only hurt American small businesses that imported their supplies from European countries.
Tags: politicians; Washington; Clinton; lobbying; lobbyists; taxes; tariffs; trade; World Trade Organization (WTO); Al Gore; White House; legislature; Congress; Senate
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Lawyer must decide what a man would want, whether hope for recovery is lost
Aitchison tells the story of James Wright Jr., a Kirkwood lawyer assigned by the court to determine the fate of Steven Becker, 28. Becker has been in a persistent vegetative state since March. Becker can breathe on his own, but he needs food and water supplied to him. Becker's wife has given the order for doctors to cut off his food supply, thereby starving him to death. Becker's mother has gotten a court order to stop the termination. Wright is charged with finding out what Becker would want done in this situation, without tearing about Becker's family.
Tags: Steven Becker; James Wright; persistent vegatative state; starvation; death; medicine; lawyer; law; St. Louis; Missouri
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What's in your green tea?
This article looks at how one woman discovered the green tea she was drinking while recovering from breast cancer surgery contained traces of DDT. The author also looks at the prevalence of DDT in meats, fruits and vegetables and what safety measures the U.S. is taking
Tags: Pesticides; DDT; EPA; breast cancer; vegetables