The Morning Brew: 3.31

Let's just get started, shall we?

Even as Eat Me Daily reports that a Wisconsin legislative committee has approved a bill that would legalize the sale of raw milk, the Wall Street Journal writes of stepped-up efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration to warn consumers of the dangers of raw milk and to urge states to tighten regulation.

Whatevs, you say? Consider that Whole Foods has pulled raw milk from its shelves in four states, and digest this sound bite (via the WSJ) from John Sheehan, director of the FDA's division of plant- and dairy-food safety:

"Raw milk is inherently dangerous and should not be consumed by anyone, at any time, for any reason."

In Florida, cold weather and overfishing mean the seafood people are eating's not coming from where they think it's coming from. "Populations of most of the snapper and grouper species once so common in Florida waters are down 30 percent or more from their historic highs, according to recent estimates," writes Damien Cave in the New York Times.

In other briny news, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has closed a local oyster harvesting area west of the Mississippi River, owing to a possible Norovirus outbreak. Symptoms, in case you're feeling a bit peaked: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping. The good news: It's the stomach flu. You'll feel better in a few days.

Over the past twenty years or so, consumer demand for fresh tomatoes year round has led to a sixfold increase in the indoor acreage -- i.e., greenhouses -- devoted to growing tomatoes. So sayeth the New York Times. One greenhouse in Arizona covers 318 acres.