Fresh Produce Discussion Blog

Created by The Packer's National Editor Tom Karst

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Piling on

There is a big Senate Committee meeting scheduled for 3 pm Eastern today on "Food Safety: Current challenges and new ideas to safeguard consumers." While we all expected the new Congress to give attention to the topic of food safety - perhaps even coalescing into discussion of a single food safety agency - no one expected the lame duck Congress to jump on it. The one industry witness today is Robert Whitaker, president of MissionStar Produce of Salinas.

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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

"Stepped away from my desk"

There are days the whole world seems to have stepped away from their phones. Right now I have calls into the National Potato Council, U.S. Apple, United Fresh Produce Association, the Produce Marketing Association, Hunts Point Produce Cooperative Association...you get the picture. When I run into a dry patch of produce journalism, I take a break to look at drudge to get a sense of breaking scandal. My other guilty pleasure is looking at football stats. The Packer's fantasy football league is coming down the home stretch. My new option, is to create mind-bending analysis on this blog spot.
I received a heads up on the sports gambling ring that was broken up in Hunts Point earlier this month. Indictments were issued Nov. 9 on charges of running an illegal gambling ring at the New York City Terminal Produce Market and the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, both located in the Bronx. However, one Hunts Point market insider said the charges do not implicate operators on the market.

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A beginning

With this blog effort, I will let you in on some of the daily pursuit of produce news and some of my observations about the process, people and personalities as I experience them. I also would love to get feedback on what you see in the small town turning metropolis that is the fresh produce industry. I will be pundit with a small p.

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