Automation station

The Customs and Border Patrol just announced that truck carriers entering the U.S. at any land border ports of entry in the states of California, Texas and New Mexico will be required to present advance electronic cargo information through the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Truck Manifest System. The release notes that ACE is the next generation of CBP technology designed to protect the U.S. from terrorism while ensuring the country’s economic vitality by expediting lawful trade. The electronic manifest, is an electronically filed version of the paper manifest carriers are already required to submit before crossing the U.S. border.

Bottom line, this system should help "pre-screen" cargo and evaluate higher risk shipments, ostensibly thwarting terror threats.

Having watched Fox's 24 series opener earlier this week and the depiction of a nuclear bomb set off by terrorists in Southern California, I hope we never see reality imitate art.

Avo's delayed impact

One California avocado marketer told me the cold weather there could erase about 30% to 40% of the state's 400 million pound crop. "We could easily lose 100 to 150 million pounds," he said. Damage was still being evaluated today.

With the globalisation of the industry, California's shipping season is now mostly from March to October. California accounted for only 6% of total U.S. supply from Dec. 31 to Jan. 6, compared with 53% from Mexico and 34% from Chile.

Mexican hass can enter the California market for the first time on Feb. 1,and that turns out to be a good thing this year.

The California market is primarily being supplied by Chile right now, but that volume will wind down in early March. Mexican volume swoons in the summer months.

Size 50s of Chile's hass fruit have increased modestly from about $20-24 f.o.b. in Los Angeles on Jan. 3 to $24-26 per carton on Jan. 17. There is no real urgency to raise prices sharply now, but it will come soon enough.

"From March on is when you will see the market rise," the shipper assured me.

Get them while they are semi-cheap

New Wal-Mart store design

There is so much Wal-Mart news each day that it is impossible to cover it all. From zoning issues and new stores going in to various communities with various reactions, to the chain's effort to "green" itself with new packaging, energy, truck designs, to the retailer's flagging stock price and questions about its management team, it never stops. Here is a Wal-Mart story about a new design for their Neighborhood Market concept that is a compelling read. Any time a chain - particularly Wal-Mart - rolls out a new concept store, it is worth checking out. This concept store, in Tulsa, provides more produce and organic selections, plus earth-tone colors with natural woods to create a "store within a store" feel, the story states.

Funding research

Chiquita's Fresh Express unit has announced that it is funding research on E. coli. Fresh Express said it will contribute up to $2 million to study ways the fresh-cut produce industry can prevent contamination from E. coli bacteria. Here is some coverage from yesterday that noted that while its products weren't involved, Chiquita's Fresh Cut segment - including Fresh Express - saw revenue per case drop even as volume increased in the last quarter.


In its news release, Fresh Express noted that an independent scientific advisory panel comprised of six nationally recognized food safety experts from both federal and state food safety-related agencies and academia has been meeting on a nonpaid, voluntary basis since May 2006 to develop the most productive research priorities related to the source, mode of action and life cycle of E. coli 0157:H7 and the pathogenic contamination of lettuce and leafy greens.
The panel is chaired by Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, Ph.D., M.P.H. and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota. In addition, the panel consists of Dr. Jeff Farrar, California Department of Health Services; Dr. Bob Buchanan, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Dr. Robert Tauxe, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Bob Gravani, Cornell University; and Dr. Craig Hedberg, University of Minnesota.

The release said the group evaluated the existing body of knowledge relating to E. coli 0157:H7 contamination in fresh produce and collaborated on the most critical research gaps in fresh produce contamination ranging from growing and harvesting to cooling, transporting, processing and packaging.
Five research priorities - those where research proposals are being sought - include:

Determine the potential for Escherichia coli O157:H7 to be internalized into lettuce or spinach.

Identify new mitigation strategies and technologies to reduce the potential for E. coli O157:H7 to contaminate leafy green produce.

Conduct field studies to identify sources, vehicles and factors that affect the degree of contamination or extent of contamination of leafy green produce by E. coli O157:H7.

Determine the ability of E. coli O157:H7 to multiply in the presence of normal background flora following the harvest of produce such as lettuce or spinach.

Determine the ability of E. coli O157:H7 to survive composting processes.


This is an impressive commitment by industry leader Fresh Express. Pooling the collective wisdom of experts to determine priorities in E. coli research is the right way to approach this issue.

I like it much better than the $500 PP has offered up for the best ad hoc suggestion to improve the leafy greens GAP draft document.

"I" vegetables, UglyRipe again and an organic rule

I was skimming a blog this morning, which was flagged in a Google alert as having relevance to "fruits and vegetables" Not so much, but it was was mildly entertaining.

The blogger, a mom, wrote:

Did you ever notice that there are no fruits that start with the letter I? Yeah, me neither, until my daughter was assigned a science project where she has to cut out pictures of fruits or vegetables, one or two for each letter of the alphabet.

She went on to describe her search for "I", "Q" and "X" fruits and vegetables on the Web, made possible only by the wonders of Google. She searched to find the Brazilian Ice Cream Bean and satisfyingly pronounced herself Google Queen. Another consumer overlooking iceberg lettuce?



More substantial news.... Today's Federal Register contains another rule about the UglyRipe, this one providing the marketing order "shape" exemption for imported UglyRipe tomatoes.

The AMS also issues a rule for the National Organic Program, establishing guidelines on procedures for submitting National List petitions.

The National List identifies the synthetic substances that may be used and the non-synthetic substances that may not be used in organic production. The National List also identifies synthetic and non-synthetic substances that may be used in organic handling. This notice provides guidance on who may submit petitions, what substances may be petitioned and the information that is required to be included within a submitted petition. Additionally, this notice establishes new commercial availability evaluation criteria that will be applied during the petition review of non-organic agricultural substances for inclusion onto or removal from Sec. 205.606 of the National List.

Why is this important? The USDA said some handlers and certifiers have misinterpreted regulations to mean that any non-organic agricultural product which was determined by an accredited certifying agent to be not commercially available in organic form could be used in organic products --- without being individually listed. Not so fast.
In January 2005, the First Circuit decision in Harvey v. Johanns held that such an interpretation is contrary to the plain meaning of the Organic Act and said no such blanket exemption to the list requirements would be afforded.

A new rule was previously published that clarifies that the section shall be interpreted to permit the use of a non-organically produced agricultural product only when the product has been listed pursuant to National List procedures, and when an accredited certifying agent has determined that the organic form of the agricultural product is not commercially available.

As a result, industry information provided to the NOP indicates that there may be many non-organic agricultural substances that are being used in organic products which will render currently certified products in non-compliance when the court final order and judgment on Harvey v. Johanns becomes fully effective on June 9, 2007.

These new guidelines may get quite a workout in the months ahead.