Powell musings

I checked in with Doug Powell, KSU food safety professor, again today as I was tidying up his Q and A for The Packer. I asked him if he had seen the leafy greens draft GAP document and what he thought about it.

"I think there is a lot of hand waving," he said. What does that mean?, I inquired.
"People are going around acting like these are mysterious acts of God and I'm not sure that's the case."

While "rampaging pigs" and irrigation water have been given attention, Powell said soil amendments haven't been talked about much. "I"d be curious to see what they are adding to the soil," he said.

He said an upcoming FDA report on what specific farms the suspected tainted produce came from and what the farming practices were on those farms may be helpful.

"I hope (the FDA) identifies specific farms and farm practices," he said. Until that is done, a lot of the work may lack vital information.

Space vegetables

Yes, space vegetables. China is in the news for their efforts to create improved varieties of vegetables by exposing them to radiation and zero gravity.
From the AP:

China's space program claims to have produced numerous mutated fruits and vegetables by exposing seeds to space radiation, capsule pressure and weightlessness. Chinese agricultural experts say plants grown from such seeds can be hardier, more nutritious and produce higher yields, although many scientists say similar effects could be achieved in ordinary laboratories.

Here is a story about a Chinese space shot last fall specifically designed for fruits and vegetables.

TK: Chinese plant breeders seem to take pleasure that space breeding, unlike some biotechnology processes, introduces no new genes to the plants. That, my friends, is an expensive way to quell any fear of biotechnology.

Lemons have landed

Lemons from Spain have landed on the East Coast and are reportedly trading from $24-28 per carton, according to Phil Montgomery, USDA market news reporter. Montgomery said that another ship with Spanish citrus - including oranges - will arrive at the end of this week. One more arrival of a vessel with smaller quantities may arrive next week. Not much more is expected after next week, he said.

Meanwhile, the first apples and pears - mostly pears - from Argentina and Chile are starting to arrive on the East Coast this week, he said.

Idaho onions

I checked in with marketing director Sherise Jones yesterday at the Idaho-eastern Oregon Onion Committee. Some of the shippers in the region will be wrapping up by the middle of March. The USDA notes f.o.b. prices for jumbo yellow onions at $17-18 for 50-pound sacks, up from just $5.50-6 the same time last year.
Always enthusiastic, Sherise said the committee plans to celebrate the group's 50 year anniversary in style this year. Details are "off the record," but watch out for a Disco ball at the PMA show this fall.
A surprising note: Another onion group - Jones didn't say who - has challenged the committee's use of the phrase "Sweet with heat" based on prior use. Though the phrases weren't exactly the same, the Idaho-eastern Oregon Onion Committee won't be using that tag line anymore, she said.

Food safety primer

The Congressional Research Service on Feb. 7 published a document about the federal food safety system, and I published it here.
Here is the CRS report:

Opponents of major food safety changes, including many in the food and agricultural industries, assert that the system already is scientifically based, that the statutes are adequate, and that food companies already produce and distribute safe food, making the U.S. system a model for food safety around the world. Legislative proposals to combine these agencies and responsibilities into a single federal food safety agency have been introduced in past Congresses, but have not advanced. The 110th Congress may be asked to consider proposals that would either reorganize or consolidate the federal food safety organization. A range of policy options could be debated, including whether the current regulatory approaches and their authorizing statutes remain appropriate, particularly given the diversity of food types,different health risks, methods of production, and sources of supply; the continuously evolving science on foodborne illness and how to prevent future outbreaks; the impacts on industry competitiveness, particularly in a global economy; and funding constraints.


TK; Given the enormity and complexity of the task, I don't think Congress will reorganize food safety agencies this year. But the industry did ask for and it will get stronger federal oversight.

For whom the Taco Bell tolls

Taco Bell's parent company reported its earnings on Feb. 12, and this feature in the Orange County Register looks at the dark results.
From the story:

For the quarter, blended same-store sales at Yum! Brands, which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut, dropped 2 percent, the company reported late today. Same-store sales are a key indicator of a restaurant's financial health.
The primary driver behind the decline was Taco Bell, which saw a 5 percent drop in same-store sales during the quarter, the company said. The drop marked the biggest quarterly decline for the chain in at least two years.
Yum said sales reflect "a very significant negative sales impact during the month of December from adverse publicity related to a produce-sourcing issue."
In December, federal health authorities said shredded lettuce was the source of the foodborne illness, though agencies never found evidence of E. coli in any Taco Bell ingredient. Officials also said the food was likely contaminated at the farm level, not inside any restaurant.
Since the outbreak, Taco Bell said it has worked closely with its suppliers to step up safety measures, including implementing testing for E. coli at the field level.

TK: A 5% drop in fourth quarter sales is sobering. The stakes are certainly high for all food service operators, since their livelihood depends on maintaining public confidence in their brand. Being rigorous and tough on produce suppliers is a given in this environment.

Irradiation attention

Irradiation is generating a lot of buzz right now, and The Packer's John Chadwell has recently published several interesting angles to the debate.
From his story:
Robert Tauxe, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC, said at the Emerging Infectious Diseases Conference in Atlanta in 2000 that many of the concerns about irradiation are similar to earlier objections to pasteurization.


Here is a PBS feature on irradiation.

TK: I think we are years away from use of irradiation on leafy greens, regardless of FDA's posture. It could happen - the pasteurization argument is effective - but the only way this technology advances is if someone feels they can have a marketing advantage with it.

European backpackers and retirees

That's who New Zealand apple growers have had to rely on to pick their fruit, this recent article points out.
From the story:

A shortage of 5000 workers cost fruit exporters $100 million in lost sales last year, it said.
New Zealand's record-low 3.8 per cent jobless rate makes it difficult for farmers to attract workers to short-term contracts when full-time jobs are plentiful in other parts of the economy.
The industry, which already depends on European backpackers and retired New Zealanders to pick fruit, is also turning to workers from the Pacific Islands to ease the shortage.
The Government will issue 5000 workers from the Pacific Islands with 11-month visas under a seasonal work programme starting in April.

TK: Growers are understandably happy about the new guest worker program, as the February through April apple harvest is at their door step. Having to rely on European backpackers and retirees for the high energy job of apple harvest can't be fun.

From NZ with love

Tesco's apparent plan of labeling produce that has been air shipped to England is discussed in this piece from New Zealand.
From the story:

Major British retailer Tesco will soon label all produce airfreighted to Britain to inform environment-conscious customers of the energy costs of getting such products to market.
Concern has been raised that this may be linked to the food-miles concept, a flawed methodology that could have the potential to harm New Zealand's multimillion-dollar export trade to Britain.
In practice, the Tesco labelling will have a limited impact on New Zealand producers because 99.75 per cent of produce exported from New Zealand to Britain goes by ship, the most environmentally sound method by which it can be sent there.
Freight that can be shipped adds little more in energy consumption than the energy cost of taking the goods home from the supermarket by car. However, a much wider-ranging and ambitious undertaking by Tesco and other British retailers has been foreshadowed - to label goods according to their total energy costs and carbon emissions.
Unlike food-miles, which measure only transport costs, this new plan may actually help sell New Zealand produce. The labels would reveal to British consumers that New Zealand food producers use some of the most energy-effective practices in the world.
Tesco's aim is to develop a carbon-footprint labelling measure for all products it sells. These new "green" labels are intended to allow customers to compare and shop for the most energy-efficient items.


TK: I have to wonder how much an impact these "green" labels will have on purchasing decisions, and whether the labels could end up hurting the most economically vulnerable exporters in Africa.