Trucker perspective on produce safety

Landline online magazine, a trucking industry publication, carries this account about the FDA hearing on produce safety.

When a load of produce is recalled because of potential contamination, what’s a trucker to do?
That’s one of the questions Joe Rajkovacz posed to the FDA during his testimony Friday, April 13, at a public meeting on regulatory options and the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables in College Park, MD.
Rajkovacz, regulatory affairs specialist for OOIDA, said key players in the debate on whether to allow the produce industry to regulate itself or to impose mandatory federal oversight have largely excluded truckers, who are a key link in the food supply chain.
He also addressed potential entry points for food-borne pathogens, including the lack of regulations regarding sanitary conditions at loading and unloading facilities that produce truckers face on a daily basis. After using filthy bathrooms or portable facilities with no running water, soap or towels, many drivers are then forced to start stacking pallets of fresh produce.
“The lack of sanitary bathroom facilities and hygienic conditions in which to work is all too common in the fresh produce industry,” he said. “We’ve been forced to work in that filthy world for decades.”
In his closing statement, Rajkovacz told the FDA that “the produce industry has exhibited a historical lack of responsibility when dealing with the men and women charged with safely and efficiently hauling America’s fresh produce.”
“It is hard to imagine a solution to fresh produce safety without intervention at the highest level of government,” he said.
For additional information and a first-hand account of Rajkovacz’s testimony to the FDA, read Land Line’s continuing coverage at landlinemag.com next week.

TK: "Intervention at the highest level of government" not only for the grower, but now for the entire supply chain. It seems past mistreatment of truckers has colored their view of produce companies.

News from Nippon

Japanese consumers are making all forms count. the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service reports. Rising consumption of vegetable juice at the expense of fresh vegetables is one of the food trends reported in a recent post from Japan.
From the FAS

Popular bottle/pack drink sizes have shifted to smaller sizes. For example, the 500 ml. tea bottle was redesigned to 460 ml. and the 1 l. milk pack to 700 ml. to meet consumers’ needs for easy-to-carry and quick-to-finish drinks. (a. 2/1)
More variations of vegetable juice are produced. According to the survey conducted by Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), the daily intake of vegetables including vegetable juice of Japanese people in 2004 decreased by 8% for the past 5 years. On the contrary, the demand for vegetable juice is increasing because of the consumers’ needs for supplementing the lack of vegetables. The market size in 2006 is said to be 185 billion yen, which is 1.5 times the level of 2003. There is no definition of “vegetable juice”, and it is categorized as any drink containing vegetable juice. Vegetable juice with fruit juice and added with lactic acid sold well because of the sweet taste.
Domestic citrus prices are rising sharply due to high demand and the lack of imported citrus. The retail prices are 10-20% higher than last year.
Supermarkets are trying to increase sales of California citrus by selling smaller sized fruit and/or packing in smaller sized bags rather than increasing prices to avoid losing customer interest.

Stenzel remarks before FDA

Amy Philpott sends along Tom Stenzel's remarks to the FDA. Find them at this link.

Stenzel doesn't wait long to get to a core talking point.

Let me quote from the federal register notice announcing today’s hearing. “FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety of all domestic and imported fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States.” We believe that responsibility is at the very core of our discussion today. FDA has the legal responsibility to assure American consumers that their produce meets all acceptable safety requirements. Our industry must and will do all we can to grow, pack and process the safest possible products. But no matter what steps we take as an industry, the law requires, and the public demands, that FDA as an independent, public health agency be the final arbiter of what is safe enough.


Later....

No matter how hard our industry works, public confidence also ultimately depends upon government as the final health and regulatory authority to determine proper food safety standards and ensure that they are being met.

TK: Reflecting earlier statements, Stenzel's remarks ask for strong federal oversight, commodity specific guidelines and "geographically consistent produce food safety standards."

He concludes:

We as an industry must do all we can to prevent illnesses from ever occurring, and we will. At the same time, we pledge to support a strong federal food safety regulatory framework that assures the public that appropriate safety standards are in place and are being met by the industry.
Together, we can help consumers enjoy an ever increasing array of safe, healthy and nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables.

Overseeing wholesale markets

What does strong federal oversight of produce safety look like at the wholesale market level? I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that the folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest might have an opinion. I went to the CSPI site today to look for the testimony of CSPI at the FDA's produce safety hearing. I didn't find the remarks, but I did see the link to the March 25 Dateline report on the 7th Street wholesale market in L.A.

The video of the Dateline segment is featured on a CSPI page found here.

From NBC's Web site is this from the transcript of that feature:

Caroline Smith De Waal, a consumer advocate from the center for science in the public interest, says wholesale produce markets might be a weak link in the food chain.
Smith De Waal: Consumers aren’t really aware of all the people who might be touching produce on its way to their table.
Starting last fall, we went undercover with hidden cameras, at the 7th Street Market, where week after week, we found filthy conditions—like workers dumping trash wherever they pleased or picking up cucumbers off the sludgy ground, and selling them like they’re clean.
We found produce stored right next to the porta-potties and next to garbage dumpsters which are crawling with rats—rats that feast on the markets fruits and vegetables.
NBC (on hidden camera): Are there rats?
Worker: Oh big ones. Boy, they love it in here.
Jeff Nelken, a forensic food safety expert, found these conditions inexcusable.

Jeffrey Nelken, food safety expert: Rats carry disease. As they walk on top of the food or they take a bite out of it, they are leaving their bacteria and virus behind.

But this was perhaps the biggest health hazard we saw, water spilling out of pipes that smelled like raw sewage. The water was splashing right onto boxes of produce.
De Waal: The conditions in that market really look like turn of the century.

We took water samples from the market and had them analyzed at a lab. What did they find in that water touching fruits and vegetables? Extremely high levels of E. coli, fecal coliform, and listeria, which can all cause food poisoning—and can’t always be washed off.
So where does this possibly contaminated produce end up?

Later in the report...

Smith De Waal: Wholesale produce markets need to be inspected regularly... this is vital to ensure that conditions like this don’t exist in other cities.
The owner and manager of the 7th Street Market are now facing criminal charges for multiple health and safety code violations. A spokesperson for the market tells us they're surprised by the charges because they've cleaned things up.

TK: While it would be an unfair exaggeration to say wholesale produce markets of today resemble their "turn of the century" likeness, we all know markets that look like they came from the 1970s. How produce safety regulations touch the wholesale market - and what adjustments must be made - will be a compelling story line in coming years.

Silbermann's testimony

Lee Mannering of PMA passes on this testimony of Bryan Silbermann of PMA. Find it here. Above is a PMA shot of Bob Brackett of the FDA and Silbermann at Friday's meeting.
I've also called Amy Philpott at United and expect to have Tom Stenzel's testimony as well.

Silbermann sets up his testimony very well:

Consumer confidence in our products is as fragile as the tender leaves of the freshest salads. We never have and we never will take that confidence for granted. Doing so would be irresponsible to the public and harmful to our own livelihoods. We have a vested interest in doing what is right – every bite, every time.

TK: Above and beyond PMA's exceptional investment in the Center for Produce Safety, I see in Silbermann's remarks that PMA and United are very much on the same page in terms of federal oversight.

He says:

PMA believes that the initiative in California needs to be followed by a robust federal effort that is verifiable and applies to any products grown in the U.S. or abroad. We need that to promote public confidence and avoid a patchwork approach to an issue crying out for an umbrella solution. Under the umbrella we should have commodity-specific protocols based on sound science and prioritized by risk.


TK: This could have been lifted out of Stenzel's remarks, and that's a good thing that the industry is together on the issue of federal oversight.

9 to 5 Food Safety

Today' s FDA "Safety of Fresh Produce Public Hearing" has a lengthy agenda. You have it below. Both Tom Stenzel of United and Bryan Silbermann of the Produce Marketing Association were slated to finish their remarks mere moments ago. We will publish their prepared remarks when we receive them from United and PMA.





Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)

Safety of Fresh Produce Public Hearing Agenda
College Park, MD
8:30 am – 5:00 pm


8:30am-9:00am Registration

9:00am-9:15am Welcome/Opening Remarks/Overview---
Robert Brackett, Ph.D., Director, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), FDA

9:15am-9:30am Foodborne Illness Outbreaks Associated with Fresh Produce Consumption---
Art Liang, M.D., Acting Director, Foodborne Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

9:30am-9:45am GAPs/GMPs, Produce Safety Action Plan Opportunities and Challenges---
Michelle Smith, Ph.D., Office of Food Safety, CFSAN, FDA

9:45am-10:00am AFDO Perspective---Marion Aller, Ph.D., President, Association of Food and Drug Officials

10:00am-10:15am Investigation Findings---
Thomas Hill, Capt., Office of Food Defense, Communication and Emergency Response, CFSAN, FDA

10:15am-10:30am BREAK

10:30am-10:45am State Perspective---
Jim Rushing, Ph.D., Director of the Coastal Research and Education Center, Clemson University

10:45am-11:00am Questions from the FDA Panel

11:00am-11:30am Industry Perspective---
Tom Stenzel, President, United Fresh Produce Association
Bryan Silbermann, President, Produce Marketing Association
11:30am-11:45am Consumer Perspective---
Caroline Smith DeWaal, Director of Food Safety, Center for Science in the Public Interest

11:45am-12:00am Science/Research---
Martha Roberts, Ph.D., Special Assistant to the Director, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Florida

12:00am-12:15pm Questions from the FDA Panel

12:15pm-1:45pm LUNCH

1:45 pm 2:00pm Issues and Questions from the Federal Register notice---
Amy Green, Office of Food Safety, CFSAN, FDA

2:00pm-3:00pm Public Comments

3:00pm-3:15pm BREAK

3:15pm-4:45pm Public Comments

4:45pm-5:00pm Questions from the FDA Panel

5:00pm Adjourn



List of Persons Providing Public Comments

Perry Bowen, King George, VA
Thomas Nassif, Western Growers Association
Richard Ross, Path Tracer
Michelle Marcotte, International Irradiation Association
Reginald Brown, Florida Tomato Exchange
Anthony Corbo, Food and Water Watch
Charles Hall, Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
G. Michael McCartney, QLM Consulting
Alfred Murray, New Jersey Department of Agriculture
Greg Drouillard, Sunkist Growers
Rayne Thompson, California Farm Bureau Federation
Joe Rajkovacz, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Inc
Sally Greenberg, Consumers Union
Robert Gravani, Cornell University
Jenny Scott, Grocery Manufacturers/ Food Products Association


FDA Panelists

Joe Baca -- Director, Office of Compliance, CFSAN, FDA
Jack Guzewich -- Acting Director, Division of Public Health and Biostatistics, Office of Food Defense, Communication and Emergency Response, CFSAN, FDA
Steve Solomon, DVM -- Deputy Director, Office of Regional Operations, ORA, FDA
Don Zink, Ph.D. -- Senior Food Scientist, Office of Food Safety, CFSAN, FDA
Glenda Lewis – Supervisor, Retail Food Protection Team, Office of Food Safety, CFSAN, FDA

Coverage on the Center for Produce Safety

Here is a selected round-up on online coverage of the Center for Produce Safety:

Here is the press release from UC Davis

Here is PMA's press release.

AP coverage.

International Business Times

The Desert Sun

Monterey Herald

The Salinas Californian

TK: We should see editorial page endorsements of this effort in the days to come, and deservedly so. This multimillion dollar effort seeks to forcefully establish a clearinghouse for both publicly and privately funded applied and basic research on produce safety.

Fresh Express follows through

Fresh Express has followed through on its funding commitment for food safety research, and this release describes what is being done.

From the release:
Fresh Express, the No. 1 producer of value-added salads in North America, today announced that nine research teams are being awarded up to $250,000 each to study the Escherichia coli O157:H7 pathogen to advance science-based practices to prevent its occurrence in fresh produce. Fresh Express is funding up to $2 million collectively in research under the guidance of an independent scientific advisory panel as a means to support industrywide food-safety solutions, even though Fresh Express products were not involved in the recent outbreak and never have been shown to have caused an outbreak of food-borne illness.

One-year funding awards of up to $250,000 will be awarded to the following institutions and principal investigators: --
Subsurface contamination and internalization of E. coli O157:H7 in pre-harvest lettuce
Michael P. Doyle, Ph.D., Center for Food Safety, University of Georgia
-- Movement of E. coli O157:H7 in spinach and dissemination to leafy greens by insects
Jacqueline Fletcher, Ph.D., Dept. of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University
-- Interaction of E. coli O157:H7 with fresh leafy green produce Jorge A. Giron, Ph.D., Dept. of Immunobiology, University of Arizona
-- Factors that influence the ability of E. coli O157:H7 to multiply on lettuce and leafy greens
Linda J. Harris, Ph.D., Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, University of California-Davis
-- Fate of E. coli O157:H7 on fresh and fresh-cut iceberg lettuce and spinach in the presence of normal background microflora Mark A. Harrison, Ph.D., Dept. of Food Science and Technology, University of Georgia
-- Determining the environmental factors contributing to the extended survival or regrowth of food-borne pathogens in composting systems Xiuping Jiang, Ph.D., Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Clemson University
-- Quantifying the risk of transfer and internalization of E. coli O157:H7 during processing of leafy greens Elliot T. Ryser, Ph.D., National Food Safety and Toxicology Center,
Michigan State University
-- A novel approach to investigate internalization of E. coli O157:H7 in lettuce and spinach
Manan Sharma, Ph.D., Food Technology and Safety Laboratory, Animal and Natural Resources Institute, USDA-Agricultural Research Service -- Sanitization of leafy vegetables by integrating gaseous ozone treatment into produce processes Ahmed Yousef, Ph.D., Dept. of Microbiology, Ohio State University


TK: Interesting mix of research topics, including a study on composting and a couple on internalization of pathogens. The study on insects in intriguing as well, with respected Michael Doyle of Georgia investigating that topic.

A taxing tale

As we all file our taxes in next three days, this AP story talks about the schizophrenic reality that is the U.S. government when it deal with undocumented workers.
From the story;

Tuesday is Tax Day, when millions of illegal immigrants find themselves collaborating with one federal agency — the Internal Revenue Service — while trying to avoid another — Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
They hope a track record of on-time payments will aid their citizenship applications, but critics who favor tougher enforcement of federal immigration rules say it’s absurd for the government to work with people it should be tracking down and deporting. It legitimizes the presence of immigrants who are here illegally, critics say, and sends a mixed message about the country’s interest in enforcing its own rules.
The IRS created a nine-digit Individual Tax Identification Number in 1996 for foreigners who don’t have Social Security numbers but need to file taxes in the U.S. But it is increasingly used by undocumented workers to file taxes, apply for credit, get bank accounts or even buy a home.
In 2004, the IRS got 7.9 million W-2s with names that didn’t match a Social Security number. More than half were from California, Texas, Florida and Illinois, states with large immigrant populations, leading experts to believe they likely represent the wages of illegal immigrants. Even immigrants who use ITINs to file taxes are forced to make up a Social Security number when they get a job.

TK: Yet another example of our nation failing to come to grips with the immigration crisis. After all this time, the question is not whether Congress can deal with it this year, but rather, will it it ever deal with it?