Lorelei in Europe

Spreading the good news about fruits and vegetables in schools, Lorelei DiSogra called from Brussels with news about efforts there to get the European Union to fund an EU-wide snack program.

Currently, only a handful of European countries are running pilot programs to distribute fruits and vegetables in schools. However, a reform of EU's fruit and vegetable support scheme may open the door to link health initiatives like a fruit and vegetable program in schools to ag policy, DiSogra reports. More coverage coming on this issue......

Stenzel reaction

Tom Stenzel passed on these comments in an email responding to my blog post earlier about Donna Garren' s remarks about produce safety and the NRA's position going forward.

Here is what Tom says:

"I want to be careful that we don't confuse readers with semantics of what constitutes "guidance" vs. "regulation." It's quite clear that FDA's 1999 "guidance" document for fresh sprouts has the legal power to enforce compliance -- it says so right there in the legal language -- and that meets the definition of regulation in most dictionaries I know.

There's amazing consensus among FDA, expert scientists, industry, and many leaders in Congress that we need to put our regulatory attention and resources directly on those few commodities that have a history of connection to outbreaks. FDA published the data for this hearing -- only five commodities have been linked to 80% of the produce outbreaks in the past 10 years. That's where commodity specific "guidance" issued by FDA, with the legal and regulatory power to be enforced, is not only the quickest response, it is the most scientifically sound response."

Inspections

This Federal Register interim final rule describes how California nectarine and peach shippers have decided to punt inspection requirements except for CA WELL MAT.
From the rule:

This rule eliminates grade, size, maturity, pack, container and inspection requirements for all California nectarines and peaches except those packed in containers labeled ``California Well Matured'' or ``CA WELL MAT''. This rule also makes seasonal adjustments to the handling requirements applicable to well matured fruit. Finally, this rule removes certain handler reporting requirements that are deemed no longer necessary. The marketing orders regulate the handling of nectarines and peaches grown in California and are administered locally by the Nectarine Administrative and Peach Commodity Committees (committees). This rule should reduce handler costs while enabling handlers to continue to meet the demands of their buyers.


TK: Shippers argue that the standards they must meet for buyers exceed grade inspection minimums anyway, so the expense of paying inspectors is not worth it for them. This likely will help those suppliers doing the best job with quality control in their packing houses.

Discussion board

As you might have noticed, I there is a box on the right side of the blog that promotes a Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group. It is only a couple of days old, but it could be a nice companion site to Fresh Talk. The Google site gives some flexibility in posting resource documents for the trade, and also is another forum for industry interaction. Plus, you can see who the members of the group and post directly to the site without any comment moderation. Check it out and give it some time.