Veggie Booty recall

Here is the link to FDA's notice of Robert's American Gourmet Food Inc.'s recall of Veggie Booty because of possible health risk: This is a snack food, not produce - though it has dried vegetable ingredients.

Here is the FDA statement below I received in my inbox this afternoon:

FDA Warns Consumers Not to Eat Veggie Booty Snack Food Risk of Salmonella Contamination
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat Veggie Booty snack food, marketed by Robert’s American Gourmet, due to possible contamination with Salmonella Wandsworth, bacteria that cause gastrointestinal illness.
FDA advises consumers to throw away any Robert’s American Gourmet brand Veggie Booty they have in their home. Veggie Booty is sold in a flexible plastic foil bag in four ounce, one ounce, and one-half ounce packages.
Veggie Booty is often consumed by children, so parents are encouraged to watch their children, and seek medical care if they observe signs of illness.
This warning is based on 52 reports of illness across 17 states, beginning in March 2007. Almost all the illnesses have occurred in children under 10 years old, with the most cases in toddlers. Most persons had reported bloody diarrhea; four were hospitalized. FDA learned of the illnesses on June 27 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted an investigation of the illnesses with state and local health officials. The outbreak is considered likely to be ongoing.

TK: Already 217 news stories (many of the same version) are listed in Google news. Here is Newsday coverage of the recall. Here is the company's Web page and Veggie Booty notice there. The fact that the product is consumed by kids is a little scary, since parents are not always tuned in to how their kids are doing, and small children aren't great at telling exactly what's going on.

Washington cherries

"Things are going really good." one market observer told me this afternoon. "We have lots of size and lots of quality." Cherries are peaking on 10s and 10.5s, with fewer smaller sizes around. The spot market has been outstanding, the source said. With the volume of crop in Washington, a significant volume is committed at a preset price. "You can't wait until the day and sell them; it would be physically impossible."

Shippers are pleased with the deal, with some areas already peaking and declining with bing harvest. No one is certain what will happen after the July 4 - and some are way after the market performance post July 4 last year - but the market psychology is pretty good.

Season to date truck shipments of Washington cherries through June 23 were 27.8 million pounds, up from 26 million pounds the same time last year. Season to date air shipments were 10.9 million, up from 2.7 million the same time a year ago.

WG in Washington

WG’s Chairman Steve Patricio of Westside Produce, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and WG’s President and CEO Tom Nassif.

I visited with Tom Nassif yesterday about Western Growers' presence in Washington. Nassif was in D.C. - with the the rest of the WG board - earlier this week. Nassif said the board convened in Washington to make the rounds on Capitol Hill talking about the big three issues of immigration, food safety and the farm bill. A cordial and extended discussion with Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was a part of the agenda, as noted by the photo supplied above by WG. Nassif says WG hopes to have the association's new Washington position filled by the end of July, and Nassif himself had interviewed several candidates this week. I'm developing coverage on the interview, but I will note here that Nassif is very determined about what California and Arizona growers want and need out of the farm bill.

Status woes

In the last couple of days, I have talked with Tom Nassif of Western Growers, Robert Guenther of United, John McClung of Texas Produce Association, Maureen Marshall of Torrey Farms in N.Y., and Craig Regelbrugge of the American Nursery and Landscape Association. All shared a passion for seeing positive results from Congress on immigration reform and all are assuredly unhappy with the failure of the the Senate.

There is no status quo for the industry but only status woes. Those include increased apprehensions at the border, selective workplace enforcement, labor shortages and shrinking domestic f/v production.


Here is the reaction from the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.

Here is what the American Farm Bureau said today: The note of optimism and resilience is common with all ag lobbyists, however misplaced their faith is in the ability of Congress to resolve the issue.


“The American Farm Bureau is disappointed that the Senate was unable to move forward today on an issue as vital and critical to our farmers’ livelihood as immigration reform. We respect the hard, bipartisan work that went into the legislation. It is unfortunate for American agriculture, as well as the nation as a whole, that a solution to the problem has not yet been found.

“Up to $9 billion in agricultural production and the nation’s food security is at risk if the immigration issue is not solved. Maintaining the status quo is not acceptable and is not in the nation’s best interest.

“Today’s vote was a setback, not a defeat. We have seen our share of difficulties and delays in the years we have been working for immigration reform, when agriculture was the only sector drawing congressional attention to the problem. Farm Bureau will continue working with Congress for meaningful immigration legislation because reform is not a question of if, but when.”

The tough votes

There are some issues - no matter how tough or politically unpopular - that Congress seems to push through. Take pay raises, for example - Congress certainly does. When did public opinion against pay raises ever stop Congress from giving themselves a raise? I heard one Senator allude to that this morning. In that context, it seems maddening that Congress can't get immigration reform done. Sure, it's tough, but did you let talk radio stop you from giving yourself a raise?

I talked to Craig Regelbrugge, senior director of government relations for the American Nursery and Landscape Association, Washington, D.C. this morning. He noted a group of lobbyists were meeting with Sen. Larry Craig later today to discuss strategy. Craig, a Senate champion of immigration reform for agriculture, will help determine what, if anything, comes next.

It's over

The Senate failed to invoke cloture on the issue of comprehensive immigration legislation by a vote of 46 yea to 53 nay. That's means that the Senate bill has died. Will the Congress have the appetite to take up AgJobs stand alone legislation? It's hard to imagine that likelihood, but never say never.

Key test - again

Another key battle in the fight for comprehensive immigration reform looms for today, notes this AP piece by Julie Hirschfeld Davis. Several amendments were defeated Wednesday, but their defeat has siphoned off support for the bill, and today will bring further challenges:
From the story:

Particularly worrisome to backers of the bill is an amendment by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., to overhaul the employee verification system.


This story links to Rep. Tom Tancredo's publicity stunt with produce. From CNN:

It’s not every day a presidential hopeful sends Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff a head of lettuce, but that’s what Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, is doing Wednesday to show his disagreement with Chertoff’s recent comments on how failure of passing immigration reform might affect the agricultural industry.
Tancredo says he disagrees with recent comments Chertoff made that suggested if the immigration bill fails, the agricultural industry will suffer. To prove his point he is sending Chertoff a head of lettuce, a fruit basket, and a card saying, “much, much more where this comes from.”
“The administration has taken hyperbole to a whole new level this time,” Tancredo said in a statement. “They are now trying to convince the public that without amnesty, the American people are going to starve?”
“The agriculture industry and the free market has managed to keep producing through floods, droughts, and $3.00 per gallon gas,” Tancredo added, “I doubt very seriously that a nominal increase in labor costs is going to be the end of lettuce as we know it.”


TK: Unbelievable. Tancredo has taken irresponsible public service to a whole new level. Critics like Tancredo and Lou Dobbs are against both outsourcing of American jobs AND a guest worker program/immigration reform for agriculture. Can't they see that American farmers must outsource their production if they can't find workers?

C-SPAN's immigration links and video page is found here. If the comprehensive immigration bill does fail, there will be an effort to raise the AgJobs legislation as a stand alone bill. Reactionary critics like Tancredo and the inability of Congress to come to closure on any and all aspects of this debate are problems that don't appear to be going away.