(Another) food safety summit

TK: From this link, news of a coming meeting between regulators and industry. As the story is set up, industry wants to forestall regulation and government regulators want industry to be forthcoming - but fear they won't be. Not a great formula for success. I see Western Growers action-oriented drive for a federal food safety marketing order for leafy greens as the type of response consumers want to see. Waiting for government regulators to agree on the distance between a dairy farm and lettuce field could result in a long wait.


Newswise — Approximately one year after a foodborne illness outbreak caused by bacteria on fresh spinach sickened hundreds across the country, fresh produce growers and processors will meet once again with U.S. regulatory agencies to determine how best to reduce the chances of such an outbreak happening again.

This was announced here during the opening day of the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting & Food Expo, the world’s largest annual food science forum and exposition.

In less than two months, officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the University of California-Davis, Dole Food Co., Fresh Express, a subsidiary of Chiquita Brands, and others involved in growing and processing fresh produce will help to identify where USDA research dollars are spent to determine the specific causes of outbreaks like these.

At the same time, they want to pre-empt potentially onerous federal regulations that may come in the wake of the recent outbreaks.

No conclusive cause was ever found in last year’s outbreak of E.coli O157:H7 in spinach originating from California’s central valley. However, there have been 22 outbreaks of the pathogen in leafy green vegetables since 1995.

Recent federal studies in the Salinas Valley, where as much as 80 percent of the country’s leafy green vegetables are grown, have found a link between the E.coli found in the vegetables and nearby cattle ranches. Yet government officials haven’t been able to determine how close a farm can be to a ranch before it poses a risk.

“How far is far enough from a dairy operation?” asked David Gombas, senior vice president at the United Fresh Produce Association. “Is it 20 feet? 200 feet? What will the minimum distance be? What we’re lacking right now is the research to determine what the right number is.”

“We know on a general basis what the (regulations) need to be. But what we need are specifics,” he said.

Robert Mandrell, of the USDA’s produce safety and microbiology research unit, was involved in the E.coli outbreak study, and agrees that more research needs to be done. He sees value in having regulators and researchers meet with members of the industry to share information about food safety.

But he’s skeptical about how forthcoming growers and processors will be, often viewing their growing and handling processes as proprietary.

“They don’t necessarily want to tell us what they’re doing,” Mandrell said. “But the industry should want to share. If one of them makes a major error, they all suffer.”

Now in its 67th year, the IFT Annual Meeting + Food Expo is the world’s largest annual scientific forum and exposition on food. Ranked among the largest U.S. conventions, the meeting delivers comprehensive, cutting-edge research and opinion from food science-, technology-, marketing- and business-leaders; online at IFT.org/amfe. Meetings run through Wednesday.

From left field...

Guest blogger Lance Jungmeyer chiming in ...

At the risk of offending readers of this family friendly produce blog, may I direct your attention to the strangest headline of the day: "Carnivore sex off the menu."

Evidently, some particularly stringent vegans in New Zealand are shunning carnal relations with meat eaters. These so-called "vegansexuals" are yet another menace of the do-gooder vegetarians, in my book.

To wit, vegan Nichola Kriek put her words where her mouth is: "When you are vegan or vegetarian, you are very aware that when people eat a meaty diet, they are kind of a graveyard for animals," she said.

A navel by any other name

I was strolling through Wal-Mart in suburban Kansas City yesterday and noted they continue to promote watermelons extensively as you walk in the door, with bins of both standard seedless and Bambino miniseedless melons featured.

As you walk into the produce department, Frey Farms homegrown cantaloupes were featured at 2 for $4, while orange flesh and juan canary melons were 2 for $6.

California valencia oranges were featured at 58 cents each; unfortunately they were merchandised under the navel sign - again. Correctly signing varieties - not to mention country of origin designations - is an ongoing challenge for big box retailers.

Red and green seedless grapes were both featured at $1.48 per pound. A three-pound mesh bag of of Peru clementines were featured at $3.57.

Speaking of Peru citrus, I noticed that Peru's citrus exporters made a colorful splash in The Packer this week with their ad touting minneolas. Check out their Web site at www.procitrus.org.

What's right with this picture?

Everywhere around the offices of The Packer and Produce Merchandising editorial staff, and in some field offices (Pamela, am I right?) , writers and editors have sponge fruit and vegetables of various origin. Go to any produce convention and you may see a slew of sponge produce; even The Packer offered a stress-relieving tomato sponge at one show.

In the past year, however, the desks and window ledges of many of our staff (Chris Crawford, above) are filled with all the sponge produce from the Idaho Potato Commission's "What's wrong with this picture?" trade advertising campaign.

Reinforcing the association of the Idaho logo and potatoes, the Idaho Potato Commission trade advertising for the 2006-07 season featured oranges, peppers, coconuts, limes, watermelon, pears, cantaloupe, eggplant, banana, and a couple of other items. The promotion -- accompanied by the tagline "What's wrong with this picture?" -- sought to illuminate one of the best-known commodity brands in the produce industry. The commission sent sponge produce to retailers, reinforced by a print advertising campaign. The campaign started in September and culminates this August.

So I'm picturing that many a produce buyer's window ledge or desk is likewise populated with these colorful produce sponges.

Just today we received the last item in the series. Of course, instead of saying, "What's wrong with this picture?", the picture perfect spud bearing the Idaho logo asks, "What's right with this picture?"

Well done, IPC. You have captured our imagination and our desk space.

Discussion board roundup 7/31

Our discussion board regulars continue to provide great links and insight. These and others can be found at the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group.

Hundreds of thousands of tiny, bright red creatures Big Apple notes Mite problem plagues palms

70 percent of those surveyed said they don't trust the environmental and health claims of branded food products Big Apple links to story that reports: Fears over food safety on the rise. A recent survey indicates that 50 percent of U.S. consumers are more concerned about food safety than they were two years ago. In the survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of IBM's Institute for Business Value, two of every five who answered said that they buy brands based on safety. And 70 percent of those surveyed said they don't trust the environmental and health claims of branded food products

California farmers cashing in on China's growing hunger for high-quality fruits, nuts Luis posts this link that reports that worries about Chinese low price fruit exports are balanced by the country growing import demand for high quality fruits and nuts. From the story: But some California growers are cashing in on China's increasing wealth and growing hunger for table grapes, almonds and other high- quality fruits and nuts that don't grow as well in the Asian nation. Such pricey commodities helped drive the value of U.S. agricultural exports to China from less than $1.9 billion in 2001 to nearly $6.7 billion last year.
"There's a big enough group of people there that don't want just the cheapest; they want high-quality stuff, and they're willing to pay more for it," said Daniel Sumner, who directs the University of California Agricultural Issues Center.

Ag competition bill introduced Luis posts that a bill has been introduced that would create government oversight over agribusiness mergers. From the link: The bill would create an Ag Competition Task Force to assist DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in drafting antitrust guidelines for agriculture, examine problems in competition, and coordinate activities to address anti-competitive practices.

Trade Deficit in Food Safety Luis links to Public Citizen report that shows: Report notes that USDA regulates less than 20% of the foods we eat but has the authority to approve or disapprove countries (i.e. food safety protocols) and inspect plants abroad, while on the other hand, FDA has jurisdiction over 80% of the foods but does not have the same authority to regulate foreign food safety protocols and food plant.