Discussion board roundup 9/14

I continue to be amazed at the activity on the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group. Here are some discussion topics this a.m.:

Meet the new system, same as the old system Big Apple posts a link to this important AP story about how regulators have responded in the year following the E. coli outbreak in spinach. This story was mentioned by Adela Ramos of the staff of Sen. Tom Harkin in a food safety discussion at WPPC yesterday. From the AP story:

Government regulators did not act on calls for stepped-up inspections of leafy greens after last year's deadly E. coli spinach outbreak, leaving the safety of America's salads to a patchwork of largely unenforceable rules and the industry itself, an Associated Press investigation has found.
The regulations governing farms in the central California region known as the nation's "Salad Bowl" remain much as they were when bacteria from a cattle ranch infected spinach that killed three people and sickened more than 200.
AP's review of data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act found that federal officials inspect companies growing and processing salad greens an average of once every 3.9 years. Some proposals in Congress would require such inspections at least four times a year.
Among the AP's other findings:
Since September 2006, federal Food and Drug Administration staff inspected 29 of the hundreds of California farms that grow fresh "stem and leaf vegetables," a broad category the agency uses to keep track of everything from cauliflower to artichokes. Agency officials said they did not know how many of those grew leafy greens.
Because raw vegetables, especially leafy greens, are minimally processed, they have surpassed meat as the primary culprit for food-borne illness. Produce caused nearly twice as many multi-state outbreaks than meat from 1990-2004, but the funding has not caught up to this trend. The U.S. Department of Agriculture branch that prevents animal diseases gets almost twice the funding as the FDA receives to safeguard produce.

Our giveaway farm programs Luis posts link to Newsweek story about largess of farm subsidies. Politicians have to wonder if John Q. Public cares about this complex issue despite the drumbeat of attention it is drawing in the media.

Substitutes for bread, tortillas and pasta Luis posts link to story about how Italian consumer groups are boycotting pasta (a short-lived boycott, to be sure) over rapidly rising prices

Water crisis grips California economy Luis posts story from The Christian Science Monitor that looks at the water situation in Calif. I was talking to a shipper the other day and I asked him about the new line of value added produce his company is pitching. He said retailers are good at saying maybe, but they aren't very good at saying yes or no. Kind of like politicians, I think:

From the story

California farmers, who produce half the nation's fruits and vegetables, say they will idle fields and cut back on planting lettuce, cotton, rice, and more.
Silicon Valley computer-chip makers and other industrial/ commercial users say they will rethink manufacturing processes that use water, or dramatically raise the price of products they sell.
Cities from Sacramento to San Diego say drought-era practices of rationed water - low-use toilets and washers, designated water days for lawns and cars - are back, including stiff fines for those who don't follow the rules.
After 35 years of hemming and hawing over how to fix the largest estuary in the Western Hemisphere - the sprawl of canals, levees, and flood plains that join the Golden State's two river systems - the state has been told by a federal judge that business-as-usual is now illegal.