New authority wanted by FDA?

Here is what Rep. Rosa DeLauro had to say after today's hearing on imported safety at Agriculture and FDA Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, "Ensuring the Safety of Food Imports”.

“Based on the conclusions from today’s hearing, it is very clear that the FDA lacks the infrastructure to ensure the safety of imported foods and that the American consumer should be concerned. It was alarming to discover today that even with the significant problems the country is facing with imported foods, the FDA lacks a formal process that evaluates the food safety systems of other countries. It also was troubling to learn that significant work remains in developing an information technology system that could help address the problem.

“What is especially disturbing is that a former FDA official acknowledged that there were discussions about the problem of imported foods at the agency almost ten years ago. That is ten years that could have been used to create an evaluation process for food safety systems across the world, establish equivalency standards with other countries, and develop an effective IT infrastructure to help combat the problem.

“However, the subcommittee finally received an acknowledgement from the FDA that the agency needs additional authorities to carry out their mission. This is an unprecedented statement from an agency that has been reluctant to request additional authorities or additional funds. I hope we can take advantage of the momentum created by this acknowledgement and open a dialogue that results in real, significant reforms at FDA.”

Blog worthy and building a better mousetrap

Have you noticed the tomato blog from Procacci? You can find it here. How many other industry blogs are out there? Send me one and all and I'll link to them.

I brought back a blog feature called "TK Headline Picks" and removed the tech-savvy but ultimately unfocused Google News Reel. Now you will have me picking out blog-worthy headlines instead of Google. Speaking of blog worthy, I just posted a couple of links provided by Doug Powell of K-State's Food Network.

Food depot shut down over mice outbreak From The Toronto Star:
Toronto's health department ordered a two-day shutdown of the warehouse that provides food for Ontario's Dominion, A&P and Food Basics stores last week over a major mice infestation
Later in the story:
Public health officials went to inspect the dry goods warehouse at 170 The West Mall in Etobicoke last Monday after receiving a complaint from a member of the public, said Jim Chan, the city's manager of food safety.
"The inspector could see live mice running around during the inspection," Chan confirmed in an interview yesterday. "Lots of rodent droppings, lots of evidence of the packages being chewed or opened."
Chan was unable to say how many mice the inspector saw. "It's hard to count them when they're running around." He described the infestation as "heavy."


Taco John's corps. file lawsuit against food suppliers From The Argus Leader:
Less than a year after contaminated lettuce was blamed for making dozens of customers sick, Taco John’s corporations in South Dakota and surrounding states are suing food suppliers for negligence.The class-action lawsuit, filed today in federal court in Sioux Falls, seeks a jury trial and $5 million.Named as plaintiffs are Taco John’s corporations in Iowa, Minnesota and North and South Dakota.Defendants are Bix Produce Company of St. Paul, Minn. and Roma Food Enterprises, a Delaware corporation; two more defendants listed as X and Y represent companies Taco John’s has been unable to identify.

No answers

I just listened in on Sen. Harkin's teleconference with the press today, and he had no answers as a date certain for the markup for the farm bill. Again, the major problem appears to be finding a source of money for the priorities that everyone on the committee wants to see written into law. Harkin said that the Senate will do better for specialty crop priorities than they have done in the past, but said the $3 billion plus that Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has asked for in her "Dear Colleague" letter may be unrealistic. I punched in the *1 to ask a question but time ran out before I could ask it. I was going to ask Harkin if sees any opportunity to attach the Produce Safety Act or AgJobs to the farm bill.... Audio link found here.
.

New strength for garlic

This story From the LA Times speaks to the increased scrutiny for Chinese garlic exports and how that has resulted in higher prices for Chinese garlic exports in the U.S., and, by extension, higher prices for California garlic. The above chart, from USDA prices for New York City peeled garlic, doesn't seem to reflect the same price effect at the wholesale level.