CPMA's Pandemic Planning Guide

It was good to visit with Jane Proctor of CPMA about the Produce Traceability Initiative this afternoon, drawing on her observations as to the difference between U.S. and Canadian government interest in the topic and thoughts about comparative industry adoption.

On another topic, she noted the development of a pandemic planning guide by CPMA. I thought I would share what they have put together. From Friday's edition of CPMA's Produce Now update:


Finalization of the CPMA Pandemic Planning Guide for the Fresh Produce Industry
The fresh produce industry is unique among the majority of food industries which supply the Canadian marketplace. There are over 400 different species of fresh fruits and vegetables from over 150 different countries consumed in Canada every year. Conversely, Canada exports $1 billion worth of horticultural products every year. Trading in fresh produce means “just in time” shipping, delivery, receiving and marketing to ensure the highest level of quality while fulfilling demand for product. Fresh produce is both highly perishable and an essential component of healthy diets for Canadians.
Due to these characteristics, the fresh produce industry will be singularly challenged in the event of an influenza pandemic. Even though the respective government agencies have indicated that in a pandemic situation the border between Canada and the United States would remain open, this is not a certainty. Border closures would have an extreme impact on the fresh produce industry. Similarly, any human resource shortages at border points would also negatively impact the flow of fresh produce into and from the Canadian marketplace.
The purpose of the CPMA Pandemic Planning Guide is to assist stakeholders in the fresh produce industry to plan, prepare, respond and recover from an emergency event. This includes impacts due to border closures; transportation, employee, or energy shortages; a population shift away from consumption of perishables and a slowing in monetary exchange amongst business partners, etc. The Guide is organized into four main sections which cover an overview of an Influenza Pandemic, Roles and Responsibilities, General Practices and Specific Practices/Considerations. Each section provides information and tools for individual organizations to adapt and use within their own emergency planning and business continuity activities.
The CPMA Pandemic Planning Guide is available here.
This resource tool is free of charge to everyone. At time of writing The CPMA Pandemic Planning Guide is being translated to French and will be available shortly.

Produce Traceability Initiative

Here are the just-released facts about the Produce Traceability Initiative. From a news release this morning. Developing....

Representatives of more than 30 companies from a broad cross section of the produce supply chain including retailers, foodservice buyers and produce suppliers have been appointed to serve on the steering committee of the Produce Traceability Initiative, an industry-led effort to enhance traceability throughout the supply chain. The initiative’s sponsor associations also announced today that the steering committee will be chaired by Cathy Green, chief operating officer of Food Lion, LLC.
The initiative was launched in October by Produce Marketing Association (PMA), Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), and United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh).
The three trade associations came together earlier this year when the boards of directors of each organization recognized the need for greater progress in implementing a consistent whole-chain traceability solution. The steering committee will develop an action plan to help the industry meet this challenge, which may include promotion of industrywide traceability best practices, establishing timelines and goals for adoption, and a creating a validation process for accountability.

Participating companies currently confirmed to serve on the steering committee include:
* seven foodservice buyers: Amerifresh, Applebee’s International, Markon Cooperative, Inc., McDonald’s, Pro*Act, Sysco Corporation, U.S. Foodservice;
* nine retail buyers: Food Lion, H-E-B, W. Newell & Co. (Supervalu), The Kroger Co., Loblaws, Safeway Stores, Inc., Schnuck Markets, Inc., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Wegmans Food Markets; and
* 17 produce suppliers: AEPQ (Quebec Apple Packers), B.C. Tree Fruits Limited, Ballantine Produce Co., Inc., C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc., Dole Food Company, Inc., Domex Superfresh Growers, Driscoll’s, Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Inc., Fresh Express, Inc., Fresh Innovations, LLC., Frontera Produce, Ltd., Naturipe Farms, LLC., The Oppenheimer Group, Pandol Brothers, Inc., Ready Pac Produce, River Ranch Fresh Foods, LLC., and Tanimura & Antle.

The initiative’s sponsoring organizations have also invited other stakeholder associations representing key business segments of the North American food industry to participate, including Food Marketing Institute, Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, Canadian Horticultural Council, International Foodservice Distributors Association, and National Restaurant Association.
The first meeting of the steering committee will be held Jan. 9, 2008, in Atlanta, Ga. The Perishables Group will act as the facilitator for the group’s meeting.

Organic handlers in focus

This USDA Economic Research Service report could be valuable to organic growers and marketers. Here is a description of the report, called "Procurement and Contracting by Organic Handlers":

The vast majority of organic commodities pass through the hands of at least one middleman, also called a handler, on the way from the farmer to the consumer. Certified organic handlers are certified to handle organic products in accordance with National Organic Standards. Organic handlers perform numerous functions, including packing and shipping, manufacturing and processing, and brokering, wholesaling, or distributing.
The ERS organic handler database contains select results from the 2004 Nationwide Survey of Organic Manufacturers, Processors, and Distributors, administered by Washington State University, Social and Economic Sciences Research Center. The survey covered a variety of topics related to the procurement and contracting of organic products and ingredients. Data are available on 9 commodity groups, such as fruit and nuts, and 45 commodities, such as berries and citrus. The procurement data include information from 1,038 facilities; the contracts data include information from 686 facilities that use contracts.


TK: Especially interesting, I think, are procurement and contract data the USDA has compiled.

USDA description about procurement practices:
An interactive dataset that provides information about the procurement practices of organic handlers. Search by commodity or location (national, region, and State). Find details about basic characteristics of organic handlers, their purchasing characteristics, and information about their relationship with suppliers, including important supplier attributes.


USDA description of contract data:
An interactive dataset that provides information about use of written and verbal contracts between organic handlers and their suppliers. Search by commodity. Find out about common contract provisions such as compensation methods and pricing mechanisms

Unanswered questions

One of the great features of online stories (and I'll throw blogs into this comment as well) is the ability to comment instantly on news. This quickly reveals the attitudes of readers about an issue like produce safety. Outrage, bafflement, confusion - all can be immediately reflected in reader comments.

I point to this story about a salmonella outbreak at a Quizno's restaurant in Minnesota. From the story in the Post-Bulletin:

A foodborne illness outbreak at Quizno's Subs, 3499 22nd Ave. N.W. in Rochester, wasn't the restaurant's fault.
Larry Edmonson, an epidemiologist with Olmsted County Public Health, said studies showed that tomatoes delivered to the store were contaminated before they even got to the restaurant.
Salmonella made more than 20 Quizno's customers and employees sick in October. The store closed for one day, hired a cleaning company to sterilze equipment and reopened.


That was the story; here was the reader comment:

So tomatoes were the culprit! No mention of where, or how, or what they were contaminated with, or if they're still getting tomatoes from that same source. This article leaves a few unanswered questions.

TK: Unfortunately, there have been far too many unanswered questions for consumers to wrestle with in relation to food borne illness linked to fresh produce. The longer these questions hang in the air, the less trust consumers will place in fresh produce at retail and at restaurants. The FDA has the primary responsibility to provide answers and clarity to the public and needs to step up their outreach.