FDA - Firm Press Release

From the FDA:

Recall -- Firm Press Release

FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company.
Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Honduran Cantaloupes grown by Agropecuaria Montelibano, San Lorenzo Valle, Honduras
Contact:Michael Warren954-943-2303
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --Pompano Beach, FL -- March 24, 2008 --- Central American Produce, Inc. of Pompano Beach, FL announces a voluntary recall of cantaloupes grown, packed and shipped by an independent third-party grower, Agropecuaria Montelibano of San Lorenzo Valle, Honduras. The product was distributed nationwide and Canada. Based on current information, the cantaloupe grown, packed and shipped from Agropecuaria Montelibano appears to be associated with a Salmonella Litchfield outbreak in the United States and Canada.
In persons with poor health or weakened immune systems, Salmonella can invade the bloodstream and cause life-threatening infections. Symptoms of food-borne Salmonella infection include nausea, vomiting, fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. Individuals who have recently eaten cantaloupe and experienced any of these symptoms should contact their health care professional.
The FDA advises that U.S. grocers, food service operators and produce processors remove from their stock any cantaloupes grown packed and shipped from this company. The FDA is also advises consumers who have recently bought cantaloupes to check with the place of purchase to determine if the fruit came from this specific grower and packer. If so, consumers should throw away the cantaloupes. The cantaloupes were distributed for sale in medium brown cardboard cartons with the brands “Mikes Melons” or “Mayan Pride” all showing “PRODUCE OF HONDURAS” printed on each of the four side panels of the carton. The address of the shipper appears on one end panel of the carton as follows:
GROWN, PACKED AND SHIPPED BY:AGROPECUARIA MONTELIBANOSAN LORENZO, VALLE, HONDURAS
There are other firms that are involved in this recall using other labels of the same grower, including Mikes Melons. The FDA is taking this preventive measure while the agency continues to investigate this outbreak in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state partners.
For more information on produce safety, please visit: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/prodsafe.html.
Consumers with additional questions should contact Central American Produce, Inc. at 954-943-2303.

Truckers' strike - real or hoax?

More from Barb Ickes at The Quad City Times:


It evidently took a few days to sink in.

When my story from last week about plans for a truckers’ strike appeared Monday on the high-traffic Drudge Report Web site, the calls and e-mails poured in.

I heard from CNN in Atlanta as well as small-time radio stations across the nation. I hung up the phone after listening to a dozen new messages and had four more come in during the few minutes I was tying up the line.

The potential impact of this thing is tremendous, and people are beginning to notice.

The call for a drivers’ shutdown started small — with an owner/operator who hauls cattle in Missouri. The trucker, Dan Little, posted his plans to shut down on his Web site, and someone brought it to our attention at the Times.

Now it’s been brought to the attention of thousands, and Little’s plan to park his rig, beginning April 1, has truckers lining up across the nation to join him.

Several non-truckers wanted to know how they could help the drivers, and some people said they would park their passenger vehicles in a show of solidarity.

A clear majority of the people I heard from were sympathetic to the drivers. They said that they understand it is increasingly difficult — impossible, in many cases — to continue to operate a trucking business when most or all of the profits are going into fuel.

Here are just a few readers’ comments:

“I’m all for capitalism and free trade, but not reckless profiteering by oil companies.”

“Everyone should call in sick April 1.”

“(The drivers) should park for a week or two and see if Congress and the president come up with any ideas when there’s no bread on the shelves.”

“Are the rich having some sort of contest to see just how much they can squeeze from each and every one of us?”

“I just drive a pick-up, but on April 1, I won’t use it.”

“Shut ’er down!”

But not all readers were sympathetic to truckers. Several called the plans for a shutdown “irresponsible.” Others pointed out that everyone, not just truckers, is paying the high fuel costs.

A few said that truckers who aren’t making it are failing because they’re lousy business people.

But those in the driver’s seat — independent drivers like Dan Little — are further frustrated by the naysayers who he says don’t seem to understand how badly the pump prices are hurting them.

For instance, Little pointed out, our $50 fill-ups may seem intolerably high to many of us, but consider what it’s costing him: more than $1,200 to fill his truck, which then gets about 5 miles to the gallon.

Other truck-driving critics say it’s time to shut down the trucking industry, anyway. They say that trucking is a poor way to transport goods, and America should rely instead on railroads.

Little would like to know how that might happen.

“Where is this magic set of railroad tracks, leading to every grocery store and Wal-Mart in the country?” he asked. “Even if you could ship everything on the rail system we have, which would be impossible, how does it move from there?”

Little has said that the last thing he wants to do is hurt the country that he loves. Truck drivers are some patriotic folks, he pointed out. But many feel backed into a corner by the threat of bankruptcy.

“All I know is that I have to take a stand,” he said. “My livelihood is at stake.”

As I was finishing this column, Betty Cornette called from Louisville, Ky., and said that her truck-driving brother has had to call it quits because of fuel and insurance costs.

She made this prediction: “Everybody’s going to have to suffer before they understand what’s happening to these truckers.”

Produce Promotions - March 26 to April 1

"Take savings to the basket" is the message of the HyVee food page ads this week, playing off the NCAA tournament. Well done. Wal-Mart's circular promotes its $4 prescriptions, while Hen House proclaims "It's picnic time!!" Here are a few produce ads for the period of March 26 to April 1 in the suburban Kansas City market:

Wal-Mart
Yellow onions: 3 lbs for $1.50
Hass avocados: 73 cents each


Price Chopper
Red seedless grapes: 99 cents/lb
Navel oranges: 4 for $1
Cut seedless watermelon: 59 cents/lb
Dole salads: 2 for $4 (6 oz)
Santa Sweet grape tomatoes: 2 10 oz. packages/$4
Green Giant baby cut carrots: 2 for $3
Premium red delicious apples: $1.29/lb
Texas 1015 Jumbo sweet onions: 2 lbs for $1
Earthbound Farm organic salads: 5 oz clamshell: $2.99/each
Large baking potatoes: 2 lbs for $1


HyVee
Golden cantaloupe: $1.68/each
Chilean Thompson seedless grapes: 99 cents/lb
Sunkist cara cara oranges: 99 cents/lb
Monterey mushrooms: 2 8 oz packages for $3
Organic kiwi: 3 for $1
Santa Sweets: 2 for $4 (pint)
Sweet red bell peppers 88 cents each



Hen House
Red seedless grapes: $1.18/lb
Kiwifruit: 2 for $1
Tommy Atkins or Champagne mangoes: 5 for $5
Asian pears: 4 for $5
Premium russet potatoes: 2 for $1
Seedless watermelon chunks: $1.29/lb
Meddlin Medley: $9.99/
Dole Seven Lettuce or tender garden salad : 2 for $5
Grape tomatoes; 2 for $4 10 oz package

Wondering why

Wouldn't it serve fresh produce marketers if not only the country of origin was listed on the label, but also the farm of origin? Wouldn't that help consumers and the trade identify any produce under a recall order or import alert? And why can't the FDA identify the brand marketers/retail outlets of this particular Honduras melon suspected to be linked to salmonella?

From one story comes this quote:

"If you have any of this kind of cantaloupe at home, we recommend that you throw it out," Dr. William E. Keene, an epidemiologist at the Oregon Public Health Division. "If your cantaloupe has a sticker that says Guatemala or some other country, then it is not associated with this outbreak. If you can't tell where it came from, or if it came from Honduras, you could check with the store to see if it might be from this company."

Agrolibano distributes under many different label names.

"It is confusing, but unfortunately there isn't any magic wand we can wave to tell which cantaloupe came from which field," he said. "If you're concerned about fruit that you have at home, the simplest thing to do is just toss it."

More Honduras melon headlines:



Honduran president's position on warnings

Honduras wants compensation for melons that sickened U.S., Canadian consumers

Cantaloupes sold at Safeway may be contaminated with salmonella

Melons sicken nine in state

US processors alerted over fruit scare

Dicey melons shipped but not sold in area

Salmonella linked to imported cantaloupe

If they tried to pick a worse time to enter the market, they couldn't have done better

No mention of the Pundit in this story, but yet another report about analysts who see chinks in the Fresh & Easy Concept. The convergence of economic factors has not been kind to Tesco's efforts either. Try to process this quote from one observer: "If they had tried to pick a worse time to enter the market they couldn't have done better."

From The San Gabriel Valley Tribune of March 24:


A spokesman for the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain says sales at the grocery stores are good, despite claims to the contrary by a senior research analyst with Piper Jaffray.
In a research note titled "Miles Off Target," Piper Jaffray's Mike Dennis suggested that Fresh & Easy, the U.S. division of British food giant Tesco, is about $70 million behind sales expectations.
Dennis said Jeff Adams, an American executive recruited from Tesco's Thailand operations, has been brought in to assist Tim Mason, who launched the U.S. chain last year with a team of other British executives.
Adams, he said, is tasked with understanding "what has gone wrong with the concept" and how the company will recover its investment. Fresh & Easy spokesman Brendon Wonnacott said the markets are doing well, although he didn't offer specific numbers.
"We've been encouraged by the response to our stores thus far," he said. "Sales and repeat visits are growing."
Jack Kyser, senior vice president and chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said Tesco's timing was certainly not the best given the nation's current climate of housing woes, problems in the financial sector and record-high energy prices.
"If they had tried to pick a worse time to enter the market they couldn't have done better," he said. "The consumer is now focused on value."
Kyser also noted that Fresh & Easy appears to be keeping a low profile.
"I haven't seen much in the way of advertising from them, and in this market you've got to call attention to yourself," he said. "You have to let the consumer know you're here."
Fresh & Easy entered the U.S. market Nov. 8 with the simultaneous opening of six Southland stores, including locations in Arcadia and Covina. The company has so far opened 59 stores throughout Southern California, Las Vegas and the Phoenix area. Eighteen more stores are planned for the Bay Area and 19 for the Sacramento region, according to Wonnacott.
Fresh & Easy is perceived by many as a more upscale, organic kind of market along the lines of Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. But "Supermarket Guru" Philip Lempert, food trends editor and correspondent for NBC News' "Today" show, said that's not the case.
"I would not agree that they are high-priced," he said. "In looking at about 10 of their stores, I found they are typically below a Ralphs or Safeway." Lempert describes the stores - typically about 10,000 square feet with 20 to 30 workers - as small warehouse club-style markets.
They are very efficient and very well-run, he said. "Their pricing has gotten other retailers very nervous," he said. "And to be honest, Tesco has one of the best food safety records in the world."