National Retail Report - June 20

From the USDA's June 20 National Retail Report:

Retailers Entice Shoppers with Summer Themes and Seasonal Produce
Summer and its bounty of domestically-grown fresh fruits and vegetables continued to be the theme of most retail ads this week. Many retailers led their ads with produce and these front pages most often featured berries, stone fruits and melons. Often, ads highlighted locally or regionally-grown produce, such as blueberries from New Jersey. “Buy-one-getone- free” and “10 for $10” ads were abundant this week. Fresh produce ad activity rebounded this week with an overall increase of 12%. Fruits were up roughly 27% and vegetables declined by about 2%. The top 5 items were once again concentrated on fruits and included: grapes, cantaloupes, peaches, sweet onions, and strawberries. Despite a decline of vegetable ads reported, however, many seasonal vegetable ads (eggplants, okra, yellow squash) not captured in this report were noted. Once again, berries were featured quite heavily. Blueberries continue to be advertised most often in pints as opposed to the 4.4 oz package. This data is reflected in our seasonal category below along with blackberries and raspberries.



Fruits as Percentage of Total Fruit Ads -June 20, 2008
Plums 6%
Pineapple 5%
Lemons 0%
Bananas 0%
Blueberries 1%
Bananas, organic 0%
Avocadoes, hass 6%
Apples, red delicious 1%
Watermelon, seedless 2%
Watermelon, mini 3%
Organic Strawberries, 4%
Strawberries 7%
Cantaloupe 11%
Cherries 8%
Honeydew 3%
Limes 4%
Grapefruit, red 0%
Grapes, green/red 12%
Mangoes 7%
Nectarines 7%
Pears, bartlett 0%
Oranges, navel 0%
Peaches 11%


Vegetables as Percentage of Total Vegetable Ads - June 20, 2008
Broccoli, organic 1%
Broccoli 1%
Beans, round green 5%
Tomatoes on the vine 9%
Tomatoes 2%
Cabbage 1%
Carrots, baby organic 5%
Carrots, baby 7%
Asparagus 2%
Tomatoes, grape organic 4%
Tomatoes, grape 2%
Celery 0%
Corn 8%
Cucumbers 6%
Lettuce, iceberg 3%
Lettuce, romaine 4%
Mushrooms, white 7%
Onions, yellow 1%
Sweet Potatoes 1%
Squash, zucchini 8%
Potatoes, russet 1%
Peppers, bell red 7%
Peppers, bell green 5%
Onions, sweet 11%

FMI - Meet the conscious consumer II

FDA - Teams being sent to Mexico, Florida

The FDA announced today that traceback investigations lead back to tomatoes from farms in both Florida and Mexico. A caveat is that the FDA doesn't think salmonella saintpaul - a relatively rare strain - could have come from both regions concurrently. The FDA said there is not a preponderance of evidence to implicate one region over the other at this point.

Teams are being sent out to farms in both regions and "pathways" to point of purchase or consumption (repackers, distribution centers) this weekend, but the FDA made it clear that the agency was not assuming the contamination occurred on the farms. David Acheson said it is possible the contamination could have occurred later in the supply chain. Basic consumer advice will remain the same. Now sickened by salmonella saintpaul are well over 500 people in 32 states, thought to be the biggest salmonella outbreak related to tomatoes ever.

Chat - Jose Escobedo

10:14 AM me: Jose are you there?

10:15 AM joseescobedo73: yes

me: Great - thanks for taking part in another Fresh Talk Chat. First of all, tell us something about your hometown

10:16 AM joseescobedo73: I come from Mexico City, considered the second largest city in the world with over 20 million people

10:18 AM me: What was it like when you grew up there, compared with how it is now - if you can make that comparison..

10:21 AM joseescobedo73: I lived in Mexico City until I was 10 years old. I grew up with my mom and two siblings. I went to the Swiss school in Mexico City, and my first foreign language was German, funny eh? In 1983 We moved to San Diego, California, and grew up next to the beach, and went to schools in America. That's is when I began learning English, I was in a special class for foreign students that lasted about two years. Getting used to the new culture and food wasn't to difficult because I had an opened mind about things, and I guess when you are 10 years old, everything is much easier and you learn much faster

10:22 AM me: Where did you go to university and what was your first job out of school?

10:27 AM joseescobedo73: I studied communications with a Marketing major in Mexico City's Anahuac University. I studied there for 5 years and wrote a 300 page thesis in order to graduate. During that time, I had all kinds of jobs. I worked for Televisa, the largest Spanish speaking network in the world. I worked for various entertainment programs, so I was a TV reporter for celebrities. I would go to New York City and Los Angeles and interview the famous movie stars. I started doing that when I was 18 and kept that job till I was 23. I also worked for the AP in San Diego, I was a translater for official news stories, so I would go to Tijuana and translate many stories. I later went to Texas A&M University and got an MS in Science and Technology-Journalism. I graduated in 2004. I also lived in Paris, France and worked as a full time English teacher in 2002

10:29 AM me: That's impressive. For our readers, describe what attracted you to The Packer and what you are doing for the publication.

6 minutes

10:35 AM joseescobedo73: I am the assistant editor for www.thepackerenespanol.com, the Spanish version of The Packer. What really attracted me to the job was that it was a brand new project. I really like to be part of something new. I saw a lot of potential, and our editor Lance Jungmeyer has this vision that he passed on to me and really excited me. There is a huge potential market for readers in Latin America that would benefit so much from news written in Spanish, and many of them have expressed their appreciation for a web site that is able to deliver news in a timely manner, especially news that caters Latin America. My job is basically to write and translate many stories that have relation to the countries in Latin America. Like Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Costa Rica, it is a huge market full of opportunities. I decide what is news and how to deliver that news that would best suit our readers interest. I also have a lot of in put as far as the design of the website and the functionality.

10:36 AM For me it is an honor to be working for such a prestigious publication and to have it in Spanish is just amazing.

10:37 AM me: Jose, thanks for your time. You have really added a great new element to The Packer's value and readership. Thanks again for making time....

10:39 AM joseescobedo73: Thank you, I also want to let our readers know that if they have any Spanish speaking friends to check out www.thepackerenespanol.com, any feedback is more than welcomed.

me: Great..we'll pass that along

joseescobedo73: Muchas gracias!

Meet the conscious consumer

This presentation by Ann-Marie Roerlink, director of research for the Food Marketing Institute, led off a workshop on the "conscious" consumer with this powerpoint that reveals slightly more than 40% of retailers already have sustainability programs in place and 60% of consumers value their primary stores efforts in regard to sustainability.

Carter Roberts - The sustainability imperative

Here is the audio link to the keynote address by Carter Roberts to the Food Industry Sustainability Summit in Minneapolis on June 16. Roberts is president and chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund and made a case for the imperative of sustainability.

USDA FAS Wrap Up - Posts from abroad

For some unknown reason, I have not been getting email alerts of new USDA FAS posts as I am supposed to receive, and so tonight I went to browse USDA reports the old fashioned way - online. Here is what I found of possible interest to Fresh Talk readers.

Mexican hot bites - June 13: A little dated now but some Mexican press reaction to tomatoes and salmonella

Canada GST/HST and how they apply to ag imports June 12 report describing value added tax in Canada; most ag products are zero rated and pay no tax upon import

European Commission proposals on CAP - discussion of ag policy in Europe

Tropical fruit production in China Colder temps during the winter of 2008 take a bite out of south China's tropical fruit output

Mexican tomato production Annual report on Mexico tomato production

This week in Canadian agriculture Some news about U.S. exports noted here

Health claims - Europe's standards for health claims

Citrus greening marches on

Louisiana is mobilizing to deal with the presence of the citrus greening disease, which has been found in Florida but not Texas, Arizona or California as of yet. From the La. Dept. of Ag:



June 19, 2008

Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M. will speak at a Plaquemines Parish press conference Friday to discuss containment of citrus greening, a devastating citrus disease that could harm the Louisiana citrus industry.

“Citrus greening was confirmed in Orleans Parish,” Strain said. “I am going to do everything within my power to safeguard the citrus industry in Plaquemines Parish and the rest of Louisiana.”

The press conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Belle Chasse High School.

More than 200 citrus growers in 15 parishes comprise the state’s $6.4 million citrus industry. Plaquemines Parish is the state’s citrus leader with more than 500 acres of citrus and a citrus gross farm value of $4.1 million.

Strain said he participated in a conference call with Rebecca Bech, Deputy Administrator for APHIS’ Plant Protection and Quarantine program, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples on Thursday to discuss treatment and containment issues.

The psyllid and citrus greening are present in Florida. The psyllid was found in Texas but citrus greening has never been confirmed.

“We know what we are up against,” Strain said. “Right now Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry horticulture and quarantine officials are aggressively working with LSU AgCenter and USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to minimize the threat of citrus greening in the state.”

Citrus greening, or huanglongbing (HLB), is a disease that can affect all citrus trees, including citrus-related ornamentals like the orange or Lakeview jasmine (Murraya species).

HLB prevents citrus fruit from ripening and ultimately kills the tree. It’s spread by grafting with diseased budwood or by the feeding habits of the Asian citrus psyllid infected with the disease.

Strain said presence of the Asian citrus psyllid, a tiny insect resembling a cicada, was confirmed in the state two weeks ago.

“We know we have the psyllid,” Strain said. “We are diligently working to establish a treatment program to contain the psyllid to prevent spread of the disease.”


TK: Here is coverage from Florida about the urgency that the citrus industry there is approaching citrus greening.