Getting closer?

Is the FDA traceback investigation getting closer to the source of the contamination? It would appear that some of the quotes from unnamed sources we see in newspaper accounts suggest conviction behind the statement by some that jalapenos are a prime suspect for salmonella contamination. One Nogales marketer told me this afternoon that one of his customers told him a "quarantine" is in place for on jalapenos from one Mexican state; that information is unsubstantiated and could be erroneous, however. We certainly hope the FDA is much more transparent about the status of the investigation in their conference call tomorrow.

The food we waste

Thanks to Fred's Taste it don't waste it post highlighting a report about food waste from the U.K. This link to the UK Waste & Resources Acton Programme study on the "food we waste" is worth a look. The 237 page report includes these "key facts," which highlighted statistics revealing fresh produce items - potatoes and salad at the top of the list - are commonly and unnecessarily wasted by UK consumers. I would think the U.S. consumer probably wastes as much or more than the U.K. consumer. From the report:


What do we waste?
U.K. households waste 6.7 million tonnes of food every year, around one third of the 21.7 million tonnes we purchase. Most of this food waste is currently collected by local authorities (5.9 million tonnes or 88%). Some of this will be recycled but most is still going to landfill where it is liable to create methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The remaining 800,000 tonnes is composted by people at home, fed to animals or tipped down the sink.
* Most of the food we throw away (4.1 million tonnes or 61%) is avoidable and could have been eaten if it had been managed better. Truly unavoidable food waste, like vegetable peelings, meat carcasses and teabags, accounts for 1.3 million tonnes a year or 19% of the total, with the remainder being ‘possibly avoidable’ food waste – items such as bread crusts that some people choose not to eat and potato skins which can be eaten when food is prepared in certain ways but not in others.
* The type of avoidable food we waste in the largest quantity is potato; 359,000 tonnes of potato goes uneaten every year, including 177,400 tonnes of potatoes thrown away whole and untouched (49%). Other commonly wasted types of food are slices of bread (328,000 tonnes a year), apples (190,000 tonnes including 178,800 tonnes thrown away whole and untouched), and meat and fish meals (161,000 tonnes).
* The food that is bought and then thrown away uneaten in the greatest proportion is salad; in the UK 45% by weight of all purchased salad is thrown away (60% by cost). Other foods that are wasted in high proportions include bakery items (31% of that purchased is thrown away) and fruit (26% of that purchased is thrown away).
* Nearly half (46%) of the avoidable food we throw away is in a fresh, raw or minimally processed state, with an additional 27% thrown away having been cooked or prepared in some way and 20% ready to consume when purchased. Starchy foods are most commonly thrown away after being prepared, with 45,000 tonnes of rice, 33,000 tonnes of pasta and 105,000 tonnes of potato thrown away each year, suggesting people prepare too much.
* Over one quarter of the avoidable food thrown away each year (nearly 1.2 million tonnes) is thrown away still in its packaging, either opened or unopened.
* Nearly 1 million tonnes of food is thrown away whole or unopened; this is nearly one quarter of all avoidable food waste. Foods most commonly thrown away whole are individual items of fruit; 2.9 billion items are thrown away every year. Vegetables and bakery items are also routinely thrown away whole and untouched; 1.9 billion whole vegetables are thrown away each year and 1.2 million bakery items.
Items of note that are thrown away whole and unused include:
* Grapes (4.8 billion a year)
* Potatoes (1.9 billion a year)
* Apples (1.6 billion as year)
* Slices of bread (2.6 billion a year)
* Tomatoes (1 billion a year
* Bread rolls (775 million a year)


How much does it cost us?
* Food waste is costly; the UK as a whole pays for but does not eat £10.2 billion of good food each year. That’s
£420 of avoidable food for the average household each year.
* Food thrown away whole and unopened is particularly costly at more than £2.3 billion a year for the UK as a whole. Whole and unopened fruit costs UK households £570 million while whole and unopened vegetables cost £250 million and whole and unopened bakery items cost £300 million a year.
* Food thrown away still in date costs UK households at least £950 million every year.

Who is wasting this food?
* We all waste food unnecessarily. On average, every one of us throws away 70kg of avoidable food a year – that’s the weight of an average person.
* And we don’t realise how much we throw away. Even householders who are adamant that their household wastes no food at all are throwing away 88kg of avoidable food a year; that’s a typical 50l kitchen bin full.
* Larger households waste more avoidable food than smaller households; certain types of households (e.g. households with children) appear to waste more food but that is mainly because they contain more people.
* Single person households waste the most food on a per capita basis.
* Contrary to accepted wisdom, older people waste as much avoidable food as younger people (1.2kg per person per week); retired households appear to waste less but that is because they tend to be smaller.
* Households that have never composted at home waste more food than households that either currently compost or used to compost (3.3kg per week compared with 2.5 and 2.1kg per week respectively).

Why do we waste food?
* The main reasons for throwing away food that could have been eaten if it had been managed better are:
* left on the plate after a meal (1,225,700 tonnes worth £3.3 billion);
* passed its date (808,000 tonnes worth £2.2 billion);
* looked, smelt or tasted bad (750,500 tonnes worth £1.8 billion);
* went mouldy (465,700 tonnes worth £960 million); and
* left over from cooking (360,600 tonnes worth £830 million).

Discussion Group considers the future of produce safety oversight

The Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group continues to add members, now topping 130. The numerical growth is gratifying, but more than that the group is gaining steam as an ongoing forum for important industry topics. Here is a recent thread about the future of produce safety oversight:


Valerie of the group asked if the FDA isn't distracted by the demands of their mission to oversee drugs and pharmaceuticals:

Valerie: I don't think they have enough resources to focus on alternative medications / dietary supplements as well as food because they really never needed to. Just my thoughts.


Pamela: Kind of like the department of homeland security being in charge of FEMA?
Little too much going on for one agency?


Manuel: I totally agree. When FDA went to Florida to present their work plan to the tomato growers, their focus was entirely from a research point of view. Whenever their were asked to bring their proposals down to a field operations level, they were completely lost. The have no experience in that field.
I am running a project in Mexico now, and called FDA to see if we could develop a pre-clearance program just like USDA has in many countries. As you might know, there have been rumors of FDA developing programs like such in the past. Long story short, no one even knew who to ask, or even if or when they might be able to start discussing the possibility of implementing a pre-clearance program.
USDA might not be a perfect agency (risking an understatement) but at least they do their job and the industry has a solid relationship with it.

In a later post, Steve writes:

Neither the FDA or the USDA have the manpower, energy or mandate to accomplish the job that needs to be done. Both organizations spend more time in bureaucratic bungalese than in actual plants doing the important work. Witness the recent recall of 5.3 million pounds of beef from Nebraska Beef for E. Coli; do we want the USDA doing these inspections? They have the same solutions the FDA has, if there is an issue, recall it all because comprehensive testing is not done and there are no traceback procedures in place.
Both organizations need to be essentially disbanded and reorganized into one inspection organization with responsibility for meat, produce, food processing and imports. There are plants that have USDA inspectors for one area, an FDA person with responsibility (during maybe two visits a year) for another area, maybe a state inspector a few times a year and customer mandated (due to no faith in government inspections) private inspections to try and make up for all the holes during their two or three visits a year.
No microbial testing, sporadic inspections, no traceback... sounds like the system works exactly as it was designed to; poorly.


Luis, a long time contributor to the board, concludes:

The single agency is the approach of the Safe Food Act introduced by Energy and Commerce. Calls for a single agency have been going on for decades and face both internal opposition from agencies and committees defending turf as well as external opposition by some industry groups. Change is very difficult. Disbandment and re-organization is not very likely, bar some catastrophe. The most one could expect is perhaps a bit of a re-organization, a bit more funding, a few more mandates (traceability etc.) and initiatives, lots of we are making progress publicity but nothing so substantial it breaks the inertia (ie. the delicate balance). May be something good could come out of all this.
Too much reading of US regulatory system failures, excess and decadence has me a bit pessimistic this 4th of July but plan to go out to watch the fireworks this evening a be reminded why this country unlike no other one on earth.
Cheers!


TK: You will come to appreciate the insights of individual members of the FPIDG and value the forum they provide. Join today and add to the discussion.....

No press conference today

A spokesman at FDA said there will be no press conference today, but to look for one tomorrow. As far as tomatoes, he said there is still a strong correlation of salmonella to consumption of raw tomatoes. However, investigators can't seem to converge on any point of contamination for tomatoes and correlation doesn't not prove causality...so investigators are also now looking at jalapeno peppers, cilantro and Serrano peppers.

FDA: voluntary or mandatory controls?

Here is another powerpoint I am posting again. It was provided by FDA when I visited FDA headquarters earlier this spring, the basic broadbrush of policy considerations are the same. Note the slide that says “Actions must be scientifically sound and legally defensible”...



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Slicing tomato statistics and headlines

How much has the North American tomato industry suffered as a result of the consequences of the FDA advisories linking tomatoes to salmonella? One thing is certain, the damage has not been limited to traders in "unapproved" regions. A strict f.o.b. price comparison with year-ago numbers shows the market was no dream at the same time a year ago, either. Here are some of today's headlines about the reeling tomato business:

Salmonella scare not hurting local tomato growers (Wisconsin)

Jalapenos may be salmonella culprit

Mexico: U.S. salmonella outbreak not caused by Mexican tomatoes

Taste it, don't waste it

Brits had best be sure they're hungry before asking for a second helping.

The British newspaper The Independent reports that the government will launch a campaign to stamp out food waste in Britain as part of a global effort to curb spiralling food prices:

Supermarkets will be urged to drop "three for two" deals on food that encourage shoppers into bulk-buying more than they need, often leading to the surpluses being thrown away. The scandal of the vast mountains of food that are thrown away in Britain while other parts of the world starve is revealed in a Cabinet Office report today. It calls for a reduction in food waste: up to 40 per cent of groceries can be lost before they are consumed due to poor processing, storage and transport.