Convenience store inroads to grocery markets

At the same time that more grocery stores are selling gas, more gas stops are selling groceries.From a story in The Washington Post earlier this month:


Once primarily the province of Big Gulps and beef jerky, convenience and drug stores are siphoning away sales from traditional supermarkets as the weak economy and high gas prices force consumers to save more by driving less. They are stopping by not only for the quickie quart of milk, but also for pantry items normally bought at the supermarket -- and even for dinner. Some are using the stores to stretch their paychecks, buying what they need when they need it instead of stocking up.

TK: Budget beers, crackers, soda, milk and bread. But don't look for fresh produce to benefit from this trend. Beyond a red delicious apple and a speckled banana, there is not much fresh produce to look forward to at the nearest EZ Shoppe.

Nanotechnology :- Visions of the future

Baffled by nanotechnology? Me, too. But another item I missed while in Honduras was this FDA notice about nanotechnology. From the FDA email:


NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS
For Immediate Release: Aug. 7, 2008 Contact: Christopher Kelly, 301-827-6242, christopher.kelly@fda.hhs.gov
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has posted a Federal Register Notice announcing a public meeting on Sept. 8, 2008 to consider FDA-regulated products that may contain nanoscale materials.
Nanotechnology involves the creation and use of materials and devices at the level of molecules and atoms. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, too small to be seen with a conventional lab microscope.
The purpose of the meeting is to gather information that will assist the agency in continuing to implement the recommendations of the Nanotechnology Task Force Report and in the development of agency guidances.
The task force issued recommendations on: foods, including dietary supplements; food and color additives, including food contact substances; cosmetics; animal drugs and feeds; and human drugs, medical devices and biologics.
The FDA also is announcing a request for available data and information on the effects of nanoscale materials on the quality and safety of FDA-regulated products.


Here some links on the future of nanotechnology:

The vision of nanotechnology

Nanofrontiers

Nanotechnology: the future is coming sooner than you think From the House-generated report from 2007:


There is a widespread desire to avoid repeating the mistakes of biotechnology, a technology whose advance has been substantially slowed by political opposition that has little scientific basis. But it is not really clear what the mistakes of biotechnology are. No human deaths can be attributed to genetically modified organisms. Nor has any product of biotechnology ever resulted in significant environmental harm. The potential health and environmental benefits of biocrops in the form of reduced use of pesticides, fertilizer, and fuel and improved vitamin delivery are totally discounted in favor of vague warnings against Frankenfood. One might wish that companies like Monsanto had been more open about their research and intentions, but this research surely would have been used against them by environmental groups who intentionally distort the debate by exaggerating any dangers and denying any benefits. It is far from certain that better studies and more open debate would have produced a more reasoned policy. Much of the reaction against nanotechnology is based solely on the fact that even if it has benefits, these benefits will change society in substantial ways. This is why opponents often mention the need to look at “socio-economic effects”. Similar arguments are being used today against the expansion of the Internet. Realtors have argued that home earches done over the Internet are not really the same as those done by a licensed professional and that the industry therefore should not have to open up its listing services to discount brokers. Optometrists have argued that contact lenses purchased over the Internet are not really as safe as those that they sell and that therefore they should be allowed to write prescriptions for brands that promise not to make their products available to Web stores. Of course, in neither of these arguments is there room for the consumer to determine what actually does or does not benefit him. Rather, the strategy is for the incumbents to make the decision for the individual. Had the development of the World Wide Web waited for a full understanding of its “socioeconomic effects” it would probably not exist today.

The Demise of the 'Freshman 15'?

Given the fact that my two daughters are four grades apart in school, I thought that when I helped the first one with her college search, my errors in judgment at that time would be rectified when the younger daughter stepped up to the plate.

Not so fast. With daughter #2 there's a completely different academic skillset, and mindset to boot. No sorority this time. A quiet dorm, among other wants. But most important to her, access to healthy & lowfat food has to prevail. Initially, the wife & I were quick to dismiss this desire as low on the overall priority list, but now I'm not so sure. A healthy student is a happy student, and she wants to continue the success she's had on Weight Watchers over the last year. Who am I to argue with that logic?

So now we're looking at these schools from a somewhat different angle, having completed the majority of the dog-and-pony campus visits. And you'd be surprised at the food availability variance from one college to another. In a Tom Karst post today, there's a link to an interesting article from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press where Aquinas College is attempting to focus on locally-grown produce. On the cutting edge is a school like University of Wisconsin--Madison, where every single item or dish sold by their restaurants or foodservice has its nutritional values & breakdown posted on the campus website. Impressive.

But for every college or university thinking 'green' and healthy, there are just as many that don't appear to be putting forth the effort. We visited a handful of campuses whose tours included a dorm cafeteria lunch. Granted, they've come a long, long way from the 'mystery meat' hash-slinging days of the 1960's-70's, but in my view the present-day cafeterias, while attractive in their Las Vegas-style food station setup, still include way too many overly-processed entrees and starch-laden side dishes. But I guess that's what most of the students want, and maybe there's a wee bit of envy from here that they can jam 50 tater tots down their gullets & then go for a run, while I can just smell these morsels & have to add a notch to the belt, after taking a Pepcid.

I had a conversation Friday with a western Michigan produce veteran who supplies universities in the area & remarked, cynically I hope, that I'm hopelessly out of the foodservice lingo loop because I was not aware of my 'carbon footprint'. That's their buzzphrase these days, although we'll see eventually whether there's a real desire to improve the environment or it's just their profit-driven cause du jour. Guess it's true--I ain't 'green' enough...

Later,

Jay

Floral industry connection to Bachman death

The tragic death of Minneapolis businessman Todd Bachman and the grave injuries to his wife at the Olympic games in China has a floral industry connection. Blog reader and Packer legend Bill Coon first alerted me to the connection. See the Web site of Bachman's Inc. - a floral business in Minneapolis - about the leadership activities of Bachman, who was chairman and CEO of the company. From the Web site:

Bachman's, Inc. has created a website to provide media members and the community with more information on the death of Todd Bachman and injury of Barbara Bachman. This site includes: statements from the family and US Olympic Committee, images, a Bachman's company fact sheet and more. It will be updated regularly. Additionally, there is a guestbook where you are welcome to share your thoughts and comments.

TK: Julia Stewart of PMA notes that Bachman is related to Ralph Bachman, winner of the PMA's 1989 Floral Marketer of the Year award.

Ethanol still golden

As I review some of my missed emails during the week I was in Honduras, I note that the renewable fuel standard was upheld by the EPA. Here is reaction from the American Farm Bureau Federation on Aug. 7:


The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to deny a request submitted by the state of Texas to reduce the nationwide Renewable Fuels Standard sends a positive signal regarding the substantial economic benefits of renewable fuels, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
“We’re pleased that the EPA did not turn its back on the promise of renewable fuels,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. Texas requested a 50-percent waiver of the national volume requirement for the RFS.
Implementation of the RFS will continue as legislated in the Energy Policy Act of 2007, according to the EPA.
The RFS target for 2008 is 9 billion gallons of renewable fuels including ethanol and biodiesel. That rises to 11.1 billion gallons in 2009 and 36 billion gallons in 2022.



TK: The escalation of the standard for renewable fuels demands a revolution in the use of non food crops to supply the biomass for fuel production. Failing that, I don't see how the goal of 36 billion gallons by 2022 is remotely realistic.


Here is more etanol reaction and other biofuel news:

Record oil prices blamed for high corn prices

Bid to plant genetically modified trees in the UK for biofuel

Improved reactoin data heats up biofuels

Ethanol is not an evil plot concocted by our farmers

Following Buffett's railroad tracks From that story in Seeking Alpa

There are more than 173,000 miles of track in North America, with 150,000 miles in the United States alone. As an industry, it's enormous, generating $42 billion in annual revenues. Some of that revenue is made by moving 30% of this country's grain harvest and more than 40% of all inter-city freight. That's more than any other mean of freight transportation.
As the agriculture industry brings more than 79 new ethanol plants online in the next two years, they expect much of the 12 billion gallons of ethanol to be shipped by railcar. (Ethanol cannot be transported in pipes like oil.)
Railroads also carry more than 65% of the nation's coal, which provides more than half of the nation's electricity. As our power demands increase, so will the coal companies' demand for shipping.

Locally schmocally

The local food movement continues to get a ton of press this summer. This isn't surprising because the runup in fuel prices set up local vegetable and fruit deals to have greater demand this season. The emergence of "local produce" at supermarkets brings to mind a couple of questions, however.

How do consumers trained to look for local food react when "local produce" is no longer available? Do they cut back on their purchases of produce?
How does the halo effect of pristine food safety in local produce impact the sales of not-so-local fresh produce from other regions?
When most supermarkets have local produce to offer, what is the next competitive advantage that can be wrought from the locavore movement? Or does the mere fact that "local produce" is so widely available eventually reduce its appeal?
Is the food safety "double standard" (the heavier hand of regulation on larger firms compared with local food producers) a potential threat to consumer perceptions of local food?

Here is some recent coverage of local foods:

Wal Mart local produce Web site

Locavores promote locally grown fruits and vegetables

Local food: better for the conscience but not the wallet

Area colleges aim to provide local food

Why the hype about local food may be more than just a trend

Unsolved mystery- salmonella investigation

After a week on the move in Honduras, I have not kept up with the ebb and flow of the salmonella investigation. As I read the news accounts in the consumer press this morning, I see it is mainly the ebb and waning of the investigation once thought to have secured a "smoking gun." From the Web...

Food safety laws under scrutiny from The Miami Herald:

This summer's salmonella outbreak could go down as the national food supply's biggest unsolved mystery.
Instead of a smoking gun, the only clue is a single tainted jalapeño pepper with the rare strain of Salmonella Saintpaul found at a Texas produce distribution center.
The difficulty in finding answers to one of the nation's most complicated and longest-running food-borne-illness cases has turned a spotlight on the beleaguered Food and Drug Administration, as well as the system for protecting the U.S. food supply.
Tomatoes, the original suspect, have been released from questioning but not exonerated. Now federal inspectors have fingered jalapeño peppers from Mexico as a potential source of contamination. But the trail is getting cold, and it's getting hard to find enough evidence to isolate the source of an outbreak that has sickened 1,294 people since April.
Critics say it's evidence of a system that is broken and desperately in need of an overhaul.
''The bottom line is this is not working,'' said Carl Nielsen, a 28-year veteran of the FDA and former director of import inspections. ``There have to be radical changes.''


Honduran melon farm caught in the middle Also from The Miami Herald:

It took a single news release to undo what it had taken the Molina family 30 years to accomplish. In March, the Food and Drug Administration sent out a global news alert saying it suspected that a salmonella outbreak in the western United States was linked to cantaloupes grown on the Molinas' farm in Honduras.
Overnight, the farm lost most of its business as the United States closed its borders to its melons. Then the family began to field calls from jittery distributors as far away as England and the Netherlands.T
Four months later, the FDA has yet to prove that the salmonella strain originated at the Molinas' 7,400-acre farm, Agropecuaria Montelibano.
The family's company, Grupo Agrolibano, claims that it has tested more than 600 cantaloupes in collaboration with distributors in Europe and the Americas and that all tests came back negative.
It has been trying to convince the FDA that Montelibano was not the source of the outbreak. Yet the import alert, which bars shipments of the Honduran melons from entering the United States, remains.


TK: One melon exporters I visited with in Honduras (not the Molina operation) believes that the issue become too politicized in Honduras, to the detriment of resolving the issue. More on that later.

The Herald also publishes a infographic from the Center for Science in the Public Interest about foodborne illness outbreaks. From that chart:


Each year, food-borne illnesses cause an estimated 5,000 deaths and 76 million illnesses in the United States. Between 1990 and 2005, the Center for Science in the Public Interest identified 5,316 outbreaks. Food categories most commonly linked to the outbreaks were:
Seafood: 1,053 outbreaks involving 10,415 individual cases
Produce: 713 outbreaks involving 34,049 cases
Poultry: 580 outbreaks involving 17,661 cases
Beef: 506 outbreaks involving 13,873 cases
Eggs: 352 outbreaks involving 11,224 cases
Source: CSPI


TK: Here is some more coverage on the issue from The Houston Chronicle:

Nations differ on tests for peppers From the Chronicle's Seam Mattson:

HIDALGO, MEXICO — The lab results on Sergio Maltos' desk show that investigators from Mexico and the United States came to drastically different conclusions about the cause of the salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 1,300 Americans this summer.
Investigators from both nations visited the farm in question, about 200 miles south of Laredo in Tamaulipas state, in July to test nearly identical materials.
The Food and Drug Administration found irrigation water and a serrano pepper that tested positive for the salmonella Saintpaul strain. Maltos, a top official at the Nuevo León state laboratory that processed Mexico's samples, had two positive tests as well — one from animal excrement and one from mud near an irrigation ditch.
The water and peppers Mexico tested, however, were clean, he said.
How the FDA and its Mexican counterparts managed to reach such different conclusions in a binational health scare that has cost farmers millions of dollars is a mystery neither government seems in a hurry to clear up.



Later......

Mexico, which repeatedly denied having the salmonella Saintpaul serotype in the country even before testing was complete, said Acheson's statement broke an agreement that the two nations were to release findings simultaneously.
Last week, Mexico had not finished the tests required to determine whether its positive salmonella tests matched the strain responsible for the outbreak, Maltos said.
As Mexican farmers fulminated over the second FDA warning in a year to hurt their bottom line, Mexican federal health officials and the FDA declined to explain their conflicting findings.



TK: Whatever the facts of the case may be, consumer confidence in the safety of Mexican produce has taken a major hit, though perhaps not the damage the FDA has inflicted on itself by its ultimately unresolved investigation.

Here is a piece from The Des Moines Register about the likelihood of increased regulation next year.

Unsafe food leads to calls for increased FDA authority more authority From the story by Philip Brasher:

Little is likely to get done this year - it's too close to the election - but a food agency overhaul is likely to be high on the congressional agenda next year. The food industry, which once resisted increased regulation, has been hammered with one costly outbreak after another. The latest, involving a strain of salmonella bacteria, devastated the U.S. tomato industry before it was linked instead to Mexican-grown jalapeno peppers.The agency itself is asking for more authority.
"You will see the food industry being supportive of government action," said Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association. "We've seen what's happened over the last eight years of government inaction."


Later.....

It's not clear how much Congress is likely to do to change the way outbreaks are investigated. That job is divided among federal agencies as well as state and local authorities with varying levels of funding and expertise.Durbin isn't ready to talk about something as sweeping as unifying the food-safety system. That would mean merging various committee chairmen who now share jurisdiction over the food agency, Agriculture Department and other agencies that oversee food. Better to start with bolstering the food agency, he said.
"We have to allow this agency to mature into an effective 21st-century agency to protect families," he said.


TK: Just how produce safety regulations will be enacted to provide the appropriate risk-based and commodity specific approach is one question I have. Congress may legislate with a blunt instrument and leave it to the industry and the FDA to sort it out. This process will take years, I fear...