Find it here

I don't impress myself easily, but I've got to say I'm pleased as punch with the latest gadgets I've added to the blog. Here is a rundown of what you can find.

* Live radar map of U.S.
* Custom weather
* World clocks (Salinas, London, Moscow, Tokyo)
* Flight tracker - check the status of domestic or international flights within the blog
* Youtube videos playable within the blog ( A TK brew of various topics of interest)
* Stock ticker
* Google news reel - again TK selected topics that resonate with Fresh Talk readers
* Google hot trends - Gadget that shows in real time what people are searching for on Google
* A link to an online conversion Website - handy for hectares to acres, metric to English, etc.
* DIGG - topics that are generating Web interest
* Gadget displaying analyst comments about the most talked about S&P 500 companies
* This day in history
* Google maps embedded in blog
* CSPAN TV feed playable at the bottom of the blog

I've resisted the urge to add mind-numbing games, but I did add a "puzzles and riddles" gadget. Have fun.

What's old is new again

The FDA's notice about its intent to update 10-year old Good Agricultural Practices is found here. There is a lot to cover in that document so I may take it by sections. Meanwhile, let's reflect on what Packer legend Larry Waterfield wrote in the paper 11 years ago when the first round of GAPs was being readied. Deja vu all over again...





From November 1997.....

Ideas cover broad range FDA proposals could lead to more control over produce industry.
By Larry Waterfield
Washington, D.C., Editor
ARLINGTON, Va. -- The federal government's forthcoming voluntary guidelines for the produce industry will touch every aspect from the field to the receiver and could mean more stringent controls on imported produce and even so-called ``traceback'' mechanisms.
The aim of federal agencies, led by the Food & Drug Administration, is to have draft proposals ready by Dec. 1, with proposed guidelines prepared by late January and final guidelines in place by June.
FDA officials plan to put guidelines in place in 1998 for high-risk fruits and vegetables, which have yet to be named.
At a meeting Nov. 17, which involved federal agencies, a government panel on microbes in food and produce industry representatives, the agency officials pointed out that the guidelines, which are being referred to as ``the Guide,'' will be voluntary. But several industry officials said receivers and retailers are likely to latch onto the guidelines and require suppliers to follow the government guidance.
The next move in the process will be a series of seven public meetings across the country to get input from the produce industry. One meeting will deal with international produce safety issues. Those meetings begin Dec. 1 in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Those attending the Nov. 17 meeting got a preview of what may be in the proposed guidelines. They will deal with water quality, irrigation water, the use of manure in production, field sanitation, packinghouse sanitation, storage, cooling, refrigeration, handling, bins and packaging, packing lines, worker sanitation and transportation. The guidelines will be in the form of Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices, referred to as ``GAPs and GMPs.''
The agencies are considering calling for anyone who handles produce from the field through the distribution system to wear disposable gloves. Guidelines may call on producers to make special efforts to divert deer and other wildlife from fields and orchards.
Companies may be asked to implement personal hygiene training programs for workers at all levels.
Methods to trace produce back to its source are likely to be a part of the guidelines as a way to limit any outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.
``These proposals represent our current thinking,'' said Thomas Gardine, director of the FDA's division of imports and a key official implementing the President's Produce Safety Initiative.
At the industry-government meeting the scope of the initiative began to emerge. Several Cabinet departments, 12 federal agencies and thousands of inspectors and government workers will be involved at the federal and state levels. The USDA will involve about 6,000 of its Extension Service personnel, plus researchers. A representative of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture said the states have several thousand employees who are ready to take part.
On imported produce, officials are calling for more border surveillance and screening. The bill, the Safety of Imported Food Act of 1997, gives the FDA the authority to make sure foreign food safety systems match those in the United States, and it gives the agency power to block imports if inspectors are denied access to foreign facilities.
``There is no evidence that imported fruits and vegetables are more likely to be contaminated than domestic produce,'' said Lee Frankel, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, Nogales, Ariz., which represents importers of Mexican produce.
He warned that U.S. safety inititatives must treat imported produce fairly and equally and that the rules or guidelines must be in accord with international trade agreements under the World Trade Organization and must not interfere with U.S. trade obligations.
He cautioned officials not to make ``prejudicial statements'' that imply that foreign produce is not safe to eat when traveling in those countries and that indicate the imports may not be safe.
He said ``these officials show lack of knowledge and understanding of the farming, harvesting, packing and shipping processes.''
He said he is concerned that the ``guidance'' will focus on imports and will allow U.S. inspectors to block imports but will not treat U.S. produce the same under ``voluntary'' guidelines.
He urged the officials to hold a fact-finding meeting in Mexico or on the border and to come to Mexico to see practices.
Stacey Zawel, director of science and regulatory affairs at the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Alexandria, Va., urged the government to recognize that produce is unlike other food industries and is made up of many diverse industries.
She pointed out that there are many gaps in the knowledge about microbial contamination of produce. She said the Industrywide Guidance, developed by 20 produce groups, focuses on the most critical microbial issues.
``A failure to bring focus to the microbiological food safety issues will squander scarce resources and dilute the effectiveness of our efforts,'' she said.
Fred Shank, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said there are funds available under the President's Initiative to carry out research into microbial contamination of produce.
Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which she said represents more than a million U.S. and Canadian consumers, called for mandatory HACCP rules for the produce industry.
``CSPI urges the Clinton administration to mandate HACCP systems for the produce industry rather than guidelines,'' she said. ``Guidelines will not address the problems of the domestic industry, and they will be unenforceable internationally.''
She said the goal must be to ``identify and eliminate the sources of contamination for fruits and vegetables.''

Reporting from Naples

Doug Ohlemeier here from Naples, Fla.

I'm covering the Joint Tomato Conference here, the 33rd yearly event sponsored by the Florida Tomato Exchange and the Florida Tomato Committee.

Food safety is the overriding issue tomato growers are dealing with at this conference.

The tomato growers and packers are discussing how to keep what happened to them earlier this summer from happening again or to anyone else in the produce industry.

The industry reconfigured its seminars this year for the conference to spend more time on food safety issues. During the traditional Tuesday afternoon packinghouse managers' seminar, food safety authorities went over the extensive audit form inspectors use when inspecting packing facilities.

A special food safety seminar tomorrow afternoon, Thursday, Sept. 4, will tackle how growers can handle on-farm audits.

While growers and packers heard a lot of negative news, the location of the yearly event allows for some exceptional R&R. The Naples Ritz-Carlton is located on the doorstep of the Gulf of Mexico, with the Gulf's sandy beaches just a few steps from the hotel's courtyard.

Thanks to Hurricane Gustav, the waves this year seem stronger and more powerful, almost as high as the waves that crash the shores of Florida's East Coast beaches.

Hopefully growers won't have to endure any more rough waves in their efforts to demonstrate the tomatoes they ship are safe of any contamination.

Farm to fork traceability: trite and true

One of the well worn-industry expressions is "farm to fork" traceability. It only becomes tiresome because of its repeated use; the concept is alluring enough still. Another foray in the "farm to fork" traceability comes with this press release from Pak Sense: An excerpt:



BOISE, Idaho, Sep 02, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- PakSense, Inc., an innovator in sensory solutions for packaging, announced today the release of PakSense Ultra T3 powered by HarvestMark, a farm to fork traceability solution with integrated temperature monitoring and Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) capabilities. Combining industry leading technologies from PakSense and YottaMark, Ultra T3 is an industry first that allows shippers to track and trace products through the supply chain while simultaneously allowing them to monitor the cold chain and comply with COOL requirements. Traceability, cold chain and country of origin data are securely uploaded and stored in a hosted database, accessible anywhere, anytime via a password protected web portal.

TK: Meanwhile, we expect a news release fairly soon about the Produce Traceability Initiative timeline. IMHO, I think the traceability task force should have opened their meetings up to the trade press for more effective communication of the message.

Wal-Mart seeks retailer support of GFSI

Luis of the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group posted this story that speaks of Wal-Mart's effort to seek retail support of the Global Food Safety Initiative. From that Supermarket News story:

In the wake of this year's high-profile food recalls, Wal- Mart Stores' Vice President of Food Safety Frank Yiannas called upon food retailers to join the retail giant and several other global retailers in embracing the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), an effort to create and adopt uniform food safety standards. The hope is that more retailers and foodservice organizations are going to join us in this effort,” he said. “[GFSI] is our greatest opportunity to create a universal standard of safe food, and advance food safety and the quality of life for consumers around the world.”

TK: Questions remain how appropriate/adaptable the GFSI/SQF audit is for the produce growing community, particularly smaller operators. What is the GFSI? I found a powerpoint on the Web that covers the basics.

GOP: Count only legal residents

The GOP wants to count only legal residents in the next Census, which the party says would more justly determine the legislative representation each state gets in Congress. This AP story is getting some play in an immigration message board I have been tracking. From the story about the GOP platform.
From the AP:

The 2008 Republican platform, in language that is hostile to illegal immigrants, says the makeup of Congress should be determined by counting only those legally residing in the United States in the next census.
"The integrity of the 2010 census, proportioning congressional representation among the states, must be preserved," says the platform language, which is a reinterpretation of the Constitution that could affect how congressional seats are apportioned. "The census," it says, "should count every person legally abiding in the United States in an actual enumeration."
The 14th Amendment of the Constitution, ratified in 1868, says representatives to the U.S. House "should be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed."
"Our mandate is to count all residents regardless of legal status," said Mark Tolbert, a spokesman for the Census Bureau.
The bureau does not ask questions about legal status. Immigration groups have put the number of illegal immigrants at up to 12 million out of a U.S. population of more than 300 million.
Michigan Republican Rep. Candice Miller has proposed a constitutional amendment specifying that congressional representation "shall be determined by counting the number of persons in each state who are citizens of the United States."
Miller, in reintroducing the amendment last year, said that states with a large number of illegal immigrants are gaining unfair representation in the House. Had her amendment been in place before the 2000 census, Miller said, California would have six fewer seats in the House while New York, Florida and Texas would have one fewer seat. States with fewer undocumented residents, including her own state of Michigan and others such as Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, would have picked up a seat, she said.
The 2008 platform goes on to say that "we urge all who are legally eligible to participate in the census count to do so; at the same time, we urge Congress to specify — and to constitutionally justify — which census questions require a response."
Cecilia Munoz of the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy group for Hispanic Americans, said Sen. John McCain "has a great track record" on immigration issues but is being undercut by his party's positions. "The census language manages to be both unconstitutional and insulting," she said.
Separately, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a nonpartisan coalition of 26 Latino organizations, on Sunday sent McCain a letter saying the GOP platform repudiates McCain's efforts to provide undocumented residents with a path toward legal status. "We urge you to lead your party's platform away from the deportation and detention path that deprives newcomers and the nation of immigrants' positive economic and societal contributions."


TK: It's hard to ignore 12 million people in a Census. Obviously everyone must be counted, but I agree there should be an effort to more accurately determine the legal status of those responding and those who are "enumerated." It is not unreasonable, IMHO, to base representation in the House on the number of legal residents in each state.