Great grapes

From the California Table Grape Commission, news about the benefits of grapes:


Fresno, CA - Grapes should be a part of a healthy diet and are widely accepted as beneficial for human health. That’s the conclusion of a perspective on grapes and human health in the latest issue of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry.
The article looked at the scientific research that has been done over the past ten years on grape consumption and human health. The review found that many studies suggest cardiovascular benefits as well as anti-cancer benefits. It also found a growing body of preliminary research linking consumption of fresh grapes with a range of benefits including fighting Alzheimer’s and nerve diseases.
Authored by Dr. John Pezzuto, the Dean of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, the article noted the systematic funding of research by the California Table Grape Commission as a key factor in the current body of knowledge about grapes and health.
“Ten years ago, very little was known about the health benefits of eating fresh grapes,” said Kathleen Nave, president of the commission. “Since then, we have funded numerous scientific studies that have established crucial links between eating fresh California grapes and significant human health benefits.”
The journal’s review is just the latest report on the health benefits of grapes. Recent studies have linked grape consumption with anti-aging and anti-cancer properties and have labeled grapes a “superfood” in the fight against heart disease.
Nearly 5,000 family physicians had an opportunity to learn the latest research on California grapes and human health in San Diego last week at the annual conference of the American Academy of Family Physicians. The commission shared the latest grape health news at the conference and sponsored a seminar on nutrition and health with Janice Jibrin, Dietician for Bob Green’s Best Life Diet.
The commission was created by the California legislature in 1967 to increase worldwide demand for fresh California grapes through a variety of research and promotional programs.

COOL, smaller grocery stores and the coming recession

Livestock producers aren't happy with the COOL plans of some meat packers. That headline and others snatched from the Web this morning:

Small grocery stores have big plans in California

Grocery stores shrink to fit

Mexican feeling pinch as income stream from the U.S. slows

Get your produce on

Galveston ports vows quick recovery

USDA to follow intent on COOL

U.S. financial crisis deepens

A sea change in immigration, met by silence

Schools, insurers work to fight childhood obesity

Can Tesco beat discounters at their own game?

Tips for boomer consumers

COOL coming Oct. 1

FDA should label bioengineered food

Farmer recounts fiasco

Complicated pepper trail reveals complexity of traceback

Deep and extensive recession warned if feds don't take action

Marler and the balance of trade

Food safety lawyer Bill Marler sent an email from China on Monday with these words:

"So, it is Monday AM and the US Economy still stinks – I’m here in China hopefully to fix at least part of the balance of trade."

You'll get his meaning when you read his post. An excerpt:

So far four babies in China have died and 6,300 sickened with 1,500 hospitalized and nearly 200 with acute kidney failure.

I may need to change my PowerPoint a bit for my upcoming speech (I have been warned by the Government to play nice already). With the recall spreading throughout Asia and Africa, what will the US do? That's right, the FDA only inspects less that 1% of our imports. Even though I have not yet been able to export lawsuits to China - yet (although, its product liability laws have potential), I bet I will have plenty of work upon my return to the US. I'm off to the Forbidden City.

TK: I think we would all agree Bill Marler has plenty of work to do in reforming China's food safety regime. Stay as long as you please, Mr. Marler.

RFID revolution "a forced march"

Wal-Mart's RFID revolution has been a "forced march," says one source quoted in this Network World story. From the piece:

And in 2003, when Wal-Mart CIO Linda Dillman shocked the retail world by announcing that Wal-Mart was going to require all of its suppliers (beginning with the top 100) to tag pallets and cases of merchandise with RFID chips, the technology was immature and untested.

Today, 600 of Wal-Mart's 60,000 suppliers (plus 750 Sam's Club suppliers) have deployed RFID. On Wal-Mart's end, RFID has been rolled out at 1,000 of the roughly 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the United States.

Wal-Mart's original goal was to have 12 of its roughly 120 distribution centers outfitted for RFID by 2006. Today, only five are set up for RFID, as the company has shifted its RFID focus to in-store implementations.

TK: Still, WM is given credit for being on the bleeding edge of seeking ROI from RFID. And while the first generation chips were $1.25, the second generation chips are more like 7 to 10 cents each and read rates have jumped above 90%. So there is competitive advantage in RFID after all - maybe. Speaking of setting timelines, one wonders if the Produce Traceability Initiative will come out with a timeline that is suitably ambitious without being practically unrealistic.