CAC coverage and other Jan. 14 headlines

The California Avocado Commission continues to receive media scrutiny. Here are a few links on that and the other news of the day:

The Packer coverage The lede:

California’s attorney general is reviewing an audit of the California Avocado Commission’s credit card expenses, which total more than $1.5 million over a three-year period.

LA Times coverage The lede:

Something has been rotten at the state agency behind a splashy $7-million annual marketing blitz on television, billboards and in food magazines to promote California-grown avocados, a new state audit indicates.

SF Chronicle coverage(AP) The lede:

The former head of the California Avocado Commission misspent tens of thousands of dollars in farmers' contributions to remodel his home office and purchase an iPod, plasma TV and other personal items, according to a state audit released Friday.

The New York Times The lede:

Luxury suites. Shopping sprees. Four-star hotels. Such was life in the high-flying world of the California Avocado Commission. That, at least, is the image presented by a blistering report released last week by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which painted the commission, a state-established trade group financed by growers, as a kind of free-spending, avocado-gone-wild farm party.

TK: These headlines are sober reminders that the responsibility of member/industry oversight of commissions and associations is not to be taken lightly.


More headlines....

School takes fresh cut apples off menu because of listeria concerns Wisc. district acted as precaution

Drop in U.S. trade deficit small comfort as exports keep plunging

Illegal immigrants stay in U.S. despite recession Study to be released today by the Migration Policy Institute in Washington.


Hot and dry conditions stir drought concerns in California

Food addiction may be cause of obesity High sugar foods may trigger craving like an addiction


Key parts of Georgia immigration law not enforced State agencies are not using federal database to check status of applicants.

California growers fight lettuce virus From The Packer

Farmworker advocaates sue over new H-2A rules

Chiquita protection scandal resurfaces

Guest workers needed for Australia citrus harvest