Harkin: more fresh fruits and vegetables needed

Check out the links to statements at the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing at this site. From the office of Sen. Tom Harkin:

“Today’s hearing continues this committee’s ongoing efforts to address issues of child nutrition and health. In our first hearing in December of last year, I spoke bluntly about the very real and damaging long-term health problems that we face in this country. Overweight and obesity, even among our children, have reached epidemic levels in America, raising the specter that our children will not live as long as their parents.

“Compounding these problems is a health care system that is ill-equipped to prevent disease. We must reorient our health care system so that it focuses on preventing diet-related illnesses and promoting good nutrition and wellness. As the witnesses in our last hearing outlined very clearly, USDA’s child nutrition programs are a tremendous opportunity to make a lasting impact on the nutrition and eating habits of our children. A stronger, targeted investment in those programs must be a part of a comprehensive federal response to poor nutrition among our children.

“Our witnesses today will present us with some of the particular challenges and opportunities that we face in improving child nutrition, both when kids are in school and when they are not.

“We must start early. The WIC Program has long been one of our nation’s most effective public health programs and has proven itself time and time again. Our child care settings also present us with a unique and often overlooked opportunity to reach children before they enter kindergarten and expose them to the right kind of foods and eating habits.

“With over 30 million kids eating federally assisted lunches, the National School Lunch Program is perhaps our best opportunity to improve child nutrition and health. Research has shown that children who eat school lunches have higher intakes of a range of essential vitamins and minerals than children who consume lunches from other sources.

“However, while the quality of school meals has gradually improved over the years, much work remains to be done to bring them in line with the Dietary Guidelines. We know for example that two-thirds of elementary schools offer meals that exceed the standards for saturated fat, which is strongly linked to heart disease.

“One of the solutions is to improve school meals: offering foods that have more of the good stuff (vitamins and minerals) and less of the bad (added sugar, sodium, and fat). That means more low- and no-fat milk, leaner meats, whole grain products, and fruits and vegetables, particularly fresh. While that may seem like an easy recommendation in principle, many school districts will tell you it is much more difficult to put into practice for a variety of reasons, particularly cost.

“Fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains tend to cost more than less healthful alternatives, so it is not surprising that some school food service directors find it difficult to offer these foods given their limited budgets – budgets which are stretched even further during an economic downturn.

“That being said, there are school districts out there that are working within their current budget and still going the extra mile for their kids by creating an overall nutrition environment that teaches kids the importance of eating healthy, provides more healthful meals for them to eat, and encourages healthy living by requiring regular physical education and activity. We will hear testimony today from one of those districts, located in the city of Knoxville in my home state of Iowa.

“To be sure, we should not assume that every school district’s budget allows them to replicate the success of school districts like Knoxville. Perhaps the most important question it raises for this committee is how Congress can best help places like Knoxville continue their good work and also help other school districts meet the challenge of offering more healthful meals.

“One welcome sign of help came in the President’s recently released budget, in which the President proposed $1 billion per year in additional funding for child nutrition. This is a strong indication of how serious the new administration is about ending childhood hunger and teaching healthy eating habits at an early age so that kids are more likely to grow up to be healthy adults. Now Congress must make good on this proposal by dedicating real resources in our budget.

“A significant investment in the child nutrition reauthorization by Congress would be its own down payment on comprehensive health care reform that would acknowledge the very real budget difficulties that school districts, day care centers and other providers face while also ensuring that kids are getting the most balanced, nutritious meals possible. I look forward to working with the other members of the committee and hearing from our witnesses today about how we can address the challenges and opportunities we face to doing just that.”

United Fresh: Working to harmonize audits

From United Fresh this afternoon:

United Fresh Produce Association's Retail-Foodservice Board Endorses Work to Harmonize Audits

Board Encourages Industry to Participate in Food Safety Conference in April

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United Fresh Retail-Foodservice Board has endorsed the importance of efforts to harmonize produce food safety audits to reduce cost and duplication of efforts, while enhancing overall safety. At its meeting last week, the Board recommended that produce industry members throughout the supply chain participate in the new Global Conference on Produce Food Safety Standards, to be held April 24-25 immediately following the United Fresh 2009 Convention in Las Vegas.

In a joint statement on behalf of the Board, Chairman Reggie Griffin of The Kroger Company and Vice Chairman Mitch Smith of McDonalds said, "Both retail and foodservice buyers share the same goals as produce suppliers in assuring that good agricultural and handling practices are followed in production and distribution. It's important that partners throughout the supply chain work toward benchmarking and harmonization of any audits that we use to ensure the most effective food safety results with the least cost and duplication of efforts. Using multiple different audits all asking the same basic questions is not the most effective way to focus our energies in enhancing food safety."

The Retail-Foodservice Board specifically recognized the efforts thus far of the association's Food Safety and Technology Council working group on audit harmonization.

"The conference that this group is putting together in Las Vegas is an important opportunity for retailers and foodservice companies to really work with our suppliers on what is a complex issue but a critical one to solve for our industry," Griffin and Smith said.

"The endorsement of audit benchmarking and harmonization by these retail and foodservice leaders is a critical step forward," said United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel. "There's been a tremendous amount of work by the more than 75 members of the Food Safety and Technology Council and companies throughout the industry to get to this point where most industry leaders recognize the burden and cost of duplicative audits. Now, there's light at the end of the tunnel, and we have to continue working together across the supply chain to drive progress," he said.

The Global Conference on Produce Food Safety Standards will be held April 24-25, immediately following the United Fresh 2009 convention in Las Vegas. The event will bring leading retailers, foodservice companies, and produce suppliers together with government and private-sector agencies and organizations active in the area of produce auditing and standards.

"Working together all in the same room, we can begin to focus on common approaches to best assure food safety, rather than having individual interests drive needless duplication and costs throughout the supply chain," Stenzel said.

Conference registration includes free access to all three days of the United FreshTech and Fresh Marketplace trade shows, including the Food Safety Pavilion and its showcase of new university and government produce safety research, the new Produce Traceability Demo Center, and more than 20 express educational seminars right on the show floor. For maximum value, attendees can combine conference registration with an "All-Access Convention Pass" for admission to all general sessions, super sessions, workshops, receptions, and the annual awards banquet.

The United Fresh Retail-Foodservice Board is one of four market segment boards designed to give focus to needs and opportunities within different market sectors. The board consists primarily of retail and foodservice company representatives who work together to address challenges affecting the fresh produce industry in these sectors. Other market sector boards include the Grower-Shipper Board, Wholesale-Distributor Board, and the Fresh-Cut Processor Board. Together, leadership from each of these boards comes together with at-large members representing the entire produce industry, bringing a total supply chain partnership to the overall United Board of Directors.

Each market segment board will be hosting its own breakfast, networking and educational Super Session on April 23 during the convention to focus on issues most critical to their sector of the industry. All attendees are encouraged to participate in one of these sessions to meet their market segment board members, hear from speakers focused on key issues, and discuss questions or concerns in a town hall format with the board and other members in each market segment.

USDA apple invitation to bid

Here is the USDA link on the invitation to buy fresh apple slices. Coverage developing for The Packer.

One question for the USDA: will fresh cut apple purchases erode purchases of whole fruit by federal feeding programs. Here is background on the issue.

NRA praises Durbin-Gregg-Kennedy bill

From the NRA today:

(Washington, D.C.) – The National Restaurant Association today thanked U.S. Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Richard Burr (R-NC) for introduction of the bipartisan FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009.

"We are very appreciative of Senator Durbin, Senator Gregg, Senator Kennedy and Senator Burr for taking a needed step forward with introduction of this bill," said National Restaurant Association Executive Vice President for Public Affairs Beth Johnson. "The National Restaurant Association strongly supports reforms to create a stronger and more effective food safety system. We will continue to call for critical assessment and reform of the system, as this bipartisan legislation aims to do."

Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) also cosponsored the bill.

The Association continues to be actively involved in the food safety debate as the issue moves forward in the 111th Congress. The Association recently called on Congressional leaders to quickly enact food safety reform in letters to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee and the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The National Restaurant Association will continue to provide leadership that stresses continuous improvement in food safety at the state, federal, and international levels.