Links to Stenzel testimony and Inspector General report on traceability

We've already published Rep. Rosa DeLauro's opening statement from today's traceability hearing.Passed on by United, here is the link to Tom Stenzel's testimony before Rep. Rosa DeLauro's Ag-FDA approps subcommittee. Meanwhile, here is the link to the Inspector General Report on food traceability.

Look for coverage in The Packer on this story.....

Stenzel started this way.....

As today’s hearing is focused broadly on food traceability, let me discuss three issues with
specific regard to the fresh produce industry.
1. The general state of traceability in the produce industry today, and compliance under the Bioterrorism Act;
2. Major initiatives now well underway within our industry to build streamlined, whole chain traceability for produce; and finally,
3. Some brief thoughts on what may be most appropriate for Congress and FDA moving forward.
Let me begin with this – just as our industry is committed to providing consumers the safest possible foods, we are also committed to ensuring our ability to track fresh produce from the retail store or restaurant back to the farm.

From the Inspector General's report:

For 4 of the 40 products, we could not identify the facilities that likely handled them
For four products—a tomato, a bag of ice, a bottle of fruit juice, and a bottle of water—at least one facility in the food supply chain failed to provide any information about the potential sources of the products. This prevented us from tracing these four products through each stage of the food supply chain back to the farm(s) or the border and from identifying all of the facilities that likely handled the products. In a food emergency, there could be serious health consequences if FDA cannot—at a minimum—identify the facilities that potentially handled
a contaminated food product.

Obesty hearing: House Agriculture Committee

From the inbox this afternoon:

Today, the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry held a hearing to review the problem of obesity in the United States.

The subcommittee heard testimony from health and obesity experts about the most current statistics on obesity and the many implications of obesity on public health and communities.

"With its cost on America estimated somewhere in the $80 to $120 billion a year range, obesity is a problem we must address both for the health of our nation and for our long-term economic sustainability," Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry Subcommittee Chairman Joe Baca said. "Today's hearing provided an excellent opportunity to learn of the tremendous impact of obesity on America, and study the education and preventative steps we must incorporate as we move forward in our attempts to eliminate this disease."

"The increase in obesity nationwide has far-reaching effects in terms of public health and health care costs," Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Fortenberry said. "I am very concerned by this trend, particularly among our children. Good nutrition, including a diet of fresh, locally-raised foods, can improve health outcomes and lower medical costs, a winning combination for American health care, sustainable agriculture, and strong local economies."

Written testimony provided by the witnesses is available on the Committee website: http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/index.html.
A full transcript of the hearing will be posted on the Committee website at a later date.


Witness List

Panel I
William Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Prevention, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Washington, D.C.

Panel II
Anne M. Wolf, R.D., M.S., Research Instructor, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia Richard S. Hamburg, Director of Government Relations, Trust for America's Health, Washington, D.C.
Martin M. Yadrick, M.S., M.B.A., R.D., F.A.D.A., President, American Dietetic Association, Washington, D.C.
Donna Mazyck, R.N., M.S., N.C.S.N., President of the Board, National Association for School Nurses, Silver Spring, Maryland


From statement of Dietz:

The prevalence of obesity among American youth increased radically between the 1980’s and the present decade. Between 1976 and 1980, approximately 5 percent of youth 2 to 19 years of age were obese.[i] In 2006, the rate had increased to 16.3 percent. In fact, obesity among children aged 2 to 5 years doubled, increasing from 5 percent to 12.4 percent; among children 6 to 11 had doubled, increasing from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 17.0 percent in 2006; and tripled among adolescents aged 12 to 19, increasing from 5 percent in 1980 to 17.6 percent in 2006.[ii] Furthermore, 11.3 percent of children and adolescents aged 2 through 19 years were found to be severely obese, that is, their BMI was above the 97th percentile.


Later....


Several sources of CDC-funded surveillance or monitoring data allow us to track obesity related behaviors and other risk factors among the nation’s youth.[i] Behaviors and risk factors monitored by CDC tracking systems include rates of physical activity and critical indicators of nutrition (e.g., fruit and vegetable consumption, maternal breastfeeding practices). We use these data to assess the health of our youth and develop relevant interventions designed to integrate multiple settings (i.e., communities, medical care and schools) in efforts to support healthier behaviors for children and their families.

Later...


Further, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourages all Americans to daily consume fruits and vegetables in amounts sufficient to meet their caloric needs based on age, height, weight, gender, and level of physical activity. However, between 1999 and 2007, the percentage of U.S. youth in grades 9 through 12 who reported eating fruits and vegetables five or more times per day declined from 23.9 to 21.4 percent.[i] These factors may have had a direct impact on the nation’s childhood obesity rate. That students cannot meet these physical activity and nutrition recommendations illustrates the need to develop public policies that create and support environments that allow for regular and routine physical activity and access to healthful foods for our youth.


TK: Dietz notes that the obesity rates appears to be plateauing. Here are the strategies from CDC:


increasing physical activity;
increasing fruit and vegetable consumption;
increasing breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity;
decreasing television viewing;
decreasing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages; and
decreasing consumption of foods high in calories and low in nutritional value.

Vegetables are cool again and other USDA headlines

This USDA FAS report on Japan food trends says vegetables are cool again. How so? Post explains that it is not so much the plain fresh veg that's making a comeback....

 

Vegetables have slowly been gaining popularity in Japan over the last year or so. What was once considered just a staple of one's diet is now on it's way to becoming the highlight of every meal. Convenience stores everywhere are turning out veggie rich products. Some fit in with regular convenience store fare such as sweet potato flavored cookies or pumpkin pudding. Then there are dried vegetables, veggie chips, and vegetable supplement. Even pastry shops like Patisserie Potager are getting in on the trend, and selling vegetable chocolates, cheesecake,and rolls. These items are selling quickly too. Perhaps it is the concern over Japan's ever growing waste lines and the rise of metabolic syndrome that has people rushing for these new offerings, even if some of them are just as fattening as the regular versions of the products. It's still a great way to "reintroduce" consumers to vegetables.

 

 

Food CPI and expenditures USDA FAS

TK: Worth a closer look

 

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all food increased 5.5 percent in 2008, the highest annual increase since 1990, and is forecast to increase 3.0 to 4.0 percent in 2009.

Food-at-home prices, led by fats and oils and cereal and bakery product prices, increased 6.4 percent, while food-away-from-home prices rose 4.4 percent in 2008.

Total food expenditures for all food consumed in the U.S. was $1,139.4 billion dollars in 2007, a 5.4-percent increase from $1,081.4 billion in 2006. Spending on food away from home was 48.8 percent of the $1,139.4 billion in total food expenditures in 2007—spending for food at home was 51.1 percent.

 

Vilsack pulls from familiar circles to staff USDA Washington Post

 

Tom Daschle: The former Senate majority leader's legacy will live on at USDA, since Vilsack has hired his daughter Lindsay Daschle to serve as his confidential secretary; former Daschle Senate staffer Grant Leslie will serve as a senior adviser.

 

Mexico's tariff on U.S. frozen potatoes USDA FAS

 

AMS launches toll free line for fresh products branch USDA AMS

As part of ongoing efforts to enhance its ability to serve the needs of the produce industry, the Fruit and Vegetable Programs of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service today announced the establishment of a nationwide toll-free number for its Fresh Products Branch. The number, (800) 560-7956, is available to Fresh Products Branch clients seeking information about their accounts or to speak with a staff member about a particular service.

 

U.S. Senate blueprint suggest savings for USDA Reuters

TK: What about MAP?

The committee was expected to vote on Thursday on its spending plan for fiscal 2010, which opens Oct 1. The plan offered by Chairman Kent Conrad forgoes crop subsidy cuts proposed by the White House. Instead, Conrad suggested costs could be cut for crop insurance, the Market Access Program, which develops export markets, and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which shares the cost of controlling runoff from fields and feedlots. It would be up to the committees that control the programs, such as Agriculture and Appropriations, to set the actual spending levels for them, said the spokesman.

Idled farmland may be carbon sink Reuters

The Conservation Reserve, which pays owners to idle fragile U.S. farmland, could become one of the largest carbon sequestration programs on private land, an Agriculture Department official said on Wednesday.

USDA names Dave White to head conservation service Reuters

 

Chat - Jeff Dlott

Chatting with Jeff Dlott, chief executive officer at SureHarvest, Soquel, Calif. From March 23:

3:02 p.m. Tom Karst: Thanks for taking part in another Fresh Talk chat. First of all, where did you go to university and when did your career first connect with agriculture?
3:05 p.m. Jeff Dlott: I graduated with an undergraduate degree in biological sciences and a Ph.D. in entomology from UC Berkeley. As an undergraduate at Cal, I got "hooked" into agricultural science through course work in soil sciences, plant pathology, agricultural ecology, pest management and related fields. This was back in 1984. At that point, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in agriculture.
3:07 p.m. Tom: Interesting. Your career took you down the road and you eventually founded SureHarvest in 1999. Why did you start the company and has the evolution of the issue of sustainability in agriculture followed your expectations since then?
3:12 p.m. Jeff: Prior to founding SureHarvest I held positions in academia, the non-profit and the government sectors working on research, extension, and policy issues. These were all gratifying but I felt frustrated by the pace of change toward the development and adoption of more sustainable agricultural systems. I came to the realization that the private sector better fit my goals to drive change through technology and business process improvement.
3:13 p.m. Tom: Why is sustainability important? Can investments in sustainability provide a return on investment, and how does your company assist in that plan?
3:19 p.m. Jeff: Sustainability is important because the fundamental framework recognizing the need to address economic, environmental and social principles. Sustainability begins with profitability and provides a lens to look how businesses and other organizations can reduce costs, improve product quality, basically improve business performance by improving their social and environmental footprint. The reduction of energy use, water use, greenhouse gases along with improving employee productivity are good for the bottom line and for broader sustainability goals. Our company provides services to uncover and optimize efficiency opportunities and provides software systems to measure and manage performance.
3:24 p.m. Tom: That makes sense. You are doing a great job of putting things in a brief yet complete way. In that spirit, describe your involvement in the development of the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops. Do you feel that work on that index will position it as the principal measuring stick for sustainability in the produce industry? Will the Leonardo Academy's work on this issue be a help or hindrance?
3:27 p.m. Jeff: The Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops has the approach and ingredients to become the principal system to measure sustainability performance in specialty crops including an open and transparent process, a very strong set of stakeholders that cover the supply chain from the ground to retailers and foodservice companies, and leading non-profit organizations that can ask as trust agents for the larger society concerns. The devil is in the detail of reaching agreement on metrics that are meaningful and doable. I'm confident that this project is focusing on the right questions to get to the simplicity of meaningful and doable metrics, and I'm hopeful we will all be efficient in working through the incredible complexity to get to this simplicity. In terms of measuring and managing for sustainability performance, I think it is now a matter of time rather than a matter of if. My take on the Leonardo Academy's work is that it did not begin with the right approach and it was not asking the right questions to start. It may evolve in approach and direction, if not; I anticipate it will not be able to attain enough buy-in to be useful.
3:35 p.m. Tom: Thanks for the insight on the process. I’ve kept you about 30 minutes, but I wanted to ask one last question about the recent sustainability conference you presented at. What was the name of the event and what were the "take-aways" for you and others who attended?
3:38 p.m. Jeff: The name of the conference was "Growing a 21st Century Agricultural Revolution". The participants mix is similar to the Stewardship Index and other multi-stakeholder agrifood sustainability efforts including major retailers, foodservice operators, consumer packaged goods companies, trade associations, nonprofits, universities and government representatives. As part of the conference I put together a survey asking participants what they see as the major sustainability trends, what are organizations tracking now in terms of sustainability measures, and what are the major benefits from pursuing sustainability initiatives. The survey results and then the conference itself were similar in that there is emerging a general consensus on the big issues ahead and what to do about it. The issues of water use, energy use greenhouse gases, and water quality, and the bigger issue of ecosystem services consistently rose to the top. There was also general agreement that by working on these issues in a pre-competitive way through partnerships can advance progress faster. For the previous question, I forgot to mention that my role in the Stewardship Index is as a co-founder and now member of the Steering Committee which is the group that is providing day-to-day management of the project. I'm often tasked with being one of the science guys to make sure we are approaching the metrics using the best available science.
3:48 p.m. Tom: That is well noted. Thanks for all your time and energy this afternoon. Is there a Web site for the Stewardship Index for our readers to go to? Again, thanks for your time today Jeff.
3:50 p.m. Jeff: Yes, www.stewardshipindex.org, anyone can sign up to serve on developing specific metrics and to stay informed. Thank you Tom!

DeLauro opening statement: hearing on traceability

Just sliding across the inbox this morning:

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement during a subcommittee food safety oversight hearing examining traceability – additional authorities the agency needs and what existing authorities already in place the FDA may have to facilitate or better enforce trace-back capabilities. (Inspector General report attached).

Below is the text of DeLauro’s opening statement (as prepared for delivery).

The committee is called to order. Thank you and let me welcome everyone this afternoon, especially our witnesses:
Daniel Levinson, the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services

Tom Stenzel, President of the United Fresh Produce Association, someone who is very familiar with many of us on the subcommittee. Welcome Tom, great to see you.

Craig Henry, Senior Vice President for Science and Regulatory Affairs for the Grocery Manufacturers Association

Thank you all for taking the time to join us this afternoon to share your insight and experience. A special thanks to Tom and Craig for joining us on such short notice.

My colleagues know that I believe we have a responsibility on this subcommittee to confront issues of public health and public safety. When families can no longer trust that the food they eat is safe, the government must respond. For many years, we have fought to reform a dysfunctional federal agency in the FDA unable to meet its most basic regulatory responsibilities. And our work continues as we strive to provide the resources and tools to effect change.

Today’s hearing will focus on a very important tool for combating food borne illness outbreaks. That is traceability in the food supply chain -- the ability to follow a food product’s path, back from the store where it was purchased to the place at which the contamination occurred. It is critical to indentifying both the source of a potentially dangerous outbreak and the location where contaminated products have been sold and may even still be available.

We were reminded just how important traceability is during last year’s salmonella outbreak originally linked to tomatoes. As we all know, the FDA later turned its attention away from tomatoes, ultimately determining that peppers from Mexico may have been the source of the outbreak -- but not before the market for tomatoes shrank dramatically and tomato growers suffered.

And so this outbreak raised some important questions:
What if an effective traceability system had been in place?
Would the FDA have been able to:
Find peppers as the original source sooner in its investigation?
Minimize the impact on the tomato industry?
Prevent needless additional illnesses?

We will attempt to address these questions and review the report on traceability released today by the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services. The report assesses the traceability of selected food products.

In its examination, the Inspector General’s Office was able to trace only five out of the 40 products through each stage of the food supply chain. What is more, the Inspector General found 59 percent of food facilities failed to meet FDA’s requirement to maintain records about their sources, recipients and transporters.

These tools were put in place by the 2002 bioterrorism law, yet neither the law nor the implementing regulations gave FDA authority to put a system in place ensuring companies comply with the requirements under the law.

There are other gaps, too. The law exempted farms and restaurants from the recordkeeping requirements. And in moving from the draft rule to the final rule, the Office of Management and Budget exempted foreign facilities completely and significantly limited the kinds of companies required to maintain lot-specific information.

So, traceability today simply is not good enough. It is inconsistent, unreliable and these findings confirm what many in Congress already believe: that we need can do better – that we have a responsibility, in the event of a food borne illness outbreak, to effectively find the source of contamination as quickly as possible to prevent further illness and even death.

To be sure, the Inspector General’s study involved only 220 facilities. OMB has estimated that more than 700,000 facilities are subject to the traceability requirements we are discussing today. Yet, while the study is not a valid statistical sample of the entire industry, it does provide a glimpse into how these requirements are actually being carried out.

In its report, the Inspector General recommends that the FDA seek additional authority. And in fact, the FDA has formally requested some authority related to traceability in its Food Protection Plan. At the same time, traceability has considerable support in Congress and will likely be included in food safety legislation that moves forward this year.

But also, as we study the Inspector General’s findings, I think we also have an obligation to ask whether the FDA could have done a better job with the authority it had. When tomatoes were first suspected as the potential source of last year’s salmonella outbreak, I know some growers were frustrated by the agency’s inability to act on what it knew. I think it is fair to say that the United Fresh Produce Association has been out front on the issue of traceability. And I hope Mr. Stenzel can speak to this issue.

And we also look forward to hearing Mr. Henry discuss the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s views on traceability.

Mr. Stenzel and Mr. Henry, we value your perspective and experience as Congress works to craft legislation that it does not interfere with the traceability technologies already working in the marketplace. Your testimony will help the subcommittee determine where FDA can best leverage its resources to strengthen traceability systems.

From farm to fork, our food system is vast and complicated. Building an effective traceability system is not easy, but with our public health at stake – it is essential.

I want to thank our witnesses again for participating this morning. I look forward to your testimony. With that, I will ask Ranking Member Mr. Kingston if he would like to make an opening statement.

Impact of Mexico's tariffs and other headlines

A critical story right now revolves around the tariffs imposed by Mexico in its trucking dispute with the U.S. The USDA FAS just issued a report that offers some analysis of the issue from the FAS post in Mexico City. Find the report. here. From the report:

 

These new duties will have a significant affect on U.S. exports, especially the 45 percent that has been placed on grapes. Most of the imported fruit from the United States that will be affected originate from the states of California, Washington and Oregon with an approximate value of $170 million in 2008. Furthermore, according to traders, a decrease of imported fruit was already  expected due to the depreciation of the Mexican peso.However, the United States is expected to remain Mexico's main supplier of many of these products. Look for more Packer coverage this week on this blockbuster story.

 

Also, note this coverage from Reuters on the issue, where Secretary of State Clinton expresses some optimism about resolving the issue - if months from now.

 

 

 

Other headlines snatched from the Web:

 

Obama and climate change: we'll get it done NYT

The president did not offer a timeline for when he wants to sign the energy and climate law. And he also did not mention possible federal regulations for greenhouse gases at U.S. EPA under a nearly two-year-old Supreme Court precedent that requires the agency to issue emission control rules should it determine that climate change threatens public health or welfare.The White House Office of Management and Budget last Friday started its review of a proposed EPA finding that makes that very connection Greenwire, March 23).

EPA a green political tool Gerson Lehrman

In summary, EPA is becoming irrelevant and only a concerted effort by all leading scientific institutions - without any political alignments  - together with all energy consuming countries of the world can establish common ground rules for CO2.  The global adherence to those rules would keep the US competitive in the world market as well as all other parties signing on to the new climate rules.  

 

Back of the box classics Herald Tribune

Hearken back to yesteryear recipe classics, including Dole's pineapple upside down cake

 

Card check process used by union organizers ignites fuy in iIndiana Fox News

But workers at the Dana Corporation Auto Parts plant in Albion, Ind., say the card check process has nearly torn the 50-person plant apart after harassment and intimidation from the United Auto Workers union forced them to a secret-ballot vote.

CFIA funds hort growers for food safety news Grainnews

TK: The U.S. should copy this program

Fruit, potato and hothouse produce growers who invest in field and traceability record-keeping software are now eligible to get some of that investment back, if they apply fast. The Canadian Horticultural Council said in a memo Tuesday that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has granted its request to add such software and tools to its list of food safety equipment covered for reimbursement under the On-Farm Implementation (OFI) funding program

 

 

Betagro launches traceability Web site The Nation

TK: Sounds promising....

 

Fresh food giant Betagro is to allow international importers and local consumers to track the origins of its food products and the processes through which they pass by Internet before the end of this year.  As well as creating a website for the e-traceability system, the company is to provide what it calls Spy on Me kiosks at 14 Betagro shops around the country, allowing consumers to trace food products from source.

 

 

Policy group says FDA needs single food safety chief CIDRAP

For one of the next steps, the nonpartisan Trust for America's Health (TFAH) said in a report released today, Congress should put the FDA's food safety programs in a proposed new "Food Safety Administration" (FSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), thus splitting the FDA into separate food and drug agencies. The report also calls for increasing the FDA's food safety funding and giving it greater authority to require food companies to embrace sound prevention systems. In addition, it calls for a closer partnership between the FDA's food safety programs and the food safety epidemiology program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report, "Keeping America's Food Safe: A Blueprint for Fixing the Food Safety System at the US Department of Health and Human Services," renews and amplifies recommendations that TFAH made in a report a year ago. (See Apr 30, 2008, CIDRAP News story.) The new report was prepared in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

 

Bloomberg: The median price for an existing, single-family detached home in California sank to $247,590 in February from $418,260 a year earlier, the Los Angeles-based group said in a statement. The U.S. median price fell 16 percent during the same period, the second-biggest drop on record, according to the National Association of Realtors