It chaps me

Why not start Monday with this theme: "It chaps me." No explanation necessary, except for our readers in U.K., Netherlands and France, of which our site meter tells us we have a handful. "Chaps" does not refer to the fellows at university, it refers to being peeved or annoyed.

Here is my offering.

I sent in a Freedom of Information request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service more than a month ago and still have not heard from them. I requested what would seem to be fairly straightforward data. What are the statistics for the last five years for the number of terminal market inspections performed by AMS Fresh Products Branch? I haven't heard yet and it chaps me.

If your equanimity is undisturbed, leave a message on this post (anonymous or not) and tell us what you do and where you are reading this blog from.

Cheers!

On the road to Minneapolis

I will be renting a car to drive to Minneapolis for some work on upcoming leadership profiles for The Packer on Monday. A few other irons are in the fire as well. I'm waiting on word from the United Fresh Produce Association (United in all future references) on whether they will allow a member of the trade press to participate in a fresh produce grade inspection training program at the USDA training center in Fredericksburg, Va. United is offering the training classes in conjunction with the USDA again for 2007. Amy Philpott said my request gave United a lot of things to consider. For USDA, I wonder if one is my recent criticism of Fresh Products Branch oversight of ousted training center director Tom Gambill.

This trend toward denying even trade press access to meetings - notably FMI's Dec. 5 summit on food safety - is an unfortunate development. Consumers need more openness, not less, from produce marketers And if the industry's message isn't told to the trade press, it will be that much harder to connect with credibility to consumers.