COOL Webinar

Julia Stewart passes on this note about the free Webinar next week on COOL best practices from PMA and Western Growers:


PMA, Western Growers co-host free industry Webinar June 24 on COOL best practices

Newark, Del. – Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and Western Growers (WG) will co-host a free Webinar for industry to learn about and provide feedback on the associations’ new draft best management practices for complying with federal produce country of origin labelling (COOL). The complimentary Webinar, which will be held Tuesday, June 24 at 4 p.m. EDT/1:00 p.m. PDT, is designed to prepare industry members for Sept. 30, 2008, when mandatory federal country-of-origin labeling goes into effect.

The best practices were developed by the associations’ joint task force, whose members represent the entire supply chain. The task force was chaired by Tom Deardorff of Deardorff Family Farms and Mike O’Brien of Schnuck Markets.

PMA Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs Kathy Means, WG Executive Vice President Matt McInerney and task force co-chairs Deardorff and O’Brien will lead the Webinar. They will present the task force’s best practices, then field questions from Webinar participants.

“Implementing COOL practices throughout the produce supply chain is really a hot topic, especially with the Sept. 30 deadline approaching so quickly,” said Means. “Aside from this Webinar, PMA will also offer a COOL educational workshop at Fresh Summit in October, nearly one month after its implementation. Because the convention provides such a diverse representation of businesses, it is a perfect opportunity to check the industry’s pulse on COOL implementation.”
“Based on feedback we received throughout the supply chain, Western Growers and PMA were able to come together and develop a set of COOL best practices we anticipate will prove useful as a practical approach as the Sept. 30 deadline approaches,” said McInerney. “We are looking forward to broad participation in this Webinar, as we roll these best practices out.”

Webinar participants will get an inside look at COOL and the latest information to make origin labeling easy for companies throughout the industry. Presenters will give an update on U.S. Department of Agriculture rules and regulations, and how to prepare for future in-store compliance checks.

The draft country of origin labeling best practices that will be discussed in the Webinar can be accessed via PMA’s Web site at http://www.pma.com/issues/labeling.cfm, or on WG’s Web site at www.wga.com. The guidance will be reviewed again when USDA releases COOL regulations sometime in July.

The Webinar is complimentary, but registration is required. For additional information and to register, visit http://www.pma.com/webinar/webinar-web-June10-08.html.

Put tomatoes back on shelves and menus with confidence

Sliding across the inbox this morning:

Florida Tomato Committee has signed the following letter that was forwarded to retail and foodservice buyers this morning. The Committee encourages you to forward to customers and colleagues as well.

ALLIANCE FOR FOOD AND FARMING
CALIFORNIA TOMATO FARMERS
FLORIDA FRUIT AND VEGETABLE ASSOCIATION
FLORIDA TOMATO COMMITTEE
PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION
UNITED FRESH PRODUCE ASSOCIATION
WESTERN GROWERS ASSOCIATION

June 12, 2008

To the retail and foodservice produce-buying community:

With the good news that tomatoes from certain Florida counties and 30 other states or countries have been ruled out as the sources of the ongoing Salmonella saintpaul illness outbreak, we encourage you to now put those tomatoes back on your shelves and menus with confidence.

With the wellbeing of our consumers at the top of our minds, we have all worked together over the past 10 days to help the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to locate the source. FDA and CDC’s very thorough epidemiological and traceback investigations have now definitively ruled out round red and Roma/plum tomatoes from most production areas, and all other types of tomatoes regardless of source. According to FDA, these tomatoes cannot be the source of the illnesses.

We share your interest in protecting public health, first and foremost, and our industry strives to ensure our customers receive safe and healthy produce every bite, every time. Our thoughts and prayers have been with the people who were sickened by this ordeal.

Our tomato industry and producers in these areas are ready and eager to supply you with safe and healthy tomatoes; please contact your shipper partners to place new orders today. They have already paid a high price to protect public health, and shouldn’t be needlessly punished any further while the investigation is completed. Nor should our end customers be deprived any longer of safe supplies of one of the true joys of summer eating, tomatoes. Getting tomatoes back in our retail stores and on the menus is the most important step we can all take to restore consumer confidence.

We are in constant communication with the FDA in an effort to monitor this situation, which, as you know, is changing daily. If you have any questions about which tomato products and/or growing regions have been excluded from the investigation and are safe to ship, please contact us. If you would like any assistance with consumer communications, please contact your state and national organizations for assistance. We look forward to helping you put tomatoes back on the shelves, and back on the menu.

Sincerely,

Marilyn Dolan, Alliance for Food and Farming
Ed Beckman, California Tomato Farmers
Mike Stuart, Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association
Reggie Brown, Florida Tomato Committee
Bryan Silbermann, Produce Marketing Association
Tom Stenzel, United Fresh Produce Association
Tom Nassif, Western Growers Association

FFVA: Finding a place in farm policy

From the FFVA:

The Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association today strongly applauded Congress for passing a landmark farm bill that for the first time addresses the needs and priorities of the U.S. specialty crop industry.

“This bill reflects the tremendous contributions specialty crops make to U.S. agriculture and the health of all Americans,” said FFVA President Mike Stuart. “It’s been a long and sometimes difficult process, but we are especially pleased that the House and Senate conferees were able to work out funding issues that had slowed the bill’s progress. We commend the leadership in both houses as well as members of the committees who worked so hard to bring this to a successful conclusion.”

The Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (H.R. 2419) passed in the House on Wednesday by a 318-106 vote, and the Senate approved the bill 81-15 on Thursday. President Bush has threatened a veto, although the votes in both houses signal that an override is possible.

Specialty crops – fruits, vegetables, tree nuts and other crops – account for nearly half of all cash crop receipts in the United States. Florida ranks second in the nation in production of fruits, vegetables and nuts.

The bill targets nearly $3 billion to support specialty crop producers by:

Expanding the USDA Fruit & Vegetable Snack Program to all 50 states. This program develops lifelong healthy eating habits for children through consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Establishing a specialty crop research initiative to develop and disseminate science-based tools to address the industry’s needs.

Increasing funding for state-level specialty crop grants that focus on local, regional and statewide programs to enhance producers’ ability to compete in the marketplace and provide consumers with safe, abundant food.

Enhancing critical trade assistance and market promotion tools that will grow international markets.

Investing in prevention and mitigation programs and tools to combat invasive pest and diseases, which cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars per year.

Facilitating producers’ access to and participation in conservation programs.

Stuart serves as a co-chair of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, a group of more than 120 organizations representing growers of fruits, vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, nursery plants and other products. The alliance has worked for more than two years to broaden the scope and efficiency of U.S. agricultural public policy by including these crops in the 2008 Farm Bill.

“Our industry does not receive direct payments, nor has it advocated for them in this farm bill,” Stuart said. “Rather, we have worked with Congress to provide the resources necessary for us to remain competitive and grow in a global marketplace.”

Stuart also commended members of Florida’s legislative delegation who voted for the bill. “We appreciate their support for a bill that will put more fruits and vegetables in schools, enhance our industry’s efforts to fight invasive pests and diseases, and help us to market our crops domestically and globally,” he said.

The Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association (www.ffva.com) is an agricultural trade organization representing Florida's producers of fruits, vegetables and other crops.

FV Advisory Committee named

This has been in the works for some time. I like the diversity of this group; the USDA did a good job of putting this group together with some holdovers from the last committee and many new members as well. Here is the release announcing the newly minted Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee:



CONNER NAMES MEMBERS TO FRUIT AND VEGETABLE INDUSTRY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2007 - Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner today announced the names of members of the new Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee. USDA will schedule the committee's first meeting for January 2008 in the Washington, D.C., area.
The 25 members were selected from individuals nominated by their peers. Committee members represent fresh fruit and vegetable growers/shippers, fresh fruit and vegetable wholesalers, retailers, industry trade associations, importers, fruit and vegetable processors, foodservice suppliers, fresh-cut processors, brokers and state departments of agriculture. Each member is appointed to a two-year term. Fourteen of the members are incumbents from the previous advisory committee.
Originally chartered in 2001, the advisory committee advises the Secretary of Agriculture on issues affecting the fruit and vegetable industry. In May 2007, USDA approved a new two-year charter for this committee. The Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 provides for the establishment and operation of advisory committees within the executive branch of the federal government.
More information about the meeting will be published in the Federal Register and will be available at www.ams.usda.gov/fv. Information also can be obtained by e-mailing robert.keeney@usda.gov or by calling (202) 720-4722.
USDA's Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee Members: 2007-2009
Danny Arnold A-W Produce Company Texas
Gordon Bowman Bowman Apple Products Virginia
Wayne Brandt Brandt Farms California
William Brim Lewis Taylor Farms Georgia
Frederick Caito Caito Foods Service Indiana
Charles Ciruli, Jr. Ciruli Brothers/Amex Distributing Company Arizona
Jim Corby Food Lion North Carolina
Scott Danner Liberty Fruit Company Kansas
Matthew D'Arrigo D'Arrigo Brothers New York
Andrew Deane Del Monte Foods California
Joseph DeVerna Ocean Spray Massachusetts
Michael Hollister Driscolls' Inc. California
A.G. Kawamura California Department of Food and Agriculture California
Helen Masser Sterman Masser, Inc. Pennsylvania
Lisa McNeece Grimmway Enterprises California
John Millwater Fresh Express Texas
Luis Monterde B&M Blueberries Mississippi
Robert Morrissey National Watermelon Association Florida
Paul Newman Rainier Fruit Company Washington
Daniel Richey Riverfront Growers/Riverfront Packing Florida
Mike Stuart Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association Florida
Lisa Strube Strube Celery and Vegetable Company Illinois
Jennifer Verdelli Verdelli Farms Pennsylvania
Rebecca Wilson Tom Lange Company Illinois
Larry Yonce J.W. Yonce and Sons South Carolina

About Harkin's legislation

What can we make of Sen. Harkin's produce safety legislation? In some senses, it seems to deliver what United, PMA and other elements of the industry have been asking for - strong, nationwide federal oversight of produce safety that also accounts for imports. On the other hand, industry leaders (note Tom Stenzel's earlier statement on the blog) are cautious that the legislation may be over prescriptive and inflexible. Some believe food safety regulations should come from FDA, not Congress.

Given the short time frame for enacting the farm bill, I don't think there is any way that this produce safety legislation will be attached to the farm bill - yet that seems to be a concern among some.

Here is an audio clip from the panel of industry leaders I moderated Tuesday at the FFVA convention. The question featured in this clip is the panel's reaction to Sen. Harkin's then pending produce safety legislation. I apologize the audio quality isn't that great. You will find the panel is concerned about potential legislation that represents a knee-jerk reaction by Capitol Hill, legislation that doesn't take into account what industry has already done and legislation that would be linked to the farm bill. The industry leaders on the panel are: Tom Nassif, president of Western Growers; Emanuel Lazopoulos, chairman of the United Fresh Produce Association; Mike Stuart, president of FFVA; and John McClung, president of the Texas Produce Association.

Charles Bronson speaks at FFVA

Here is the audio link to Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson at the FFVA convention Sept. 18. Bronson addresses the distrust that some members of Congress feel about the specialty crop block grants program, largely based on the fact that some states didn't accurately account for previous funds disbursed under the program.. He praises Mike Stuart in his role as co-chair of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance and also speaks about the farm to fuel program in Florida. Bronson also talked about the pending nosedive of the rural economy if Congress does not act soon on comprehensive immigration reform. "Sides have been taken to the point no one is willing to move," he said.

"If you want to see the food supply of this country taken over by foreign counties...(lack of action by Congress) will cause the economy in the state of Florida fall like they have never seen."

TK; Here is an audio clip of the presentation of the award for the George F. Sorn Scholarship. The award is presented to a child of a farm worker in Florida. It was heartwarming to hear this young lady speak and to see George Sorn present her the award with her family. She (Nanci Palacios) graduated with a 5.0 grade point average and well proves the contributions and value of both farm workers and their families in the U.S.

Harkin and DeLauro statements

Just wrapped up the morning meetings here at the FFVA. Round table discussion with John McClung, Mike Stuart, Tom Nassif and Emanuel Lazopoulos illustrated many points of agreement on food safety, the farm bill, pest issues and immigration. The industry is still not totally in sync on where to next on food safety, whether that means federal marketing order, FDA regulation, legislation or state-based program. There are many uncertainties, to be sure. Meanwhile, the Dole lettuce recall prompted this statement today from Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.
Here is the statement:


Harkin: Latest American Recall
Has International Implications

Senate legislation to be introduced later this week

Washington, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today issued the following statement on the recall of Dole's Hearts Delight bagged salad due to E. coli O157:H7 contamination. Eighty-eight cases - or 528 bags – of the bagged salad were distributed in Canada and 755 cases containing 4,530 bags in the U.S., according to Dole.

“From bagged salad with E. coli to spinach that contains Salmonella, food safety is increasingly becoming a concern for American consumers as they visit the produce aisle,” said Harkin. “Not only is this a concern for domestic producers and consumers, but now we’re seeing American produce recalls have international implications. It is long past time for Congress to act and later this week, I intend to introduce legislation to restore confidence in American produce and the agency that regulates it.”

Harkin is preparing to reintroduce legislation he has previously proposed to set up a national program that would require food safety practices for growing and processing fresh produce at most risk of causing foodborne illness.



And from Rep. Rosa DeLauro

DeLauro Welcomes Additional Voice in Supporting
Stronger Food Safety System
Announces Upcoming Hearing to Address Import Safety

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) issued the following statement welcoming the proposal for improved food safety from the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

The proposal, as well as the federal government’s ability to ensure the safety of food imports, will be addressed at an oversight hearing on food imports Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 10:30 AM in Room 2362A of the Rayburn Building (witness list forthcoming). DeLauro chairs the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, with jurisdiction and oversight responsibilities of food safety operations and its budget.

“Momentum is clearly growing for strengthening and modernizing our nation’s food safety system. I welcome the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s proposal to improve the inspection of imported foods and ingredients and look forward to closely reviewing the details of the proposal during the hearing next week.

“Given the major recalls this year, their announcement today sends a very strong message that the industry recognizes the inadequacy of voluntary measures to protect public health and reassure American consumers that their food is safe. It is yet one more voice highlighting the need to change our system to one that seeks to minimize hazards by applying science based controls and focus our system on preventing food-borne illness not just reacting when outbreaks occur.”

Some pics

Headed home soon. Here are a couple of shots from yesterday. Top Ag Secretary Mike Johanns touring show floor with Emanuel Lazopoulos. Below, Mike Stuart of FFVA asking Johanns a question after speech by Johanns in hospitality center.

Fresh Express logic

Here is the link to the Fresh Express statement about their decision to participate in the California leafy greens marketing agreement.

This is a welcome decision of course, but we should be reminded the industry is far from where it wants to be. As Mike Stuart of the FFVA was telling me the other day, the industry's sometimes divergent approaches to food safety - marketing agreement, marketing order, federal oversight, etc. - must be melded. While a food safety marketing agreement may be considered a "building block," what will the finished architecture look like? That's the medium and long term challenge for industry leaders.

H2A growth

I have been making some calls today about the H2A program, the guest worker program for agriculture. Despite the program's flaws , which include high wages and heavy paperwork jams - growers facing worker shortages are turning to the program in bigger numbers. Department of Labor statistics for fiscal year 2006 show that 59,112 workers were certified for the H2A program, up from 44,619 workers in fiscal year 2004 and just 19,500 workers certified in 1997.

Usage of H2A should reflect another strong uptick this year. Mike Stuart of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association said ag employers there using the association's H2A services brought in only a few hundred guest workers last year. "We've seen a dramatic increase of our members use of the program in the last six to twelve months....essentially about an eight to ten fold increase in utilization of it," he said. Stuart said 3,000 to 4,000 H2A workers are being utilized by FFVA members in Florida this year.

TK: Obviously, enforcement actions against undocumented workers and the resulting labor shortages in fruit and vegetable fields have heightened the interest in the guest worker program. The future of the agricultural workforce appears to be with H2A, making AgJobs reforms that would add flexibility and ease of use of the program that much more urgent.

Guest blogger invite

Tom Stenzel, Bryan Silbermann, Tom Nassif, Mike Stuart, Lorelei DiSogra, John Keeling, Kathy Means, Kevin Moffitt, Elizabeth Pivonka, Amy Philpott, Tim York, Karin Gardner, any Packer 25 personality, food safety expert. etc.

If any of the aforementioned industry leaders - or anyone else I deem worthy - wants to try a hand at guest blogging in this space, drop me an email and I'll set you up. No shameless self-promotion or stilted news release copy permitted, but if you would like to drop in a post in Fresh Talk I will set you up as a guest blogger.

My email tkarst@thepacker.com