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October 13, 2006 –
Perishable Pundit Overview:
Dangerous E. coli Found On One Ranch
Fast Testing For Pathogens Necessary
Nunes Tests
Negative
Lobbying For Better Refrigeration
PulseNet Redux
Pundit’s Mailbag – Population Inured By Recalls?
Botulism And Carrot Juice Summary III
Pundit Rewind XIII:
Spinach Crisis Summary
Dangerous E. coli Found
On One Ranch
The United Fresh
Produce Association issued the statement we copy below related to the
FDA and California Department of Health Services finding on one ranch
that supplied Natural Selection Foods some cattle feces that match the
strain of E. coli 0157:H7 that was implicated in the spinach recall.
Although the whole
world will leap to the conclusion that this proves the tainted spinach
came from that ranch, it does nothing of the sort.
Remember, the FDA and
CDHS are not doing a random study of ranches in Salinas. They are
bearing down on those they can associate with supplying Natural
Selection Foods with product during the period in question.
That means that we have
no idea if they would have found that same strain of E. coli 0157:H7 on
other ranches that they haven’t even looked at.
I don’t see that it
brings us any closer to a causal link.
Here is United’s
notice:
The California
Department of Health Services and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
announced this evening that three positive samples of E. coli 0157:H7
with the same genetic strain as that which caused the recent foodborne
disease outbreak in spinach have been identified in cattle feces on one
ranch that supplied spinach to Natural Selections Foods on the day of
production in question.
Dr. Kevin Reilly of
CDHS reported that the investigators have now narrowed the investigation
from nine to four ranches, now limited to two counties – San Benito and
Monterey. The positive matches for the same DNA strain linked to the
spinach outbreak were all found on one ranch, although investigation
continues on all four. Reilly said that the three samples of cattle
feces that tested positive were located between one-half and one mile
from the actual field where spinach was grown, but that the cattle
pasture was adjacent to the field. Reilly said that the land owner
sublet a portion of the ranch for fresh produce production, and also
maintained a cattle ranch on the property.
Investigators
emphasized that this is the first time a direct matching strain of E.
coli 0157:H7 that was linked to foodborne disease has been identified in
the environment in this area, in close proximity to the field where
implicated spinach was grown. However, officials strongly advised that
this does not prove cause-and-effect, but is a significant finding for
further investigation. The agencies would not speculate as to how the
contamination may have been transmitted to the spinach.
Both California and
FDA officials stressed tonight that there have been “significant
improvements” and “a lot of progress” in implementing Good Agricultural
Practices across this growing region and the industry in the past year.
“We’re not 100% there yet, with 100% of the farms implementing GAPs 100%
of the time, but that’s where we’re heading,” Reilly said. As an
example, Reilly once again commended The Nunes Company for its
precautionary recall of green leaf lettuce earlier this week, stating
that this was evidence of commitment to GAPs taking hold throughout the
industry.
“We commend the
staff at CDHS and FDA who have worked so hard to help narrow this
investigation further,” said United Fresh President Tom Stenzel. “The
finding of this matching strain is extremely helpful in learning exactly
what went wrong in this case. There is more investigation to be done,
but the public can certainly have confidence that we are narrowing this
down to a specific cause that industry and government together can work
to prevent in the future,” he said.
Fast Testing For
Pathogens Necessary
The Nunes lettuce recall, which we dealt with
here, points out the weakness of testing inputs and then seeing
results after product has been shipped. First, it doesn’t guarantee
safety because the product could have already been consumed. Second, it
doesn’t stop the bad publicity related to recalls.
My read of the regulatory agencies is that they
really want product testing. As part of its own efforts to appease
regulators and rebuild the confidence of consumers, Natural Selection
Foods has created a product testing “firewall” for its facility:
“Most important is what we are calling the
“firewall.” We will be testing all of the freshly harvested greens —
spinach and everything else — that are brought to our facility before
they enter our production stream. If pathogens are detected, the lot
will be discarded. This program is modeled on the program successfully
implemented by the beef industry and approved by the International
Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Food. This “firewall”
will prevent anything like this E. coli-contaminated
produce from ever entering our facilities.”
This is one way of doing it, and if it keeps
pathogens out of the plant, it may even be the best way. My sense,
however, is that in the end the FDA really wants product testing after
the product is processed. The big cost to this is not the testing
itself; it is that you really want a hold-and-ship system implemented,
in which product is held until the test results come back “all clear”.
(The test results take about 48 hours, so you are talking about the loss
of two days of shelf life.)
This is a big problem for certain prepared foods
that only have seven or eight days of shelf life – but most fresh-cuts
have 14 to 21 days, so a day or two delay shouldn’t be impossible to
deal with. If the system was done properly, we could possibly even allow
shipping to cross country destinations as long as the product isn’t
released from the truck until the “all clear” was given. This would mean
no reduction in shelf life to the East Coast, for example. Recalled
product should be so infrequent that the cost of the truck on the
occasional recall should be inconsequential.
Still, if we could speed up test results, it would
be better, so I turned to my friend Lou Cooperhouse, Director of the
Rutgers Food Innovation Center, and asked him about the prospects
for faster testing:
As you know, most microbiological testing for
food products done at food companies today occurs with Petri dishes or
Petri film that typically takes 24-48 hours, or longer. However, for the
perishable food industry, this is far too long a time period, as simply
waiting for microbiological results can easily consume 25% to 100% of
the total shelf life of a perishable food product. This is obviously not
a realistic situation.
As a result, many companies in the perishable
food industry commonly ship products before finished product
microbiological testing has been completed. They rely on “statistical
process control” that occurs post-shipment, instead of microbiological
testing that should occur (and be completed) pre-shipment for 100% of
the lots that have been produced. Many companies don’t even
test-finished products for pathogens like E. coli 0157:H7 and rely
instead on environmental testing on a random and statistical basis.
An interesting model in the food industry is
the sprouts industry, as sprouts have a very short shelf life and have
been implicated in a number of food safety recalls in the past as well.
There is an interesting (but technical) PowerPoint on the FDA website —
link to
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/sprfuto/sprfuto.ppt — about rapid
methods for testing spent irrigation water as an indicator for the
microbiological condition of sprouts. Rapid methods for testing sprouts
for E. coli are currently being practiced in the industry, and FDA has
supported and promoted these efforts. However, such methods are not
utilized in other perishable foods industries.
Another interesting rapid-testing model in our
society is drug testing — which many of our companies utilize for
evaluating prospective new employees. Drug screen results are given
within minutes, and if an individual “fails” in the instant
“presumptive” test, samples are sent to labs for confirmation. So such
technology is used commonly in industry today
In my opinion, we should learn from alfalfa
sprout growers, and even the drug testing industry, and adopt a
quick-testing system across the perishable food industry, and insist
that manufactures adopt procedures for microbiological testing of all
lots of finished products before shipping.
Such test kits are now available, and
presumptive testing can tell a food producer within minutes if harmful
levels of E. coli or E. coli 0157:H7 are present. I believe that such
kits are available for less than $5 per test. An organization called the
AOAC is a not-for-profit scientific association that is the recognized
clearinghouse for approved scientific methods used in analytical
testing. They list such testing methods on their website at
http://www.aoac.org/testkits/testedmethods.html#Microbiological
This site also has links directly to the
manufacturers of these products as well.
So this is what we are looking for:
“…a quick testing system across the perishable
food industry, and insist that manufactures adopt procedures for
microbiological testing of all lots of finished products before
shipping.”
Lou mentions the sprout industry and when I think
sprouts, I think of my frequent correspondence with Bob Sanderson at
Jonathan’s Sprouts in New England. I asked him if he thought that
the experience of sprout growers might be helpful to spinach and lettuce
growers. He was a little skeptical:
FDA recommends that spent-irrigation water from
all sprout-production batches be tested for Salmonella and E. Coli
0157:H7, and that results be back in house prior to shipment of the
sprouts being tested.
In some ways this seems analogous to the
packaged salad situation, but it is different in some key respects. We
can put collection cups at every drainage point on our growing systems,
and so, in effect, get a water sample that has come into contact with
every sprout in the batch. The sprouts sit there for another 48 hours
after we take this sample, and so we can know exactly which sprouts are
involved if we get a positive test result.
The “rapid” tests, which are widely used, still
take the better part of 48 hours. There are 24 hour-methods, but I don’t
know of labs that offer them yet. I read about even faster methods;
don’t know about their “limit of detection”, pre-enrichment, etc.
I think the salad mixes present much greater
challenges in terms of high-confidence sampling and testing. But people
are clever...
Bob is clever too and serious about sprouts and
food safety. Take a look at
this page from his website that details, with photos, the food
safety regimen for sprouts.
What is clear is this:
-
We need product
testing on vulnerable things such as fresh-cuts and carrot juice.
-
It must be
reasonably priced.
-
It might take away
some shelf-life, but a livable amount.
-
It would be best if
we can find quick-read tests
I think we need to stop chattering and just make
it happen. Wal-Mart, Costco, Safeway, Kroger, Supervalu — call in your
suppliers and ask them for a schedule of how quickly it can be
implemented.
Resistance is futile – and foolish.
Nunes Tests Negative
Some great news from
The Nunes Company. Independent lab tests of the product have come
back negative:
Green
Leaf Lettuce Update
Released: October 10, 2006; 2:00 p.m.
Nunes Company
President Tom Nunes announced this afternoon that results received by
the Company from an independent lab, testing multiple samples of
recalled Green Leaf, and water taken Sunday, October 8th, were
negative for pathogenic E. coli 0157:H7.
He explained that
the Company undertook the recall based on tests of irrigation water.
“At the time we
ordered the recall, we only had an indication that there might be the
potential that people could become sick. We thought it better to be
safe, and to protect the health of our consumers. On Sunday, we pulled
Green Leaf and water samples. We had all of the samples, tested for E.
coli O157:H7. We are relieved that all results were negative, and
we are confident our product is safe.”
On Monday, October
9th, the FDA also collected water samples, and they are now being
tested.
This was a nervous
week, so the decision was probably the right one. But the long-term
question is this: Does it make sense to recall product because the water
supply tests positive for generic E. coli?
If we were doing
product testing, we wouldn’t have to ask the question.
Lobbying For Better
Refrigeration
We’ve been dealing a lot with the Bolthouse
botulism problem on 100% carrot juice. You can see our coverage right
here.
Sometimes our industry lobbyists can do the trade
the best service by working on issues outside the specific purview of
our industry. In light of all the
publicity that has been tied to the botulism problem on 100% carrot
juice and the need on many fresh-cuts and other products to sustain a
cold chain, how about lobbying for a law that requires new home
refrigerators to have built-in thermometers and the ability to set the
actual temperature as opposed to just a wheel that you can spin to get
“colder” or “warmer”?
Consumers are the last link in the food safety
chain. They should have the tools needed to do a good job.
Going along with this, merely saying “keep
refrigerated” on a label is insufficient. Labels should be required to
give specific temperatures: “Keep refrigerated at or below 35 degrees”…
or whatever is required.
PulseNet Redux
We ran
it yesterday and it so upsets me that I am going to run it again. Did
everybody notice that
PulseNet, which is supposed to be protecting our food safety and
food security, CLOSES ON THE WEEKEND?
Wisconsin public health
officials knew they had a serious problem. They also had a
responsibility to alert health officials in other states in case the
outbreak was larger than they knew.
So on Friday, Sept. 8,
microbiologist Linda Machmueller sat at her computer in the Wisconsin
State Laboratory of Hygiene in Madison and posted a terse message on
PulseNet, a federal Web board run by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention that allows scientists around the country to communicate
about possible disease outbreaks.
“Wisconsin has a cluster of 8
E. coli O157:H7,” she typed, including seven local cases and one from
Illinois. They all appeared to “match the pattern” for a strain of the
organism that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had isolated earlier in
hamburger patties from Texas. The microbiologist attached a copy of the
deadly organism’s DNA fingerprint.
She had no idea what would
happen next. “You never know when you post these things if it’s going to
amount to anything,” she said.
The Wisconsin posting landed
on PulseNet at 5:14 p.m. EDT, after everyone at the Web board’s Atlanta
headquarters had gone home for the weekend. So it wasn’t until Monday,
Sept. 11, that database manager Molly Joyner read the brief note,
checked the DNA fingerprint and began trying to figure out what was
going on.
pulseNet, as Wisconsin’s
Davis puts it, is a little “like a dating service for bacteria.” It
allows public health labs throughout the country to compare the
organisms they’re seeing with those being found in other states.
The bacterium isolated in the
Wisconsin outbreaks was not a highly unusual strain. Two or three cases
a week are commonly posted on PulseNet.
But by the end of the day on
Sept. 11, Joyner had discovered that nine states had posted single
matching E. coli samples to PulseNet in the weeks leading up to the
Wisconsin cluster, although it was unclear if they were connected. And
Minnesota e-mailed that afternoon with yet another match.
You can read the whole article
here.
I think the Centers for Disease
Control needs to change this policy, immediately.
Pundit’s
Mailbag —
Population
Inured By Recalls?
We
mentioned the Nunes green leaf lettuce recall
here and heard a lot of praise for the proactive attitude The Nunes
Company took in initiating a voluntary recall when nothing had been
found on the product:
The
Nunes Company could not have done a better job with the green leaf.
Their response was evocative of the way the Tylenol and Odwala Juice
crises were handled, and those two incidents are normally held out as
the best examples of what to do.
I
agree that we will have a rash of recalls as new and more stringent
tests, such as this water check, are now in place, and a hyper-sensitive
news media is looking for all related stories on food safety.
While
this would seem to be a negative in the short term, it could be a
positive in the long term. The more recalls and warnings occur with no
one getting ill, the less sensitive the public will be to the
announcements. Also, the more commonplace these warnings, the less
interested the media will be. The overall numbing affects of
overexposure will occur.
Also,
with each of these incidents, we see a faster, more specific response,
again, with no illness or death reported. This will eventually bolster
consumer confidence.
Finally, the next wave of “in depth” stories on safety in our perishable
food chain should, and if history proves correct, will stress the health
benefits of fresh food and especially produce consumption weighed
against the infinitesimal risk of infection as borne out by data.
All
in all, more responses like Nunes without subsequent infections will do
more to restore the public confidence in Salinas produce, fresh produce
in general and food safety.
Richard Kaiser
The
Richard Kaiser Company
Richard
is reacting to
my take that constant recalls will be bad for the industry. Richard
is basically saying that if we have a lot of recalls, people will become
used to them and see them as background noise, the way lions in Africa
that are raised in game reserves don’t object to the vehicles going by;
they see them as part of nature. But open the door and break the profile
of the vehicle and you can get eaten pretty easily.
It is a
reasonable point. But I think it would be better if we didn’t have to
announce recalls at all.
Botulism And Carrot
Juice Summary III
We’ve been asked to make available in one place our coverage of the
recall by Wm. Bolthouse Farms of certain 100% carrot juice products and
the broader implications of this issue for food safety. This piece is
updated regularly and will be re-run to include new coverage of this
outbreak and issue.
We initiated our coverage on October 2, 1006, by publishing the FDA
notice to consumers warning them not to drink the product, and we
inquired as to the margin of safety on the product. You can find the
piece, entitled Oh No! Another
Outbreak, right
here.
On October 4, 2006, we published Bolthouse And Juice Refrigeration,
which analyzed the proper standard of refrigeration for vulnerable
products and the ability of both the trade and consumers to maintain
that cold chain. Read it
here.
October 5, 2006, we ran Botulism III, which detailed the 12 steps
in the distribution chain that the industry needs functioning properly
in order to maintain the cold chain. The piece challenged retailers to
evaluate the integrity of their own cold chain. You can find the piece
here.
In The Botulism And E. coli Connection, which we ran on October
6, 2006, we noted similarities between the botulism outbreak on certain
Bolthouse carrot juice and the spinach/E. coli outbreak. The piece is
right
here.
On October 10, 2006, we noted, in Bolthouse Botulism Case Hits
Canada, that two Canadians were now victims of this botulism case
and noted that it was an unusual cluster to occur at one time if the
problem was solely temperature abuse by customers. You can catch it
here.
October 11, 2006 we ran Carrot Juice Still On Canadian Shelves,
we noted that Canadians were getting upset over the inability of
Canada’s public health authorities to execute a simple product recall
and that the frequency of recalls was raising questions over the safety
of California produce. Read it right
here.
On October 13, 2006 we ran Lobbying For Better Refrigeration
urging industry lobbyists to work on legislation to make sure consumers
have the tools they need to keep product safe at home. The article is
here.
Pundit Rewind XIII
The Pundit originally ran this piece on September 21, 2006. We
continuously update it in order to keep everyone organized with respect
to reference material on this subject, we have updated it with new items
and run it again today.
Spinach Crisis Summary
With so much having been written in so short a time, thought it would be
helpful to publish a sort of round-up of available material to help
people understand the whole situation regarding spinach and this E. coli
breakout:
The Perishable Pundit itself has dealt extensively with the subject in
several major pieces. On September 15, 2006, we published Spinach
Recall Reveals Serious Industry Problems, which addressed the
implications of this crisis for the fresh-cut industry. You can read the
piece
here.
On September 18, 2006, we published Organic Dodges a Bullet,
which deals with the implications of the outbreak for the future of
organic farming. You can find this piece
here. Also on September 18, 2006,
we ran a piece called Ramifications and Reflections on the Spinach
Recall, which provided our first 10-point analysis of the situation.
You can read it
here.
September 19, 2006, we asked Is FDA’s Concern Now an Obsession? —
a piece in which we assessed whether a national recommendation to not
eat spinach made any sense. You can review this
here.
On September 20, 2006, we noted 10 Peculiarities about the E. coli
Outbreak and reviewed why certain aspects of the situation are
unlike past food-safety challenges and other unanswered questions
regarding the outbreak. Read this one right
here. Also on September 20, 2006,
we did our third 10-point list, calling this one “Spinach Recall Begs
for Solutions”, where we reviewed how the trade can deal with this
issue for the future, including looking at the meat industry, the
prospect of universal testing and the use of
RFID and
GTIN. You can read all this
here.
On September 21, 2006, we asked Is FDA Causing Long-term Damage?
Here we posed the question of whether punishing the innocent and the
guilty alike doesn’t reduce incentives to invest in food safety. You can
read this piece right
here.
The September 25, 2006 edition of the Pundit includes our fourth
10-point list entitled Though Not ‘All-Clear’, Consumers Can Eat
Spinach Again, which reviewed many issues facing the industry as
spinach begins to reenter the market, including the FDA’s
announcement, PMA consumer research, the behavior of industry
association, battles over fresh-cuts and organics, the reintroduction of
Salinas Valley production, the FDA’s capabilities, and more. You can
read this piece
here. Also on September 25, 2006,
we reviewed The Role of Retailers And The Future Of Food Safety,
which pointed out that buyers have an important role in insuring food
safety. Catch this piece
here.
Additionally, on September 25, 2006, we ran the Pundit’s Pulse Of The
Industry in which a panel of retail pundits gave us insight into the
way the spinach issue played in store and with consumers. You can read
it
here.
The Pundit on September 26, 2006, included an articled entitled The
California Department of Health Services Owes People An Explanation
in which the question was raised whether certain parties received
preferential treatment in the current spinach/E. coli outbreak. Read it
right
here. Also on September 26, 2006,
we did a piece questioning the efficacy of our trace-back systems. The
piece was titled More Recalls Trickle In, and you can read it
here.
On September 27, 2006, the Pundit
analyzed the bad publicity that the Salinas Valley has received and
asked Is Salinas Getting A Bum Rap On Food Safety?
The piece can be read right
here.
September 28, 2006, the Pundit
included a piece entitled Call For Stronger FDA
that analyzed the demand of some in the food industry for beefing up
the FDA and its budget within the context of the spinach/E. coli
situation. You can read it
here.
On September 29, 2006 we did a
piece called Lies, Damned Lies And Statistics
that explored the contradiction of modern life that has led things
to seem less safe, even as they are actually safer. Read the piece
here.
October 2, 2006 we ran The
FDA Needs to Reexamine Its Methodology,
inquiring why it was necessary to shut down a whole industry when,
as far as we know, it was only Dole brand bagged spinach that was
implicated? Read it
here. Also on October 2, 2006, in a piece called Needless
Recalls, we examined how even if
many of the recalls were unnecessary, the recalls revealed big flaws
in the trade’s traceback systems. You can find the piece
here. Another piece October 2, 2006, entitled
Deconstructing FDA, analyzed the
FDA’s statement regarding the end of the spinach crisis. The piece
is right
here.
The Pundit also ran a piece entitled Action Plan to Regain Consumer
Confidence that both discussed the industry plan and proposed an
alternative plan. Read about it
here. Also on October 2, 2006, we did a piece called
Collateral Damage vs. Assumption of the
Risk, which analyzed some of the liability issues surrounding
the outbreak. You can find the piece
here. Additionally, on October 2, 2006, we published the second in
our series of Pundit’s Pulse Of The Industry. This one including
insight from Bob Edgell of Balls Foods and Ron McCormick of Wal-Mart,
regarding reaction at retail as spinach outside California became
available. Read it
here.
On October 4, 2006, the Pundit ran a piece entitled In Defense of
Salinas, in which, based on a discussion with a Salinas farmer, we
outlined five points you need to understand about the relationship
between the Salinas Valley and this outbreak. You can find it
here. Also on October 4, 2006, we published Notes On Natural
Selection: It Could Happen To You, which discussed the new food
safety plan revealed by Natural Selection Foods and discussed the
necessity of product testing. Read it
here.
October 5, 2006, we analyzed the implications of the FBI raid in Salinas
with Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…
You can read the piece
here. We also explained on October 5, 2006, the involvement of
Growers Express in the FBI raid in a piece entitled Bailando Juntos
(Dancing Together), which you can find right
here. What’s more, we discussed on October 5, 2006, why Canada is
still banning U.S. spinach and what that implies about relations between
the FDA and CFIA. The piece is called U.S. Spinach Still Banned in
Canada, and you can read it
here.
On October 6, 2006, the Pundit pointed out the importance of considering
the human costs of our actions in A Look At The Faces, which you
can read
here. Also on October 6, 2006, we analyzed how increased use of a
federal network was bound to mean the recording of more frequent food
safety outlets in a piece entitled PulseNet Ups Ante In Food Safety
Battle, which can be read right
here.
Although not strictly speaking spinach-related, when one company
voluntarily recalled certain green leaf lettuce, it was a decision
affected by the overall environment caused by the spinach/E. coli
situation. In Nunes Recall Reveals Testing Dilemma, published on
October 10, 2006, we analyzed how stricter standards may lead to more
frequent recalls. Catch the piece
here.
October 11, 2006 we pointed out that the Center for Disease Control was
beginning to see fresh-cut in a whole new light. You can read CDC’s
Aha! Moment right
here. Also on October 11, 2006, we offered Heads Up – Political
Posturing On Spinach Begins, pointing out that the a State
Senator in California was going to start some hearings. Read the piece
here.
On October 12, 2006, in PulseNet Asleep At The Wheel, we detailed
that the nation’s food safety bulletin board likes to take off on
weekends. Read this astounding piece
here.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE CRISIS
In addition, the Pundit has done several smaller pieces that touched on
various aspects of this crisis. On September 18, 2006, we raised the
issue of whether food safety outbreaks such as this raise long-term
issues about the viability of cartoon character tie-ins in Who Has
Marketing Fortitude? You can read about it
here. Also on September 18, 2006,
we wrote Fit To Be Tied, which dealt with the way some companies
have little sense of decency when it comes to marketing their products
in the midst of a crisis. You can read this one right
here.
Additionally on September 18, 2006, our Pundit’s Mailbag focused
on letters received by United President/CEO Tom Stenzel and incoming
Chairman Emanuel Lazopoulos of Del Monte Fresh, which dealt with the
confluence of United’s Board Meeting and the spinach crisis as well as
issues of industry leadership. You can find this one
here.
On September 19, 2006, we noted that there might be a Greenhouse
Opportunity in all this. Read this
here. Also on September 19, 2006,
we noted that, though fruits and vegetables are healthy, fresh produce
is not necessarily the best choice for those with a compromised immune
system. The piece is called Marketing Nightmare and you can find
it right
here.
On September 21, 2006, we did a piece called Wal-Mart Deli/Bakery Has
Crisis Of Its Own that draws a link between the difficulty of
preventing a Salmonella outbreak at one store with the difficulty of
preventing an E. coli outbreak on an industry-wide basis. You can read
this piece
here.
On September 25, 2006, the Pundit noted Another Oddity In Spinach
Crisis and raised the question whether some or all of the product
being marketed as conventional might not be organic. Read it right
here. Also on September 25, 2006,
we ran a Pundit’s Mailbag which dealt both with the utility of
loyalty card programs and with the nature of large, multi-line fresh-cut
packing facilities. You can read this one right
here. Also we did a short piece
on what change was actually necessary if consumers were to be reassured
of the safety of spinach. Read it
here.
On September 26, 2006, we discussed the issue of recalls and how
insurance plays into that. You can read this
here. Also had an unrelated piece
on Wegmans that included a video clip on how consumer media is dealing
with the reintroduction of spinach. You can catch it
here.
Additionally on September 26, 2006, we ran a Pundit’s Mailbag
exploring the causes of the outbreak. You can read this piece
here.
September 27, 2006, we focused on a piece in the Washington Post
that helps us in Putting Things In Perspective. How does the
Spinach/E. coli outbreak relate to the total numbers that get sick and
die each year from foodborne illness? You can read it right
here.
On September 28, 2006, we published a terrific Pundit’s Mailbag
exploring the frustration the buy side felt in dealing with the
spinach/E. coli situation. Read it
here.
October 2, 2006, we had some Questions For Western Growers that
asked how far the WGA was willing to go to make sure foreign growers
meet the same standards as Salinas area farmers. Read about it
here. We also asked How Committed Is The Produce Industry To
Broad/National Food Safety Program. You can read the piece
here.
In addition, on October 2, we ran
pundit’s Mailbag: Another Despicable Marketing Attempt that
pointed out how a seed company was taking advantage of the situation
and, possibly, leading to harm, by pushing its products. Read about it
here.
On October 4, 2006, we ran a piece entitled Primary And Secondary
Suppliers, which details how this food safety crisis has to impact
retail vendor selection. Catch it right
here. Also on October 4, 2006, we discussed how to help innocent
spinach farmers who were victimized by this crisis in Everyone Needs
to Do A Little Bit. The Pundit pledged to do its own bit. Read it
right
here.
October 5, 2006, we ran a piece focused on another outbreak of foodborne
illness -- in this case, botulism in carrot juice. The focus, however,
was on the necessity to change attitudes as the produce industry becomes
less a packing industry and more a processing industry. It is called
Botulism III, and you can read it
here.
On October 6, 2006 we pointed out The Botulism And E. coli Connection
where we explained that our focus on pathogens at the product source,
though important, is insufficient. Read it
here. Also on October 6, 2006 we
ran Pundit’s Mailbag: What Are The feds Up To? This answered a
reader’s letter inquiring as to whether the FBI being in Salinas implied
industry members weren’t cooperating. You can find this item
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