Pundit’s Mailbag — At Your Service
Alan L. Siger, Consumers Produce Co.
Don Harris, Wild Oats Markets
Fred Stein, FRED International
Paul Klutes, C.H. Robinson
Jim Prevor’s Perishable Pundit, April 4, 2007
Our Pundit Special Edition included an overview article detailing A Big Win For The Industry, which came about when it was announced that NRA Adopts Leafy Greens GAP Metrics, and the pièce de résistance was the news that Fresh Express Signs California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.
We are extremely gratified to have received many phone calls and letters applauding the Pundit’s work on these issues:
The Pundit saves the day. There is no way that we would have avoided this potential train wreck without you on your soapbox over the last few months. The entire Industry owes you a great deal.
— Alan L. Siger
President & CEO
Consumers Produce Co., Inc. of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Many thanks to Alan for his kind words. Obviously these things are team efforts and many people play their part, including Al Siger, who kicked off our coverage of the entire spinach/E. coli situation with his letter to the Pundit that we published under the title, Spinach Recall Reveals Serious Industry Problems.
The efforts made by Don Harris and countless other voices carried great weight. Leadership is a special quality and one we’ve discussed numerous times here at the Pundit, including here, a letter sent to us from none other than Don Harris reflecting on the same issue
To work with such a roster of industry leaders to encourage thoughtful discussion of important issues is both a pleasure and a privilege for this Pundit. Much appreciation to Don for his letter.
Fred supported us when the discussion was at its most heated. And it was countless such communications, both public and private, that helped guide our efforts here at the Pundit.
Different people have different circumstances; some are free to speak out loud and some need confidentiality. Both can make a useful contribution to our industry discussions, and we are pleased that we can facilitate such contributions.
And we would like to say thank you to Paul for his kind letter. Four generations in the industry here in America, countless more back in Europe, over two decades of studying the business after founding PRODUCE BUSINESS magazine… it all seemed to conspire to put us in the position to take advantage of new technology to provide a service to the trade.
We don’t want to overstate our role. At the end of the day, we are just a humble scribbler, and someone else has to make the important decisions. But, if we can help, as Paul explains by providing “visibility and clarity” to issues confronting the trade, well, we can’t think of anything else we would rather be doing.
Many thanks to Paul and to all those who called or wrote. We work hard so kind words are surely appreciated but this win belongs to the whole industry.