Ready Pac Voluntarily Recalls Products Containing Peanut Butter
Ready Pac Foods announced a recall related to products in packages with peanut butter: After receiving notification from one of its suppliers, Ready Pac Foods, Inc. is announcing that they are initiating a voluntary recall of certain products containing peanut butter that may have been contaminated with Salmonella. These products have been distributed to different […]
Subway Joins Penny-A-Pound Program While Tomato Growers Feel The Pinch
With the announcement that Subway Restaurants has joined with many other quick-serve restaurants in committing to pay Florida tomato pickers an extra penny a pound over their normal wages, this movement seems to be gaining momentum again. We asked Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to find out more: Les Winograd spokesperson Subway […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — Lesson From Avocadogate: You Get What You Tolerate
Our piece, Audit Of California Avocado Commission Raises Questions Of Use Of Funds And Governance Policies, brought an avalanche of mail… mostly expressing incredulity that the head of a commodity promotion group would be paid $400,000 a year, forget about any malfeasance or exceptional benefits. Here is how one industry leader who has served on […]
Perishable Thoughts — A Time No More
For Ostentatious Spending?
Now that we live in the midst of a recession, one question is what the effect of such events is on human happiness. Now we should never make light of such a thing. To be hungry or unable to afford medical care, to be homeless and insecure as to where the next meal is coming […]
Lesson For Companies Hiring
Young Talent: Give Them Wings
We wrote this piece in San Francisco after we spent a little time visiting with Matthew Enny, a relatively new member of the produce industry who works for Duda Farm Fresh Foods. We gave him a pass to visit with us at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco where Pundit sister publication, DELI BUSINESS, […]
Audit Of California Avocado Commission Raises Questions Of Use Of Funds And Governance Policies
The last few days have not been filled with great publicity for the avocado industry. The New York Times ran a piece entitled, Report Outlines a High Life for Advocates of Avocadoes, which gave this report: Luxury suites. Shopping sprees. Four-star hotels. Such was life in the high-flying world of the California Avocado Commission. That, […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — New Thinking On Small Formats And Produce Distribution
We received a most interesting letter from France, filled with interesting ideas for increasing produce consumption and a twist on the au courant small format store concept. Beyond its specifics the letter also pointed to a very different role that trade associations in Europe seem to have seized as opposed to that played by the […]
Fresh & Easy’s 98-cent Sale
Causes More Consumer Confusion
What kind of store is Tesco’s Fresh & Easy? With all we have written on the subject, one of the obvious problems of the concept is that we can’t really answer. At the present moment, Fresh & Easy seems to be aiming for the ambiance of a dollar store. The chain issued an announcement: NEW […]
Perishable Thoughts — Higgins Boat
Story Tells A Tale Of Perseverance
Our piece, Perishable Thoughts — Keeping Things ‘In Perspective’ For 2009, referenced a contemporary quote pointing out that for all the problems of a financial crisis, it was nothing compared to the dangers of getting out of a Higgins boat on Omaha beach. In other words, nobody is getting shot here. The reference to a […]
Tree Fruit Industry In Turmoil
During a recent quick trip to California to visit the Pundit’s sister and celebrate the Pundit parents’ 51st wedding anniversary, the Pundit, Mrs. Pundit and the Jr. Pundits, Primo and Segundo — aka William, age 7 and Matthew, age 5 — all had a delightful visit with Al and Mary Vangelos. Al is sagacious and […]
