Jim Nolan, A Man Of Honor
And Integrity, Passes Away

With a trial set to start in six weeks, why did the fates deny him his moment on the stand? It is the unspoken question everyone who knew him asks themselves, as word has filtered out that Jim Nolan has passed away. We don’t know every detail yet, and we couldn’t bear to ask his […]

Professor Robert Bull Played
Important Role In PMA History

PMA released a notice today regarding the passing of one of the most seminal figures in the history of PMA: PMA OBSERVES DEATH OF EARLY ADVISOR, ROBERT BULL Produce Marketing Association’s (PMA) current and past leaders joined together today to note the passing of Robert L. Bull, an influential force during the association’s early years. […]

Fresh & Easy Makes Corrections

Tesco’s journey to America has not been easy. There are signs, however, that some of the problems are getting corrected, although increased success creates problems of its own. A very experienced retailer, who has been following Fresh & Easy carefully, sent us his notes: An update on Fresh & Easy: They are busier during my […]

Pundit’s Mailbag — Food Safety Is
Part Of Being Socially Responsible

We ran two pieces — Fresh Basil Recall Brings Additional Concerns About FDA’s Safety Procedures and Importer Of Recalled Basil Sheds More light On FDA Handling — regarding a food safety issue with basil in January. Now we have received a most thoughtful missive from an importer of Israeli and Dutch produce addressing the responsibility […]

China Scare ‘Off The Charts’ In Japan

We have devoted quite a bit of ink to issues related to food safety and China. Among the pieces we’ve run are these: China Plays Down Food Safety Problems Chinese Garlic And Food Safety China Executes Food And Drug Safety Regulator More Food Safety Lessons From Chinese Ginger Recall Pundit’s Mailbag — Eye-Opening Visit To […]

Wal-Mart Post-Peterson

It seems like just yesterday we were writing the news but, come March 1, 2008, it will be one year since Bruce Peterson left Wal-Mart. We’ve kept the industry up to date on Bruce’s activities with many articles, including these: Wal-Mart’s Bruce Peterson Resigns Bruce Peterson Focus On Traceability Bruce Peterson Lands At Naturipe As […]

In London, Pessimism
Spreads Over Fresh & Easy

Our long-running coverage of Tesco’s journey to America has attracted much controversy, particularly, our estimate that sales levels for the Fresh & Easy stores, after their grand opening period, are running at roughly $50,000 a week — although we did expect that they will rise from that level. This week in London, an analyst with […]

More On The Lighter Side

While we are on the subject of potatoes, Mrs. Pundit advises that this is floating around the Internet: The Potato Story You know that all potatoes have eyes. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Potato had eyes for each other, and finally they got married, and had a little sweet potato, whom they called ‘Yam.’ Of course, […]

Pundit’s Mailbag — Produce And Vending Offer ‘Great Hope’

The article we ran, entitled Pilot Project On Vending-Machine Produce Shows Promise In New Channel Of Sales, was a follow-up on one entitled, Dole Introduces Unique Vending Machine Concept, and our coverage of this area prompted this nice letter: As a state Fruit & Vegetable Nutrition Coordinator, I was pleased to see the great article […]

Pundit’s Mailbag — Traceability Precision

Our piece, Traceability Committee Cuts To The Chase For Workable Standards, brought this letter requesting some clarification: I was hoping you could help in providing clarification for a point in the article published about traceability for produce companies. I currently work for a manufacturing company that develops VA-type products. The question I have is in […]