Is A&P’s Pathmark Acquisition
Window Dressing For A Total Sale?
The Federal Trade Commission gave A&P a gift in requiring the divestiture of only six stores to complete its acquisition of Pathmark. King Kullen immediately announced a deal to buy five of the supermarkets from A&P — all on Staten Island. It is fascinating how smoothly the acquisition of Pathmark has gone for A&P, especially […]
Chefs Collaborative Opposes
Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement
The Chefs Collaborative has decided to oppose efforts to take the standards of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement national. It is not really surprising — the organization defines itself this way: Mission: Chefs Collaborative works with chefs and the greater food community to celebrate local foods and foster a more sustainable food supply. The […]
Is Wal-Mart’s ‘Heritage Agriculture’
An Initiative Driven By The Consumer
Or By the CEO?
Ron McCormick, Vice President of Produce at Wal-Mart, gave a talk at the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas that focused on the company’s procurement priorities. Praising by name Michael Cochran, Perishable Procurement Director and a PRODUCE BUSINESS 40-under-Forty honoree, Ron emphasized the importance of Wal-Mart’s global sourcing initiative and also placed great emphasis on […]
Traceability Initiative Lacks
Full Industry Representation
We had high hopes when we ran our piece entitled, PMA, CPMA And United Form Traceability Initiative, yet the release by all three associations raises some questions about where they intend to take this initiative: Representatives of more than 30 companies from a broad cross section of the produce supply chain including retailers, foodservice buyers […]
Travel, Talks and Thankfulness
We’ve been doing a lot of commodity-specific speaking lately. Back in August, we gave a presentation for the U.S. Apple Association at the 2007 Apple Crop Outlook and Marketing Conference in Chicago on Corporate Social Responsibility. Most recently, we gave a presentation in Orlando to the Board of Directors of the National Watermelon Promotion Board […]
Here’s One For Mom!
Thanksgiving is a two-fer for the Pundit this year. Credit must be given where credit is due, and if you enjoy the Pundit it would be a treat if you might raise a glass of apple cider this Thanksgiving to a woman who, in no small part, is responsible for its existence. Momma Pundit — […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — Responsibility To
Provide Clarity
Although we are always pleased to receive letters filled with praise for our work here at the Pundit, we also value letters that criticize our positions. Very often we find that the written word is limiting, and we sometimes need to restate our case to be clearer. We think we need to clarify a point […]
Consumers And Foodservice Operators
Should Not Rewash Fresh-cut Produce
The results are in… Do not rewash fresh-cuts. A superstar panel of food safety experts has published a peer-reviewed piece entitled “Recommendations for Handling Fresh-cut Leafy Green Salads by Consumers and Retail Foodservice Operators” The Summary of Results: A panel of scientists with expertise in microbial safety of fresh produce was convened to review recent […]
Safco Looks To Expand
In ‘New Industry Order’
A well-known industry executive in the international trade arena has found a new home: Dirk Winkelmann has assumed the position of General Manager of Safco of America, located in Visalia, California. Safco is the US distribution company for Rio Blanco, the largest grape grower/packer/shipper in Chile, with production in Mexico as well. The focus of […]
Misperceptions Of Food Miles
Affect Countries Like Kenya Hardest
We have written many times about “food miles”, including here, here, here and here, plus most recently, we addressed the issue of the Soil Association in the United Kingdom and its idea to restrict air-freighted produce from being marketed as organic. We’ve also dealt both here and here with the notion that air freight of […]
