Association President Needed In Southern California
Our industry institutions always require good leadership, so we would like to take a moment to draw everyone’s attention to one of our Pundit advertisers. See that red box flashing along the right side of this page? It is an advertisement for “Executive Employment Opportunity” and “Regional Trade Association Seeks President.” Here are some additional […]
Garlic Can Help Reduce Global Warming
A tip of the hat to Jim Provost of I Love Produce . Jim has written us before and we published his thoughts as part of our piece Spinach Recall Reveals Serious Industry Problems, which dealt with the very topical issue of food safety and China. Now, Jim sends along this piece from the BBC […]
Tim Vaux Starts New Venture
When Tim Vaux left DuPont, he was in a reflective mood. His many friends from his years of involvement with United’s Produce Industry Leadership Program have waited anxiously to see what Tim would decide to do professionally in the future. Tim now sends word: After some long discussions (some with myself and many with others), […]
Whole Foods Suffers From CEO’s Bizarre Behavior
It is very possible that John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, has now killed the merger the company has been seeking with Wild Oats. As we mentioned here, we disagreed with the FTC’s decision to deny the merger, which Whole Foods has been challenging in court. We felt the FTC was misjudging the relevant market […]
Publix Tests Curbside Service… Hello, Tesco?
When Tesco announced its new concept, before it even confirmed the name, it kept saying that the new store would be convenient. Many American analysts took that to mean that it would be a convenience store concept. As it became obvious that this was not so, but that Tesco was looking to create a more […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — Former Sunkist Employee Weighs In On CEO Selection
Sunkist is one of the few iconic produce brands and so it has been a place we have long paid attention to. We wrote a piece in 1991, in Pundit sister publication, PRODUCE BUSINESS, entitled, Diversify Sunkist? This article dealt with many of the issues Sunkist wrestles with today. Before we get to today’s letter, […]
Wall Street Journal Piece Gets Accolade From Abroad
Our piece Pundit Makes WSJ Op-Ed Page was marred by a technical difficulty that, for half the day, kept people from accessing the link to the full article. The piece dealt with editorial integrity, the necessity for personal responsibility and a willingness to sacrifice to maintain one’s integrity — lessons for any industry. We continued […]
Lady Bird Johnson — Pioneer Environmentalist
To a large extent, the growth of the organic movement is an expression of love for the beauty and health of the planet. And, for many, that love had Lady Bird Johnson as a progenitor. Breaking ground as an activist first lady, Lady Bird Johnson pressed for cleanup efforts in the nation’s capital and had […]
Watermelon Industry Creates Food Safety And Crisis Management Guidelines
We’ve been running a project here at the Pundit to learn what different commodity groups and geographical sectors are doing to enhance food safety. We started in the east with Pundit Pulse — New Jersey Dept Of Ag’s Al Murray to see how a state department of agriculture was working to enhance food safety across […]
FDA Nixes Health Claim Of Tomatoes Because Of Poor Evidence… Can PBH Step In?
It is very common here at the Pundit to receive requests from industry members to run articles pointing out that one or another produce item has been found to fight cancer or another ailment. Typically, though, we find the evidence so flimsy that it is little more than a speculation. There is a mechanism, however, […]
