Task For Center For Produce Safety? Pathogen-Testing Data Collection
United held its Food Safety Summit as a preliminary event to its FreshTech show in Palm Springs. This show is the renamed version of the old International Fresh-Cut Produce Association (IFPA) show. (Next year, it will be co-located with United’s main show, which, in turn will be co-located with FMI in Las Vegas.) Among the […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — Global Warming’s
Shameful Marketing Attempts
Our piece Carbon Footprinting Gone Wild! brought a letter from a European who is experiencing this issue on a level Americans don’t even approach: The largest share of CO2 emissions is produced by the SUVs that the consumers drive to the supermarket to pick up their locally grown, fair trade, CO2 neutral, ethically responsible, guaranteed-no-child-labor-involved […]
Tesco Values Award Goes To
Grant J. Hunt Co./Orchard View Farms
We’ve given extensive coverage to Tesco’s decision to open stores in America. Of course the opening of a major retailer in the U.S. is a rare event and has set off a desperate drive by suppliers to find a way in as a supplier. Of course it is not really a fair fight. Some major […]
PBH Reassesses
Imagination Farms Decision
We’ve been paying close attention here to the Produce for Better Health Foundation and, specifically, to its announced “alliance” with Imagination Farms. Most recently we published Complaints From PBH’s Board Members Point To Weakness In Governance, which explored ways in which PBH’s governance structure might have contributed to the current issue. This followed on Pundit’s […]
Fairtrade’s Unfairness
An article in The Jamaica Observer posed the question of What is the future for Jamaica’s banana industry? As the piece explains: The industry still employs more than 10,000 people and accounts for $26 million of Jamaica’s Gross Domestic Product. But the end of preferential access to European markets has threatened the industry with extinction. […]
On The Road Again
Time of the year for lots of travel. The Pundit or part of our staff will be at the following venues in the next two weeks: Along with sister publication, PRODUCE BUSINESS, we are exhibiting at the New England Produce Council Produce & Floral Expo. The Pundit has a conflict this year but, once again, […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — Making The Grade
So much of what we do here at the Pundit is on the level of industry policy that it is refreshing to sometimes try to clarify a specific business issue. This letter gives us an opportunity: I have a question or issue, if you will, that I’d love to see YOU address. Simply, why does […]
Pundit’s Mailbag —
Bigger Picture For WGA’s DC Office?
Our piece, Justifying WGA’s Washington Office, and Pundit’s Mailbag — Concern Over WGA’s DC Office continued to lead to industry discussion as leaders attempted to understand its meaning. One knowledgeable association executive put his thoughts this way: I was surprised to hear WGA was doing this, because they already have two contractors in town — […]
Carbon Footprinting Gone Wild!
Everyone who is doing business with British supermarkets is getting inquiries about the “carbon footprint” their products impose on the environment. In France, the French division of the World Wildlife Fund has come out with a report purporting to measure CO2 emissions used in the production and transport of various fresh produce items: But figures […]
Tesco’s US/Japan Small-Store Strategy
Contrasts With Wal-Mart’s Big-Store Plan
With Tesco’s announcement that it would open a chain of small food stores in Japan and its previously announced plans to open a series of small supermarkets in the U.S., while Wal-Mart remains focused on its supercenter format, the battle between Wal-Mart and Tesco seems to resemble that between Boeing and Airbus. Airbus has been […]
