Fast Testing For Pathogens Necessary
The Nunes lettuce recall, which we dealt with here, points out the weakness of testing inputs and then seeing results after product has been shipped. First, it doesn’t guarantee safety because the product could have already been consumed. Second, it doesn’t stop the bad publicity related to recalls. My read of the regulatory agencies is […]
Botulism And Carrot Juice Summary II
We’ve been asked to make available in one place our coverage of the recall by Wm. Bolthouse Farms of certain 100% carrot juice products and the broader implications of this issue for food safety. This piece is updated regularly and will be re-run to include new coverage of this outbreak and issue. We initiated our […]
Is Mexico Giving U.S.
A Taste Of Its Own Medicine?
Following up on our piece Lettuce Ban: Is Mexico Protecting Health Or Practicing Protectionism, which you can read here, Pundit investigator Mira Slott interviewed Lee Frankel, President of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas — an association of Mexican-produce importers and distributors — to get his take on this perplexing situation in which Mexico […]
Spinach Crisis Summary Rewind XII
With so much having been written in so short a time, thought it would be helpful to publish a sort of round-up of available material to help people understand the whole situation regarding spinach and this E. coli breakout: The Perishable Pundit itself has dealt extensively with the subject in several major pieces. On September […]
Pundit’s Mailbag —
Temperature Monitoring
In response to the Pundit’s piece Food Safety, Good Delivery And Temperature Monitoring, in which we argued that good delivery standards have to change on fresh-cut product to reflect the fact that bacteria may grow even if the product looks good, we received several replies: Tom O’Brien of C&D Fruit & Vegetable, Bradenton, FL, has […]
Carrot Juice Still On Canadian Shelves
There is outrage in Canada that even though two people have been paralyzed after they contracted botulism in the Bolthouse carrot juice outbreak, the carrot juice — despite being officially recalled — was still on the shelf in Canada: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned consumers on September 30 not to drink Bolthouse Farms 100% […]
PulseNet Asleep At The Wheel
The LA Times did a really interesting piece that traces the origin of the spinach recall. You can read it here. Two things stand out: First, they actually were thinking about the produce industry: During the first major conference call about the outbreak, public health officials from the CDC and afflicted states laid out their […]
Botulism And Carrot Juice Summary
We’ve been asked to make available in one place our coverage of the recall by Wm. Bolthouse Farms of certain 100% carrot juice products and the broader implications of this issue for food safety. We initiated our coverage on October 2, 1006, by publishing the FDA notice to consumers warning them not to drink the […]
CDC’s Aha! Moment
Key to being a good Pundit is having smart and well-informed friends, and I’m blessed with many. Among them is Al Siger of Consumers Produce Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Al kicked off our spinach coverage with a letter exploring the implications of food safety outbreaks for the future of fresh-cut produce. You can read that […]
Culture Of Risk-Aversion Hurts The Poor
An article in the local newspaper is headlined Publix enforces limits on donations. Has Publix’ heart gone hard? Twenty nonprofit organizations in Palm Beach County cut their feeding programs to the needy a week after food giant Publix Super Markets began enforcing its longstanding policy banning donations of meat, fruit and vegetables. What would have […]
