Will Tim Lindgren Go To China?
The Pundit wishes to extend congratulations to Timothy J. Lindgren, who has been elected as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunkist Growers, the nation’s oldest and largest citrus marketing cooperative. Mr. Lindgren had been brought out of retirement to aid in the transition when Jeff Gargiulo, Sunkist’s former President, announced his intention not to […]
Call For Stronger FDA
The Food Products Association and the Grocery Manufacturers Association joined together to announce with other founders the formation of a new organization, the Coalition for a Stronger FDA. The organization explains its purpose as follows: The Coalition for a Stronger FDA is a broad and diverse coalition calling for a renewed public commitment to the […]
Spinach Crisis Summary Rewind IV
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 Mailbag: Frustration On
The Buy Side
What does the buy side think about the E. coli/spinach situation? The Pundit has been reaching out to a lot of buyers, and this important and knowledgeable buyer expressed the consensus: On the buy side — frustration. Not so much at the FDA, but at the situation in general. We feel like we’re on tenterhooks, […]
Straight Talk On Immigration
First we welcomed the new United Fresh Produce Association here. Then we discussed the challenges related to conducting government relations for an association that is both vertically integrated and horizontally diverse here. We have dealt with immigration reform before, both here and here, but the situation is now coming to a head. We would be […]
Spinach Crisis Summary Rewind III
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 […]
PMA Education Foundation
Prepares To Launch
The newly established Produce Marketing Association Education Foundation will have its inaugural meeting in October during the PMA convention and exhibition in San Diego. Recently Cindy Seel, a popular executive when she worked at PMA from 1997 to 2002 and a minor celebrity as she was the pioneer in a PMA experiment that led to […]
Putting Things In Perspective
Sally Squires, who writes the “Lean Plate Club” column for WashingtonPost.com, writes a column for consumers in which she points out: Today, the odds of getting sick from tainted food “are overall about a third less than they were in 1998,” says Richard Raymond, undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). […]
Is Salinas Getting A Bum Rap
On Food Safety?
Is there a statistical bias against Salinas in the food safety numbers? The underlying question surrounding this E. coli outbreak on spinach is whether there is a specific problem in the Salinas Valley. Known as the “Salad Bowl of the World”, Salinas is both headquarters and source for much of the product that gets hit […]
More Recalls Trickle In
The FDA announced that two additional companies initiated voluntary recalls: On September 22, 2006,Triple B Corporation, doing business as S.T. Produce, of Seattle, Washington, initiated a voluntary recall of its fresh spinach salad products with a “Use By” date of 8/22/2006 thru 9/20/2006. Spinach used in these products may have been supplied from Natural Selection […]
