Spinach Crisis Summary Rewind II
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: Causes Of E. coli
Received a note from Jim Wells who runs Oregon Wild Edibles, which focuses on harvesting fungi and other wild edibles. He is responding to the piece the Pundit wrote about the implications for organic produce of the spinach/E. coli situation. You can read that piece here. Have you commented on the animal run-off angle, presented, […]
Wegmans And The Attack Of The Pods
Here is an interesting piece of video from a local Rochester TV station in which they explore the new Wegmans concept being experimented with in the flagship Pittsford store. As Wegmans’ Executive Chef Eric Wendorff describes them: “What we have here is a concept…we’re calling them pods. They’re really bars that are quick meal solutions.” […]
Recall Remuneration
Because the FDA hadn’t imposed a mandatory recall, many insurance policies haven’t been triggered. We spoke about that here. However, some shrewd lawyers should be able to make a case that the FDA imposed a “constructive recall”, so the Pundit advises those who have insurance to talk to their lawyers about this issue. But insurance […]
The California Dept. Of Health Services
Owes People An Explanation
One issue that is bubbling under the surface of the spinach crisis is the arbitrary nature of power in the government. We wrote a piece entitled Peculiarities About The E. coli Outbreak;you can read the article in its entirety here. In the piece, we asked this question: Below I link to an article regarding a […]
Pundit’s Mailbag
The Pundit would like to thank the many industry members who’ve called or written over the past week. Most have given information in confidence, and regular readers of the Pundit have been enjoying the benefit of this input since the crisis broke. But wanted to deal here with two specific letters: John Pandol, a partner […]
Spinach Crisis Summary Rewind
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 Pulse Of The Industry
What has it been like on the front lines during this spinach/E. coli crisis? The Pundit asked Mira Slott, ace special projects editor at the Pundit to reach out and capture the pulse of the industry at retail. We thus present the first in a new series in which we collect opinions and insights from […]
Reassuring Consumers
Regardless of what the FDA does, there cannot be a successful outcome to this disaster if consumers don’t feel reassured as to the safety of spinach and all produce products. Certainly if Good Agricultural Practices need to be revised, they should be revised. But that is very subtle and not likely to move consumer perceptions. […]
The Role Of Retailers
Retailers are absolutely key to both the short-term and long-term ability of the industry to recover from the spinach/E. coli crisis. In the short term, the question is to what degree retailers will feel comfortable stocking and displaying spinach? Extensive studies after the Alar event of 1989 showed that a large portion of the sales […]
