Traceability continues to generate interest throughout the industry supply chain, Capitol Hill, and in regulatory arenas. As part of our ongoing industry education efforts on this topic, PMA is pleased to call your attention to a free July 7 Webcast titled “New Realities in Food Safety and Traceability.”

Sponsored by The Packer and KPG Solutions, this session will show you the steps necessary to achieving full traceability compliance, the tools you’ll need to get there, and the consequences non-compliant companies will face. You’ll also learn about common misperceptions and see first-hand how other companies are offering traceability.

Traceability has been a priority focus for PMA the past several years and our own vice president of industry technology Gary Fleming will be one of the Webcast speakers. To learn more about traceability, visit the Produce Traceability Initiative Web site. If your calendar is free at 2 p.m. EST on July 7, register now for this valuable learning opportunity.

To help make our industry’s voice heard on the ongoing U.S.-Mexico cross-border dispute, we have just posted a letter on the PMA Advocacy Action Center that you can send to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. A few months ago, a provision in the FY09 omnibus spending bill halted the U.S.-Mexico trucking program, resulting in retaliatory tariffs from Mexico, including high tariffs on several fresh produce items. Despite high-level meetings between leaders of both nations, the cross-border dispute is showing few signs of progress.

The most recent Capitol Hill news on this issue is that House Foreign Affairs Trade Subcommittee Chairman Brad Sherman, D-Calif., is pressing USTR Kirk to challenge the Mexican tariffs on $2.3 billion worth of U.S. products saying that “American businesses and workers may have been unfairly harmed by inappropriate tariffs recently levied by the Mexican government. I look forward to hearing what steps the USTR is undertaking to bring relief to U.S. producers.”

You can help by writing Secretary LaHood and Ambassador Kirk via on the PMA Advocacy Action Center.

FDA asked me how PMA can help the agency better communicate an “all clear” after a foodborne illness outbreak. Agency leaders also asked how industry involvement could speed investigations without compromising sensitive information. We’ll be following up with written comments on specific recommendations on those topics and more as a follow-up to oral comments I gave at a June 24 hearing on how the agency can be more transparent.

In the wake of recent high-profile foodborne illness outbreaks, PMA and others have been working with FDA and CDC on improving communication and collaboration. Speaking at this hearing was one more opportunity to share our ideas. I recommended that FDA consult industry experts, both during calm times and during outbreaks, to better understand produce production and distribution and speed investigations. I also reiterated our call to improve state and local health departments’ capabilities and capacity as their involvement early in outbreaks is crucial, and inaccurate information and delays cause a great deal of trouble. Finally, I called on FDA to be as explicit about “all clears” when an outbreak ends as they are when they announce that consumers should avoid certain foods when the outbreak begins.

What encouraged me most about the questions they asked was their eagerness to work together. In particular they asked for our help on that “all clear” message protocol. Not only did the top officials on the panel ask about it, an agency staffer in the audience came up to me later to ask whether we could help with some sort of template for such a thing. We’re making progress.

Since the buy-local trend is showing few signs of slowing down, one foodservice management company is seeking to buy even more local food products and support farmers through its nationwide network. Compass Group North America plans to develop partnerships with 2,013 American family farms by 2013, Called ‘AG in the Middle,’ this pilot project brings the produce of mid-sized farms faster, and more efficiently, into Compass Group’s supply chain network of distributors.

Purchases move through the approved produce distributor to ensure food safety and traceability of local produce. In return, the farmer gains access to a reliable network of local accounts with sizeable purchasing power. This program also encourages sustainable practices and supports the continued viability of these mid-sized farmers.

From movies to the White House Kitchen Garden, consumers are seeing more and more about how food comes to their plates. PMA’s own consumer research shows a strong consumer connection to local produce and sustainability. With more shoppers thinking about these issues, programs like ‘AG in the Middle’ will help tell our industry’s sustainability stories.

What about you? Does your organization have a sustainability story to tell? If so, please let us know.

Some 73% of U.S. families buy organic products at least occasionally, chiefly for health reasons, according to the 2009 U.S. Families’ Organic Attitudes and Beliefs Study sponsored by the Organic Trade Association. These findings are similar to a March 2009 PMA consumer study that found the major reason shoppers purchase organic produce is due to a perceived health benefit, although a lack of synthetic pesticides and better taste are also on the list of reasons they buy.

The OTA study also found that about 31% are buying more organic foods compared to a year ago, with many parents preferring to reduce their spending in other areas before targeting organic product cuts. In our research, 92 percent of consumers told us that they expect to continue to purchase organic fruits and vegetables on a regular basis in the next six months. For those who said they would not buy organic, high prices was the overwhelming reason given. In our May consumer research we asked how the economy was affecting purchases. Five percent said they would be cutting back on organic purchases. PMA members who want to learn more about consumer attitudes and behaviors are encouraged to check out the wide variety of consumer research reports available on the PMA Web site.

From a 30,000-foot view, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan addressed the expanded attention the agency is giving organics. Speaking at All Things Organic June 17, she talked about integrating organics into all agencies at USDA, including research programs, industry tracking and reporting, loan programs, and more.

Merrigan’s appointment at USDA raised expectations that organics would have a higher profile in the agency, and her talk Wednesday showed her commitment to achieve that. Expanded data about organics and its inclusion in more USDA programs will help those in the sector make better-informed business decisions.

Merrigan also noted the good news that the U.S. and Canada have come to agreement on equivalency for organics standards. For the most part, each will recognize the other’s program. We can all rejoice that we finally have one piece of harmonization under our collective belt. There’s still a long way to go – food safety, nutrition labeling, pesticide residues and more. But let’s take a moment to bask in the glow of this sunny moment.

Also, to learn more about U.S. organic production and the challenges facing this sector, take a look at this just-released USDA Economic Research Service report. Did you know that fruits, vegetables, and dairy accounted for more than half of the $19 billion organic food market in 2007?

Get the latest updates on the Produce Traceability Initiative at our Fresh Connections Philadelphia on June 24. You’ll learn what the PTI is, newly created Best Practices and the resulting Action Plan formulated over the past eight months. In addition, due to the recent implementation of the DataBar, experts will discuss what the Databar is and how it is used. The traceability concept is showing no signs of slowing down, especially now that several Congressional legislative food safety proposals are seeking mandatory traceability programs for our industry.

For more details on this event or to register, visit the PMA Web site. If you’re not in the Philadelphia area, please visit the Fresh Connections calendar to find out when we’ll be talking about emerging trends and issues in your neighborhood.

Only weeks after the Senate confirmed her as the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Margaret Hamburg met with PMA and other food associations. It was a “listening session” – Dr. Hamburg wanted to hear our concerns and issues.

For PMA, this presented an opportunity to raise the need for better communication between the regulatory agency and the produce industry. Time and again, we have seen instances where FDA personnel’s lack of knowledge of the unique practices of the produce industry seriously impeded the resolution of issues. During last summer’s Salmonella saintpaul incident, Bryan Silbermann wrote to the Secretary of Health and Human Services offering the industry’s expertise in handling and production practices to assist FDA. Since then, FDA has taken a number of steps to improve its understanding of and communication with the industry. We must continue to build on those efforts, both at FDA and CDC.

In addition, the meeting with the new head of FDA was an opportunity to apprise her of the Produce Traceability Initiative. Any food safety legislation coming from Congress will likely contain a requirement for traceability. As FDA works to implement that mandate, PMA has been advocating that it should accommodate ongoing efforts, such as the PTI, and work with existing programs within particular segments of the food industry. Dr Hamburg expressed the importance of getting traceability right by building on industry knowledge.

Yesterday’s meeting followed an earlier and similar meeting with Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the deputy commissioner. Both meetings demonstrate the intention of the new leadership at FDA to reach out to those it regulates. Exactly how this translates into practice – particularly should another outbreak occur – remains to be seen but the intent is clear.

We all have parts of our history we’d like to forget, and for our industry the 2006 E. coli outbreak linked to fresh spinach is one of those times. However, a CDC report this week reviews the foodborne illness outbreaks of 2006, and as you might expect, the spinach outbreak is a key focus.

The June 12 edition of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report notes that during 2006, public health officials reported 1,270 foodborne disease outbreaks from 48 states.

“The largest outbreaks with a known etiology and single food commodity were attributed to baked chicken contaminated with C. perfringens (741 cases), peanut butter contaminated with Salmonella (714 cases), and spinach contaminated with E. coli O157 (238 cases). In the spinach outbreak, 31 persons developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, and five died, including a child. The contaminated spinach was traced back to a single farm, where the outbreak strain was isolated from nearby cattle feces and feral swine feces,” the report reads.

We wanted to let you know about this because it will likely generate some publicity.

Our industry is now the focus of a variety of new food safety measures, some driven by industry (e.g., the recently-proposed National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, which we blogged about here), others by government (the various food safety bills in Congress). This reminder of a darker moment in our history comes at an interesting time given that conversation we’re having about how to best improve produce safety.

This year, 43 million U.S. households (including the White House) will get their hands dirty by growing their own fruits, vegetables, and herbs, says a 2009 National Gardening Association study on home and community gardening. Tomatoes lead the list of homegrown vegetables, followed by cucumbers, sweet peppers, beans, carrots, summer squash, onions, hot peppers, lettuce, and peas. The primary reasons cited by consumers when it comes to growing their own food own include better-tasting and better-quality food, to save money on food bills, and to grow food they know is safe.

These findings are very similar to those in a recent PMA-commissioned Hartman study: The top reason (seven out of 10) consumers grow fresh produce at home is they enjoy the experience – it’s a fun hobby. Almost 60% of consumers are growing their own produce to save money and because of perceived better taste and freshness. More than a third of respondents cited food safety as the reason for home gardening. Interestingly, the list of vegetables highlighted in our study is almost identical to the gardening group’s findings.

Sensory expectations and economic considerations aside, it’s not unsurprising to see that food safety is still top of mind when it comes to produce. These studies underscore the importance of a maintaining a safe food supply and reveal that, if consumers don’t have confidence in a produce item’s safety, they’ll grow their own for peace of mind – even if that perception of safer home-grown produce is not reality. For more shopper insights, check out the wide variety of consumer research reports available on the PMA Web site.