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Federal Food Labeling Act is About Clarity & Common Sense

Richard Ha writes:

The "Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act" recently introduced in the House of Representatives is an attempt to provide clarity.

Farmers don't have a problem with labeling. We just need for regulations to be uniform, so that everyone is playing by the same rules. This is just plain common sense.

From The Packer:

UPDATED: Federal GMO labeling bill draws ag support

        04/09/2014 03:30:00 PM Tom Karst

(UPDATED COVERAGE, April 10) Drawing support from major agricultural groups but pointed opposition from environmental groups, legislation that would prevent states from enacting mandatory labeling of genetically modified food has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

Reps. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., and G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., introduced H.R. 4432, called The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act on April 9.

“This legislation is vital to giving America’s farmers certainty about what the rules of the game will be when it comes to labeling foods containing GMOs, an issue that cries out for a national solution,” Chuck Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, said in a news release.

“A 50-state patchwork of different labeling laws and regulations would not only burden farmers and food producers but would cause significant confusion among consumers at grocery stores across the country.

Also in that article, Chuck Conner points out that GMO crops will be important to meet future world food needs, and why this bill is significant.

“This bill represents an important step in cutting through the misinformation about GMOs and instead focuses on the science attesting to their safety and the benefits these crops provide,” Conner said in the release.

Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Washington, D.C., also strongly supports the legislation.

“With the introduction of this legislation and the leadership of the bill’s sponsors, Farm Bureau looks forward to a national-level discussion that will affirm FDA’s role in assuring consumers about GMO safety and reduce the confusion that would result from a patchwork of state labeling initiatives,” Stallman said in a statement.

Read the whole article here

Eating Locally

Eat Local; Everybody Else Is

We are noticing a strong trend here in Hawai‘i toward people preferring and supporting local food products.

A recent survey from the National Restaurant Association supports this trend nationwide. It’s from the national produce newspaper The Packer.

Local produce near the top of hot menu trends

05/24/2011 / Bruce Blythe

Attendance at the National Restaurant Association’s annual Chicago show May 21-24 appeared to be comparable, and possibly higher, than last year, association representatives say.

Local is the way to go in 2011, so say many of the nation’s chefs.

Based on the National Restaurant Association’s annual What’s Hot survey, locally sourced meats and seafood and locally grown produce ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, among the top 20 industry menu trends….

Read the rest

Peak Oil, Tomatoes

Out Of Business


Tomatoes

Farming is a challenging business, and getting more challenging every day. That this tomato company in Southern California just halted operations is a good example of that.

Oceanside Pole Tomato Sales Inc., the marketing arm of Harry Singh & Sons, is one of the country’s largest tomato suppliers, packing and selling 4.5 to 5 million cartons of tomatoes a year. Harry Singh & Sons was one of nine companies that make up a Fresno-based cooperative that grows about 90 percent of the country’s fresh tomatoes.

It’s noteworthy that they had to shut down operations so suddenly. According to the article in The Packer, it was due to a “perfect storm of issues,” including labor and water costs, competition from Mexico, California’s regulatory climate and urban encroachment.

As I have often said, “If the farmer makes money, the farmer will farm.” As oil prices rise, I am curious to see if other mainland farmers are feeling economic pressures as well.

From The Packer:

Oceanside focuses on 2012 return with tomatoes

Published on 04/14/2011 06:40PM

Southern California’s Oceanside Pole Tomato Sales Inc., one of the nation’s largest suppliers to retail of vine ripe tomatoes, abruptly halted operations April 12, as did grower Harry Singh & Sons because of “a perfect storm of issues” related to costs.

Barbara Metz, a spokeswoman for Harry Singh & Sons, said April 14 that the company had not gone bankrupt. She said “a perfect storm of issues” including costs of labor and water, competition from Mexico, California’s regulatory climate and urban encroachment had caused the shutdown.

“I’ll be closing down the company in the next few weeks,” said Bill Wilber, Oceanside Pole president, on April 13.

Krishna Singh, general manager of the growing company and grandson of its founder, sent a message to that firm’s employees the same day, explaining that the company would not be operating for the 2011 season.

“I regret to inform you that effective immediately, Harry Singh and Sons Farming Partnership will not be in operation for the 2011 season. … We will work diligently and explore all options in our efforts to reorganize and resume farming operations for 2012,” according to the e-mail message.

The closures of Oceanside Pole and Singh’s growing operation could put a dent in the upcoming season’s vine-ripe category.

Read the rest

Food and Drink, Food Security

Current Trends in Buying Produce

Every year The Packer publishes Fresh Trends, an industry analysis of preferences for fruits and vegetables. Take a look at this overview:

Fresh Trends 2010

Editorial: Back to the Basics

By Janice M. Kresin, Special Projects Editor

Keep it simple. It’s easy to say, not so easy to do.

We’re bombarded with choices at every turn — What route do I take to work today? Which mobile phone company will work best for my needs? What will I make for dinner tonight? When it comes to food, the choices can be endless.

It turns out, though, that buying fresh fruits and vegetables is not a choice. No matter the economic climate, consumers want the fresh stuff, and it’s never been clearer than in the past year.

Purchases for nearly every commodity we studied in Fresh Trends 2010 — 57 in total — were up this year, despite economic struggles and lingering uncertainty. You see, consumers know that the value of fresh produce goes beyond just dollars. Fresh fruits and veggies are a cheaper alternative than higher health care bills…. Read more

I also noted that first lady Michelle Obama has just launched a campaign to put 6000 or more salad bars in schools over the next three years. She is making a huge difference in Hawai‘i’s food security.

See video about it here.

Tomatoes

Current Tomato Trends

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The Packer is a national produce newsletter. Here’s how they describe their publication:

There’s no argument that The Packer is the fresh fruit and vegetable industry’s leading source for news, information and analysis. The Packer has been reporting every week on the produce industry since 1893. ThePacker.com serves fresh fruit and vegetable growers, packers, and shippers; produce retailers; foodservice distributors; fresh-cut processors; wholesale produce distributors, and allied product and service providers.

Every year, The Packer does research on fruits and vegetables, and I will periodically post some of the reports. Here is its 2010 tomato report.

Fresh Trends 2010

Tomatoes are one of the most popular commodities in the produce department. This year tomatoes were the third most-popular vegetable, down from the No. 2 spot last year. Overall, tomatoes were the fifth most-popular item of all commodities studied in Fresh Trends 2010.  Purchases increased five percentage points in the past year and were up 10 percentage points from Fresh Trends 2009.

For the fourth consecutive year, the likelihood of purchase increased according to income, with consumers earning more than $100,000 annually being the most likely to buy tomatoes. Consumers with kids living at home were slightly more likely to buy tomatoes, at 90%, than those without kids, at 86%. Consumers in the lowest income bracket, and single shoppers, were the least likely to buy the red vegetable.

Field-grown beefsteak tomatoes remain the most popular variety. In fact, purchases of the slicers climbed 12 percentage points from Fresh Trends 2009. Preference for romas, consumers’ next favorite, slipped seven percentage points in the past year. Preference for cherry tomatoes fell more than 50% from Fresh Trends 2009, while most other varieties remained relatively steady.

Shoppers are comfortable with tomatoes, as 81% of those surveyed said they felt at ease selecting ripe tomatoes for immediate consumption. For example, consumers said they were more comfortable selecting ripe tomatoes than they were selecting ripe bananas. Sixty-seven percent of consumers said they knew how to ripen tomatoes once they got them home.

Tomatoes top many salads around the country, as more than 80% of consumers said they use the vegetable in salads. Shoppers also buy tomatoes to add to their favorite recipes or to use as a side dish.

Last year organic tomato purchases reached new heights – this year organic lost all it had gained the previous year, and more. However, tomatoes were still one of the most popular items that consumers purchased organic at least some of the time. Tomatoes were the No. 2 vegetable and the No. 3 commodity overall that consumers said they purchased as organic periodically. This year, 17% of tomato consumers said they bought organic at least some of the time. The likelihood of an organic-only purchase fell 66% from Fresh Trends 2009 and dropped 50% from Fresh Trends 2008. Seventy-one percent of organic tomato buyers said they bought organic less than 25% of the time. Single shoppers were most likely to buy organic tomatoes exclusively.

More of The Packer’s Fresh Trends articles here.