United States A cold and wet spring in the Pacific Northwest delayed pea plantings and the crop ran about 2 to 3 weeks late. July’s heat wave with sizzling temperatures well into the 100 degree and over mark, brought on the crop very quickly. Acres have been lost as some processors could not keep up …
Food Safety
AFFI’s Continued Efforts on Alternative Approach to Listeria Monocytogenes
The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) continues to work on behalf of frozen food manufacturers to address the control and prevention of Listeria Monocytogenes (Lm). On Friday, July 8, 2022, AFFI sent an update on this subject to all members prompted by an outbreak of Lm in Florida over the July 4th holiday believed to …
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Trending
Flowers, Funding and A New Ice Cream
Ever Wonder Why Supermarkets Sell Flowers? In almost every grocery store across the USA from Whole Foods to smaller shops you’ll find a flower section loaded with cut flowers, plants, and orchids. I’ve always wondered why flowers have such a large presence in this type of retail environment but it’s a planned and strategic move …
Crop News
An Unpredictable Pea Season
United States A cold and wet spring in the Pacific Northwest delayed pea plantings and the crop is running about 2 to 3 weeks late. June was extremely cool and wet in Oregon and Washington and rainfall hit record highs. Along with the rain there was some wind and we have heard that some fields …
Trending
Tech-Facilitated Indoor Farming Finds a Home in Ocean Shipping Containers
Here at Noon International over the past few years we’ve been struggling to obtain 8×40 foot ocean shipping containers to get your orders to you, yet there are others who have happily been using retrofitted shipping containers for indoor farming and new business ventures. Indoor farming is nothing new. Hydroponics (the no-soil method of growing …
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Food Safety
Summer is Here! Food Safety Guidelines to Avoid Foodborne Illness
On June 21st, we officially welcomed summer – a season of picnics, barbeques, and outdoor eating. While camping, hiking trips and family vacations abound so does the chance for foodborne illness to occur if proper food safety guidelines are not followed. Warm weather is the perfect breeding ground for foodborne bacteria to multiply rapidly, thus …
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Food Safety
The FDA’s Role in Food Safety of Imported Foods
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was created to ensure a safe food supply in the United States using specific measures which include the FDA’s authority to mandate additional preventive controls to this end. Such preventative standards are applicable to both foreign and domestic food growers, manufacturers, processors, and packers. For example, the preventive …
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Vegetables and Upcycling Top the Trending List
The Covid 19 Pandemic along with supply chain disruptions over the past two years has changed the way we eat, what we eat, how chefs in restaurants source and prepare foods, and the popularity/trending of certain foods and ingredients. Massively disrupting supply chain issues forced restaurants and homemakers to turn to local suppliers and farmers …
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Crop News
Green Pea Season Is Delayed
United States A cold and wet spring in the Pacific Northwet delayed pea planting which in turn has delayed the start of the season by about 1 or two weeks. We expect harvesting to commence in the next week or so depending on weather. In general the weather has been cool which is good for …
Trending
Food Price Outlook 2022
The official USDA website is a wealth of information if you’re willing to take the time to navigate it. From time to time, we’ll publish pertinent information from this website that we feel could be useful to you and those in the food industry. One that is of particular interest is the Food Price Outlook, …
Food Safety
Tech Talk Episode 3 Features Artificial Intelligence In the New Era of Smarter Food Safety
The third installment of FDA’s new podcast series on technology and food safety focused on AI (artificial intelligence) and its potential to advance food safety. It was hosted by Frank Yiannis, Deputy FDA Commissioner for Food Policy and Response and Donald Prater, Associate Commissioner for Imported Food Safety. The experts were Maria Velissarou, Global Corporate …
Crop News
April Freeze Plus Snow Hurt Northwest Vegetable And Fruit Crops
United States Green pea planting is completed. Recent cold weather and snow delayed plantings and we could see some reduced crop yields due to the unusual weather conditions in April. We do not anticipate a start date on green pea harvest until the early part of June. Sweet corn plantings are underway and to date …
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Crop News
VEGETABLE AND FRUIT PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE
United States Green pea and potato planting still underway. Corn plantings are just beginning. Securing enough contracted acreage has been a struggle as growers have many other more profitable options to consider and processors are paying more to the growers this year. Most processors are planning on same volumes as last season or even a …
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Trending
War in the Ukraine Brings Higher Prices and Food Shortages Worldwide
We’re all feeling the immediate effects here in the USA of the war in Ukraine. The sanctions imposed have cause gas and oil prices to explode compounded by the inflation we are already experiencing. But there are far more serious problems ahead regarding agricultural production and food prices. There are food shortages right now worldwide, …
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Food Safety
How A Book Called “The Jungle” Brought Food Safety to America
It all began in 1906 with a book called The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair. Sinclair was a known “progressive” in those days and wrote his book, “The Jungle” to expose the appalling working conditions and plight of the immigrant workers in the meat-packing plants and stockyards in Chicago. At the age of 26, he …
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Crop News
PEA AND POTATO PLANTINGS BEGIN THIS MONTH IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
United States Green pea and potato plantings should begin this week as long as the cold and snow stay away. Corn planting should commence at the end of this month/early April. Due to logistic challenges (not being able to ship product) there are still inventories of corn available to purchase, however prices remain high with …
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Food Safety
Whole Genome Sequencing – An Advanced Technology To Stop Foodborne Illness & Improve Food Safety
Foodborne illness is a common occurrence. It is estimated that one in six Americans get sick from contaminated food or beverages annually and 3,000 die from it. The USDA estimates that foodborne illnesses cost the United States more than $15.6 billion each year and the irony is that such illnesses are preventable. The CDC (Center …
Trending
Plant-Based Foods Just Keep Getting Better
One of the biggest continuing trends in the food arena today is plant-based foods. I’m sure you’re all familiar and may have even sampled the “Impossible Whopper” at Burger King even if just out of curiosity. Now, as more players enter this market, we’re seeing a variety of innovative foods in 2022 that will tempt …
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Crop News
China is now the largest grower of blueberries and strawberries worldwide
United States Early summer heat took its toll on the Green Pea crop and all processors are 20% to 50% below budget. Temperatures between 105 – 117 degrees made it difficult to keep up with the harvest and many processors had to leave their peas in the ground. Dry land pea fields suffered the most. …
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Food Safety
No More GMO Labels – It’s Bioengineered Food Now
Bioengineered Foods are those “that contain detectable genetic material that has been modified through in vitro recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) techniques and for which the modification could not otherwise be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature.” You may have seen the terms GMO (genetically modified organism) or Genetic Engineering used for marketing reasons …
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