Today, Thursday, March 5th we got the following announcement from the American Frozen Food Institute https://affi.org/: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) are closely monitoring the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Last week, the FDA announced that there have been no …
Continue reading “Can the COVID-19 be transmitted thru food?”
Alibaba is helping China’s farmers survive the COVID-19 (Corona Virus) outbreak. Many brick and mortar businesses in China have recently turned to video live streaming on “Taobao Live” to sell their products…and it’s working. Livestream sessions in February increased by 110% compared to same period last year. With physical businesses closed in many cities and …
United States Green Pea and Potato plantings will commence this month. Processing potato grower contract volumes are expected to increase in 2020. With the decrease in contract volumes last season , along with weather struggles which included heavy rain in the Midwest and freeze in Idaho, the overall potato harvest came up short. Some are …
The FDA has just announced that Costco Wholesale Corporation is the first approved participant in the FDA’s VQIP – or Voluntary Qualified Importer Program. This is a voluntary fee-based program that provides importers an expedited review and import entry of both human and animal foods into the USA under FSMA, the Food Safety Modernization Act. …
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Read this article to get a link to the Quality Assurance and Food Saftey Magazine!
If you’re interested in what’s trending in the food industry, you probably attended the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, January 19-21, 2019. Not only were there hundreds of exhibitors from throughout the world displaying a multitude of products, but also some excellent presentations and/or sessions from the experts… like “CBD in Foods & Beverages”, …
United States The overall vegetable season in the Pacific Northwest was good with no major hiccups to report, however the market is fairly tight due to demand from the Midwest region and Europe. Potatoes in the Northwest began about a week later than usual. Autumn wet and cool weather set in during the last days …
Continue reading “Washington State’s Red Raspberry Crop Reduced”
While attending the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but notice some blank stares when I asked various company representatives about being FSMA compliant. Now granted, many of these exhibitors were from different countries around the globe… but most spoke excellent English…so I don’t think it was a …
United States The overall vegetable season in the Pacific Northwest was good with no major hiccups to report, however the market is fairly tight due to demand from the Midwest region and Europe. Diced Carrots are now completed and production plants in Oregon and Washington will be down until new season begins up again in …
Continue reading “Peak Cauliflower and Broccoli Season Underway In Mexico”
It’s hard to believe that it’s been eleven years since the Chinese milk scandal took place…and some families and young teenagers (who survived) are still suffering today. Ren Che, a thirteen-year-old boy who lives in southern Hunan province is on three sessions of kidney dialysis a week. Doctors found his kidneys full of stones when …
I was recently traveling in China and South East Asia and noticed a small article in the Global edition of CHINA DAILY dated Dec 4, 2019 and a similar one in the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) of the same date. The headlines read: “Blast at Food Factory Kills Four, Injures 10” and “Four …
Whole Foods Market, headquartered in Austin, Texas, annually reveals what it considers to be the “Top 10 Food Trends” for upcoming year. The top food trend predictions for 2020 are as follows: regenerative agriculture, flour power, food from West Africa, out-of-the-box-into-the-fridge snacking, plant-based beyond soy, everything butters and spreads, rethinking the kids’ menu, not-so-simple sugars, …
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United States Diced Carrots are being processed and to date the yields and quality are normal. Our overall vegetable season in the Pacific Northwest was good with no major hiccups to report, however the market is farily tight due to demand from the Midwest region and Europe. Potatoes in the Northwest began about a week …
Continue reading “Peak Asparagus Season Continues In South America”
In Chapter 1 of Nancy Scharlach’s new online food safety course, How to Convert HACCP Plans to FSMA Food Safety Plans (AKA HARPC Plans), she gets right to the core of how to do this with her step-by-step process. While there are many companies that already have a HACCP plan with many internal resources in …
On September 25, 2019, the U.S. and Japan signed a limited trade deal that will eliminate certain tariffs and allow market access to specific agricultural products, as well as industrial and digital products. Japan is America’s third largest export market and imported more than 14.1 billion dollars in U.S. products in 2018. From a trade …
We are proud to offer this exciting NEW course created by Nancy Scharlach, Chief Technical Director, FSMA International. Noon International has been working with Nancy for the past several months and her latest course, How to Convert Your HACCP Plans to HARPC to Meet FSMA Requirements is now available! Many of you may already know …
United States Sweet corn harvest is now completed in the Pacific Northwest. The weather cooled off with day time temperatures in the mid 60-degree F range. The nights were much cooler and the last few weeks of the harvest the yields and quality dropped off significantly. Diced Carrots are being processed and to date the …
Codex HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. It was developed by private industry rather than regulatory and has evolved into a standard for which food safety programs and hazards controls are measured and documented for prevention. So, it actually started out private industry and then evolved into a regulatory requirement for specific …
United States Sweet corn harvest is approximately 85% completed in the Pacific Northwest. The weather has cooled off with day time temperatures in the mid 60-degree F range. Nights are certainly cooler and the last few nights have been in the range of 32 – 35 Degrees F. There has been no frost reported yet, …
How Millennials Are Changing the Food Industry Yes, it’s the largest living generation and there are an estimated 80 – 95 million millennials living in the United States today. While opinions vary concerning the age span of millennials, most agree it includes those born between 1980 and 2000 making them between 19 -39 years old …
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