Fresh Cut Magazine

Card check legislation could change the game for labor

The Employee Free Choice Act – commonly referred to as “card check” – could have far-reaching implications for business owners if it gets signed into law. And with a Democrat-controlled Congress and White House, the chances of a card check reality are high unless a coalition of groups opposed to it can convince one or two key senators to change their votes, said Kam Quarles, vice president of government relations and legislative affairs for the United Fresh Produce Association. The act doesn’t apply to agricultural workers, but that exemption ends at the farm gate. Every business – from packinghouse to processing to retail store – would be required to allow union representatives into the business at any time and would have to turn over names and contact information of employees. The name of the act doesn’t accurately describe what it does – it’s all about organized labor…  » Read more

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Initiative pushes for common, interchangeable audit measures

One food safety event can shake consumer confidence in the food supply, and it can take years to rebuild that lost confidence. According to a recent study, 53 percent of American consumers have concerns about the safety of the produce they buy. It’s an industry issue that requires an industry-wide response, said Brian Kocher, president of Chiquita, the parent company of Fresh Express. Fresh Express/Chiquita and Dole Food Co. sponsored the Global Food Safety Conference that followed the United Fresh Marketplace and FreshTech in April. The program brought together the various parts of the fresh and fresh-cut produce industries to talk about creating a global standard for food safety auditing. Chiquita is subject to more than 100 audits a year, which is an incredible drain on the food safety system, Kocher said. Multiple, similar second- and third-party audits require one to three days each in the offices…  » Read more

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National Promotions, Global Safety

There are some exciting things happening in the produce industry that are bigger than any one segment of the market. The first could make a dramatic difference in the fresh-cut produce industry. The Global Food Safety Initiative is working to make an interchangeable food safety standard that would cut down on the number of audits processors have to undergo. Audits are quite similar already, and creating a baseline for food safety standards would improve the monitoring and verification in the industry. The second issue that could benefit the fresh-cut industry is the national fruit and vegetable promotion board program being led by the Produce for Better Health Foundation. The program is being presented to the industry, and so far the response has been lukewarm. Some don’t want to pay mandatory assessments in a down economy when there’s no guarantee of positive return on investment. But there are…  » Read more

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Northwest processor upgrades plant to extend shelf life and improve quality

Tree Top Inc., the first fruit-processing cooperative, was established nearly 50 years ago in central Washington in the middle of the state’s apple country. The cooperative is owned by more than 1,100 grower-members from Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The company started as an apple juice processor but has grown into a processor of juice, concentrates and dried products, and as a foodservice processor for fresh-cut apple slices. The company is divided into two different sales divisions separating their consumer goods from their ingredients and foodservice products. “We’re primarily geared toward foodservice. That’s been our whole bent since we started in the fresh-cut market,” said Ned Rawn, national account manager for foodservice. “Apples are becoming a big part of the foodservice arena and (fresh-cut) seems to have gained some traction.” Tree Top entered the fresh-cut market in 2000, supplying fast food restaurants in the Pacific Northwest with high-quality…  » Read more

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