LA MIRADA, CA -- A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the California Department of Food & Agriculture, was the featured speaker Oct. 4 at the Fresh Produce & Floral Council Luncheon meeting, here. A large crowd of produce professionals heard Mr. Kawamura touch upon a myriad of agricultural topics, including the recent spinach crisis and the next farm bill. Mr. Kawamura called 2006 a year of "outbreaks and heartaches" in California, because the state was also hit hard by flooding early in the year followed by a massive heat wave in early July. Regarding the recent outbreak of E. coli in spinach, Mr

Idaho growers will harvest approximately 328,000 acres of potatoes this year, yielding nearly 12 billion pounds. Overall, the crop appears to be uniformly smooth and consistent. The extremely warm weather in early August did not have an adverse effect on the crop -- in fact it may have accelerated the harvest. The Idaho potato industry's irrigation system ensures that despite high temperatures and even drought, the crop is managed quite effectively because irrigation is the primary water source. The total number of acres planted this year was the same as the total acreage planted in 2004 (328

A survey of some spinach buyers and sellers, as well as a review of stories in the consumer press, reveals that spinach is getting back on the shelves, but some retailers are staying away from California, at least at this point. Dan Verdelli of Verdelli Farms Inc. in Harrisburg, PA, said Oct. 4 that spinach sales are starting to come back, "but I'd say they are only at 30 percent of the volume before the problem." Mr. Verdelli said that a number of retail buyers are coming back to the category, "but they don't want us to source from California. In fact, they want us to put not the country of

SALINAS, CA -- Acknowledging that it isn't possible to give "zero tolerance" assurance that fresh produce always will be safe to eat, Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) told assembled reporters that farming and processing practices in the Salinas Valley and surrounding areas will be the most extensive in the industry following the recent E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in spinach. When new protocols are initiated, the area will have the "best protocol for spinach and green leafy vegetables," Mr. Farr said. It's up to the industry -- not the federal government -- to craft new protocols, he said. "We don't have a

San Juan Bautista, CA-based Natural Selection Foods has decided not to buy neighbor Pride of San Juan's manufacturing operations after running PSJ's processing plant for the past six months. That plant has been identified recently as the facility where Natural Selection Foods had packed bags of spinach under the "Dole" label that were found to have contained E. coli O157:H7. At a press conference Sept. 28, Natural Selection Foods spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said that the E. coli outbreak had caused the company to reassess its financial footing for purchasing the processing plant. In a March

Once considered seasonal items, berries of just about all types are now in demand year-round in the United States in both retail and foodservice. Strawberries are available essentially year-round from California, with seasonal volume in Florida and some other states. Most imported strawberries come from Mexico, primarily the Baja California peninsula. But when it comes to other types of berries -- blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and specialty berries such as red currants, cape gooseberries or baby kiwifruit -- marketers source from many countries at different seasons in order to be able