Food Traceability Report articles from October 2008

Food Traceability Report archives from October 2008

USDA makes last-minute fix to COOL rules; critics unsatisfied.(LABELING)
October 1, 2008... Responding to complaints from senators, cattle producers and consumer advocacy groups, USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service on Sept. 26 announced last-minute changes to its interim final rule for country-of-origin labeling. The critics...

European Parliament seeks comprehensive ban on cloning for food.(MEAT, POULTRY & FISH)
October 1, 2008... The European Parliament has approved a resolution asking the European Commission to propose a comprehensive ban on cloning animals for food purposes, citing serious animal health and welfare concerns as well as ethical issues. Neil...

Caveat emptor.(ADVENTITIOUS TRACES)(Department of Agriculture)(Cornucopia Institute)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... CAVEAT EMPTOR: Responding to our story on pesticide-laced organic ginger last month (see FTR September, Page 16), Mark Kastel, co-director of the Cornucopia Institute, says his watchdog group publicly pressured USDA to audit organic...

Ota's new eggxecutive.(ADVENTITIOUS TRACES)
October 1, 2008... OTA'S NEW EGGXECUTIVE: The Organic Trade Association has appointed Christine Bushway, a former top lobbyist for the egg industry, as its new executive director. Bushway was chief Washington lobbyist for the egg industry and served as a...

Tracing produce.(ADVENTITIOUS TRACES)(Food and Drug Administration)(Conference news)
October 1, 2008... TRACING PRODUCE: FDA is holding two public meetings this fall to gather information on ways of improving product traceability systems for fresh produce. The daylong meetings are planned for Oct. 16 at FDA.s Center for Food Safety and Applied...

China Trace.(ADVENTITIOUS TRACES)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... CHINA TRACE: Norway-based TraceTracker and the Shandong Institute of Standardization have agreed to establish a joint venture company named China Trace aimed at boosting the "Made in China" brand in both domestic and export markets. As the...

Monsanto settles patent infringement suit with co-op elevator.(GRAINS)
October 1, 2008... Monsanto Company has settled a two-year legal dispute with Pilot Grove Cooperative Elevator, Inc. over patent infringement. Pilot Grove, which operates in a small town in Missouri of the same name, acknowledged violating Monsanto's...

Appeals court upholds ban on planting Roundup Ready alfalfa.(GRAINS)
October 1, 2008... A federal appeals court in San Francisco has upheld a ban on planting Roundup Ready alfalfa until USDA completes a court-ordered Environmental Impact Statement on the transgenic variety. In a 2-1 ruling on Geertson Seed Farms v. Monsanto,...

Schwarzenegger signs biotech liability protection bill.(GRAINS)
October 1, 2008... California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sept. 27 signed a landmark biotech liability protection bill (AB 541) to shield farmers in that state from lawsuits filed by biotech companies. The compromise bill aims to protect farmers whose...

Biotech soybean approval expected to ease EU feed shortage.(GRAINS)
October 1, 2008... The European Commission last month gave default approval to imports of Bayer CropScience's herbicide-tolerant LibertyLink A2704-12 soybean variety, which is expected to ease animal feed shortages in the EU. By giving the green light to...

USDA finalizes animal traceability business plan.(MEAT, POULTRY & FISH)
October 1, 2008... USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is making available a final version of its "Business Plan to Advance Animal Disease Traceability." The plan aims to advance animal disease traceability to a "critical mass" of 70% of each...

Leading companies and retailers reject food from clones.(MEAT, POULTRY & FISH)
October 1, 2008... The Center for Food Safety and Friends of the Earth have announced that 20 leading food manufacturers and retailers have promised not to use or sell food from cloned animals. The companies include Kraft Foods; General Mills;...

Brazilian oyster traceability opens doors to foreign markets.(MEAT, POULTRY & FISH)
October 1, 2008... Brazilian oyster harvesting and processing costs have soared over the past year, and profit margins throughout the production chain have been squeezed because consumers are unwilling to pay higher prices. Thus, premium foreign markets are...

Pesticide firm must pay $1m for contaminating organic crop.(ORGANICS)
October 1, 2008... Western Farm Service Inc., a Fresno, Calif.-based pesticide application company, has been ordered to pay $1 million in damages to Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo for ruining the Pescadero-based farm's ability to label its dill, sage and rosemary crops...

National Organic Standards Board to meet next month.(ORGANICS)(Department of Agriculture. National Organic Standards Board)(Conference news)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... USDA's National Organic Standards Board, which provides advice to the department on organic agriculture policy, is scheduled to meet Nov. 17-19 at the Savoy Suites Hotel, 2505 Wisconsin Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. Meeting times are...

ANSI sustainable ag meeting gets mixed reviews.(LABELING)
October 1, 2008... The inaugural meeting of a committee chosen to develop a sustainable agriculture standard for adoption by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has received mixed reviews, with conventional agriculture representatives expressing...

Senators express displeasure with COOL rule.(LABELING)
October 1, 2008... Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and 30 other senators are unhappy with USDA's interim final rule for country-of-origin labeling, which allows meat packers to label U.S. beef with a multiple COOL label such as "Product of the...

Clinton and Feingold seek COOL for dairy products.(LABELING)
October 1, 2008... Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) have introduced legislation to extend mandatory country-of origin labeling (COOL) to dairy products. Clinton says adding dairy products to the list of commodities covered...

Does your ERP system protect your brand?(TRACEABILITY TOOLBOX)
October 1, 2008... Since early last year there have been more than 900 food-related investigations and recalls, including high-profile incidents that have eroded consumer confidence and added pressure on food brand owners. Could your brand withstand a...

Industry groups barred from "merits" phase of sugar beet lawsuit.(REGULATORY WATCH)
October 1, 2008... A federal judge has barred Monsanto Company, Syngenta Seeds and various sugar beet growers and processors from participating in the "merits" phase of a lawsuit over transgenic Roundup Ready sugar beets. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White...

Japanese advocacy groups protest biotech sugar beets.(REGULATORY WATCH)
October 1, 2008... The No! GMO Campaign, representing 53 of Japan's leading farmer, consumer, and public interest groups, last week joined the Washington-based Center for Food Safety and a coalition of other U.S. advocacy group in opposing cultivation of...

RFID/Traceability White Paper.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)
October 1, 2008... Motorola has published a White Paper on "Improving the safety of the food supply chain: the value of RFID and traceability on a growing problem." Advantages cited include (1) real-time visibility into product condition during...

Supply chain planning solutions.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)
October 1, 2008... WAM Systems, Inc., headquartered outside Philadelphia, offers advanced supply chain planning solutions designed for the processing industry. WAM says its Picaso solution is used throughout the global process industry, providing a broad set of...

"Pick-to-light" auto ID.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)
October 1, 2008... Axcess International Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is offering new sensor capabilities for the industry's most comprehensive automated asset management system. The new long range "pick-to-light" enhancement for the revolutionary Dot...

Business intelligence solutions.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)
October 1, 2008... StayinFront, Inc., based in Fairfield, N.J., is offering the newest version of its flagship product, StayinFront CRM 11, which the company says combines CRM and analytics into a single powerful tool that makes critical business intelligence...

Tag subscription program.(PRODUCTS & SERVICES)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... I.D.ology, based in Eau Claire, Wis., is offering a unique Tag Subscription Program (TSP) providing significant cash discounts for subscribers. In addition to its RFID readers and automated tracking soft ware, "Animal Trackers" are in use...

Item-sized barcode for fruit gains in popularity.(TRENDS)
October 1, 2008... Don't be surprised to pick up an apple or pear soon and find the "DataBar," a roughly half-inch by half-inch barcode sticker, in the place where you normally might have seen a price look-up (PLU) sticker. It will contain information...