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Dec 2009
Volume 7, Number 12
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Update on International Trade in Produce
Much of the food consumed in the U.S. is imported. This is due to many factors - some products are not produced in the U.S., and others can be produced in greater quantity or less expensively in foreign markets. Finally, the domestic demand for some items exceeds domestic supply, so imported sources make up the difference.
Almost 80% of the fish and shellfish consumed in the U.S. comes from foreign sources - the highest imported category. The lowest is dairy products, at 3% imported. Fruits and nuts are 32% imported, and vegetables are 13%.
Over the past five years, the increase in imported fruits and vegetables has averaged 8% annually, with an estimated 2009 value of $10.8 billion. This is a faster growth rate than all agricultural imports combined, which has grown by 6% annually over the same period.
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Fruits and vegetables now represent about 15% of all the agricultural imports. This translates into about 60 pounds of imported fruits and vegetables. The largest single imported produce item is bananas, but there are over 600 different produce items that come into the U.S. annually.
The major sources of imported produce are within North America - Canada and Mexico will export $28.9 billion of agricultural products to the U.S. this year, and $5.9 billion will be fruits and vegetables. This is over half of all imported produce. After the NAFTA trade partners, for fruits the major sources are Central & South America and Oceania, then Europe. For vegetables, it is Central & South America, East Asia, and the Caribbean.
Part of the expansion of the trade sources for imports is the rise in domestic demand for new and exotic produce. Items such as durian, lychee, and guava have emerged as new items consumed, but not produced in the U.S. Additionally, some countries have developed supplies specifically targeted to be sold in the U.S. China and Ecuador are both growing artichokes for export, Colombia has a program to grow bamboo shoots, and both India and Trinidad are supplying garbanzo beans.
One factor driving expansion of foreign sources is a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative encouraging consumption of fruits and vegetables. This is a global version of the USDA program to increase people's awareness of the health benefits of eating fresh produce. With foreign farms expanding production for their own domestic markets, it has also increased the available supplies for export.
Retailers rely on imported produce for many reasons, principally to have reliable supplies of key items for their customers. Some items are used to target particular ethnic groups or market segments. Other items are stocked as a means to differentiate the retailer from its competition. Foodservice outlets have also picked up on this differentiation trend, using different foreign sources of produce to expand menu variety and generate interest from patrons.
The growth in the consumption of imported foods has stressed the system of food safety inspections that protects our food supply. In the last fifteen years, consumption of all types of imported foods has grown by 40%. There are almost 200,000 registered facilities worldwide that produce food that is imported by U.S. manufacturers and distributors. It is logistically and financially unfeasible for the FDA to be able to inspect all of these facilities.
Part of the FDA's strategy to deal with this challenge is to open overseas field office to conduct more local inspections. There are new field offices in China and India, with a total of eleven foreign field offices planned to open in the next year. In addition to inspections, the local offices will provide facilities with better tools and information on meeting U.S. standards for food safety.
To supplement their own inspection data, the FDA will also be accepting private inspection data, but only if the private inspections are done to standards that meet or exceed the FDA guidelines. Currently, a pilot program is being conducted with shrimp producers, using private inspection data that U.S. distributors are requiring before accepting foreign-produced shrimp for importation.
In general, the FDA is approaching foreign facilities using the same prioritization system it employs for the domestic food supply. This is a combined assessment of how risky the category is, how recent a facility has been inspected, and the likelihood of the food product in question to become contaminated in production.
Many of the produce items that Kingston supplies to our customers come from foreign sources. We continue to monitor the supplies and quality from markets around the world, and will always bring you the highest possible quality from reliable producers.
Sources: USDA, FDA, Department of Commerce, Wall Street Journal
For more information, please contact your Customer Service Representative or Jody Boline.
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Green Onions
Green onion supplies and markets are currently at average levels. This may be a surprise due to many produce items having higher prices due to cold weather and supply transition issues.
The resilience of the green onions is due to many factors, including sufficient plantings, good growing areas south of the border, stable labor conditions, and normal weather.
There is a satisfactory range of sizing and fields to choose from to make contracts on all pack styles, and for both retail and foodservice needs. Quality has been excellent.
While this outlook is generally industry-wide, there are some growing areas that are more susceptible to adverse weather. We will continue to monitor the quality and availability, and update on conditions as they change.
For more information, please contact your Customer Service Representative or Jeb Johnson.
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Rail Information
UPRR Railroad fuel surcharge for December is $0.11 per mile
As the holidays approach, we expect the truck supply in the Northeast will dwindle. Typically, with the drop in the number of available trucks the freight costs increase. There are a few contributing factors. First, there is increased demand for trucks to ship products in time for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Second, shipments of Christmas trees, which have an above-average impact on the supply of trucks due to the time it takes to get the trees dropped to different locations. The final factor is that many drivers want to make it home for the holidays, and more drivers take time off from driving.
With reduced supply and higher costs, we urge all receivers to keep a few extra days supply of product on hand. This will prevent out-of-stocks, in case ordered product does not arrive on the designated delivery date.
We also suggest sending in orders earlier than usual, with 2-3 days notice before they need to ship. Without the pressure of covering last-minute orders, we can continue to find the lowest possible shipping costs for orders, even during the holiday rush period.
For more information, please contact your Customer Service Representative or Jeremy Teeples.
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Each month in the E-News, we will share insights into the activities of the Kingston Quality Assurance team as they visit growers, packers, and distributors. We hope this will help give you more information on our commitment to food safety and security. This month's report is from Jeb Johnson.
Privatization of Food Safety Inspection
As a general rule, the U.S. food supply is one of the safest in the world, due to interlocking oversight and inspection, and responsible producers and distributors. While there are both state and federal inspections, the federal agencies do the majority of inspections. Most of these are done by the Food & Drug Administration, and most of the remainder by the Department of Agriculture. And, fifteen different federal agencies can play a role in food safety - for example, the Commerce Department is responsible for some species of fish.
The regulatory agencies have a set of standards and timing that are not always flexible enough to meet the needs of industry. Food manufacturers and distributors are increasingly using private inspectors to fill the gap left by the federal and state agencies.
This has led to conflicts of interest. In one well-publicized example, a peanut manufacturer hired a private inspector to certify the food safety of its plant in order to satisfy the requirements of the Kellogg Company, who was buying its peanuts for use in manufacturing cereal and other products. While the inspector found it to be a safe facility, FDA inspectors later found the plant was contaminated by salmonella, and had been for almost a year. Nine people died, and over 20,000 got sick as a result of this outbreak.
Another issue is that third-party audits do not require the producers to make changes. FDA or USDA inspections carry the force of law, so companies are required to make changes to comply with inspections. Private auditor recommendations are not required to be disclosed, let alone complied with.
There are more than 200 companies and numerous independent operators that provide private food inspection. One of the largest is the American Institute of Baking, which has 120 auditors who deal with meat, seafood, vegetables, spices, dairy products, in addition to bakeries.
The federal inspection service is overwhelmed by the increasing size and complexity of the food system. More imports, more processing plants, and more ingredients have made it difficult to maintain the frequency of inspections. At present, there are approximately 6,000 federal food safety inspectors, with a vacancy rate of almost 10%. In addition, in recent years almost 15% of inspectors have been retiring annually. This makes the shortage even more severe, and also reduces the experience of the inspector workforce.
Federal inspectors have a rigid set of standards, and charge manufacturers $8,000 to review and inspect a plant, regardless of the results. Some private companies offer minimal, customized audits for as little as $1,000, with a "no charge if you fail" guarantee. While private inspections were originally intended to help support the safety of the food system, there are many changes being advocated. Some of these changes include voluntary certifications, tougher requirements for third-party auditing, and stricter oversight of the individual inspectors.
Experts agree that most food safety issues at plants are easily identified through a comprehensive review that follows the federal safety standards. A plant falls out of compliance due to a lack of, or failure of food safety procedures. Normally, a return to safe food handling practices is easily done, but can jeopardize productivity and sales revenue, which is one reason the recommendations of inspections need to be carefully and quickly addressed.
For more information, please contact your Customer Service Representative or Jody Boline.
Sources: USDA, FDA, New York Times
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Each month, one of our associates will share one of their favorite recipes using different Kingston products. We hope you will try one or all of our family recipes, and all of the great ways to enjoy our high-quality, wholesome products.
Val's Cheese Potato Soup
6 cups diced Kingston potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
½ cup chopped Kingston onion
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
2-3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 ½ cups milk
2 tablespoons flour
1 pound Velveeta cheese
In a large pan, cover potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, parsley flakes, and bouillon cubes with water (at least 3 cups) and simmer until tender.
Blend milk with flour, add to vegetables.
Stir entire mix until all ingredients are blended. Add Velveeta cheese, and stir until cheese is completely melted into soup. For a thicker, cheesier soup, add more cheese.
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Kingston Service Anniversaries
Join us in congratulating our team members on their many years of service.
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| Jody Boline 23 years |
Andrea Dopp 13 years |
Christie Sommers 12 years |
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