FDA, USDA SCHEDULE SAFETY MEETINGS
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced two upcoming, joint public meetings to hear stakeholder presentations on measuring recent progress in food safety and traceability. The first meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday, July 21, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and the second will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 20, at the Crowne Plaza Portland Downtown in Portland, Ore. The two meetings are extensions of the one-day public workshop on March 30 where officials from FSIS, FDA and CDC discussed their recent collaboration and some of the challenges facing their agencies — as well as stakeholders in the food supply chain — as the government works to improve traceability protocols and establish more effective food safety metrics. During these two public meetings, the agencies will hear presentations from any interested stakeholders, including suppliers, retailers and other industry groups, consumer groups, public health experts, and state and local regulators.
A&P REWARDS PRODUCE LOYALTY
MONTVALE, N.J. — The A&P family of supermarkets has expanded its “Live Better! Wellness Club” to include “Fresh & Healthy Rewards,” a loyalty program for shoppers who purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. Whenever a Live Better! Wellness Club member spends $50 in the produce section of any A&P, SuperFresh, Waldbaum's or Pathmark store, they will receive a coupon for 20% off a future produce purchase, according to a company announcement. The Live Better! Wellness Club also offers members discounts on the company's America's Choice private-label fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, prescription discounts for senior citizens and other benefits.
FRESH FRUIT HOT ON 4TH OF JULY
Fresh fruit and potato chips have become the two most popular snack foods consumed on Independence Day, according to data from the NPD Group/SnackTrack. Bananas top the list of fresh fruit eaten on the Fourth of July, followed by apples, watermelon and strawberries. Other top 10 snack foods include tortilla chips, doughnuts, salsa, dips and chewy candy. Many of these snacks are eaten at gatherings. More than one quarter of these snacks are eaten with groups of three or more people, and 19% of SnackTrack respondents said that they were attending an Independence Day party or picnic when consuming these foods.
PBH EXPANDS CONSUMER WEBSITE
The Produce for Better Health Foundation last week launched a redesign of its consumer website, fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org. The site now features the Fruit & Vegetable Daily News Page, which offers news on produce research, policy and health trends. In recognition of First Lady Michelle Obama's “Let's Move!” initiative to address childhood obesity, the site now also features a Let's Move page, explaining the initiative and highlighting the key role that produce consumption plays in a healthy diet. And visitors to the site can now also access a vegetable garden how-to guide, explaining the steps involved with planning, preparing and planting a home vegetable garden. New recipes and new commodity profiles are also continually added to the site's database. “We're continually developing new additions to the consumer website. We want to make sure that the website is an effective resource for consumers, not only by providing them with how-to tips and nutritional information, but also by weighing in on fruit and vegetable related topics currently making the news,” Elizabeth Pivonka, president and chief executive officer of PBH, said in a release.
