Members should expect some changes in FDA procedures in the near future. At a meeting with officials from FDA’s New York District, Ed Thomas, the district’s director of compliance, said “major changes are coming soon.” He said he could not give any details about any of the changes being considered. It’s expected the changes will be announced in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Other interesting points from the meeting:

Another AFI Convention is in the books. Those who completed the surveys distributed at the convention gave high marks across the board for the program speakers. Convention attendees included delegations of cashew representatives from Vietnam, India and Brazil as well as a representative of the African cashew industry. All participated in an industry-wide discussion on updates to the AFI Cashew Standard.

We need input from members on the following topics addressed at the convention:

AFI will be heading to Washington . . . AFI’s annual Town Meeting will be held in Washington, DC this year. We’re targeting the week of September 17. Our plan is to create a forum in which AFI members can interact with representatives from agencies such as FDA, Customs and USDA as well as members of Congress. Look for details shortly.

— AFI NEWS —

Barbara Harloe, World Finer Foods was re-elected chair of AFI at the general membership meeting held April 27 during the Annual Convention, held this year at the Resort at Longboat Key Club, Longboat Key, Florida.

David Cottam, Sunrise Commodities, was elected to serve a one-year term as 1st Vice Chair.

The following were also re-elected to serve one-year terms:

Second Vice Chair
Vincent Arguimbau, Arguimbau & Co.

Treasurer
Tom White, The Pastene Companies

Secretary
Andy Gellert, Camerican International

The following were elected to serve three-year terms on the AFI Board of Directors:

Fred Mortati – Orlando Food Sales
Tom Mueller – Filippo Berio
Regina Sobeck – American Eagle Food Products

Additionally, Bob Desrochers of Totally Nuts & More was elected to fill a vacant two-year term:

PROCESSED FOODS, NUT & AG SECTIONS
ELECT OFFICERS

During the annual meeting of the Processed Foods Section, the following were elected to serve one-year terms:

Chairman
Erik Johansen, Dana Imports

Vice Chairman
Jill Bush, AGRUSA, Inc.

Secretary/Treasurer
Jim Bianco, Ron-Son Foods

During the annual meeting of the Nut & Agricultural Products Section, the following were elected to one-year terms:

Chairman
Stephen O’Mara, J. F. Braun & Sons

Vice Chairman
Regina Sobeck, American Eagle Food Products

Secretary/Treasurer
Bob Desrochers, Totally Nuts & More

During her chairman’s report at the AFI Annual Convention, Barbara Harloe thanked Oreste Speciale of Oesse Foods and David Rosenblatt of The Richard Franco Agency for their service as members of AFI’s board of directors. Oreste and David both served three-year terms and have been valuable assets to AFI. We look forward to their continued involvement in the association.

At the Saturday evening dinner, plaques were presented to Carlo Orlando of Orlando Food Sales and David Rosenthal of Sunrise Commodities, recognizing their tenure as chair of the Processed Foods Section and Nut & Agricultural Products Section, respectively. Both served two one-year terms as chairmen.

The Convention Committee will soon begin working on putting together the convention program for the 2008 AFI Convention. Suggestions for topics, speakers, etc. are welcomed and should be directed to the AFI office.

— INDUSTRY NEWS—

The European Union significantly increased its trade sanctions against the U.S. in response to the continuing payout of benefits under the Byrd Amendment. These sanctions are linked to the amounts distributed to U.S. industry under the Byrd Amendment and will stop when the U.S. halts those distributions.

The sanction takes the form of a 15 percent additional import duty. As of May 1, the EU added 32 new products to the list of those subject to the additional duty. These goods include different types of paper products, plastic furniture, textile products, pens, footwear and mobile homes. The level of retaliation will increase to $81.2 million in 2007 from the $36.9 million applied since May 1, 2006.

Although President Bush signed a Byrd Amendment repeal into law in February 2006, the EU and other U.S. trading partners have said this action does not comply with a WTO ruling against the law because it allows the distribution of antidumping and countervailing duties collected on entries made until Oct. 1, 2007.

CANNED PEACH INDUSTRY
TOUTS HEALTH BENEFITS

The canned peach industry is looking stronger and it plans to tout its products health benefits, reported The Modesto Bee.

The industry struggled in recent years because the peach supply exceeded demand. However, growers responded last year by ripping out about a tenth of the state’s acreage of cling peaches, the type that goes into cans, in a program sponsored by the federal government. That has trimmed part of the surplus and Mother Nature has helped, too. Excessive spring rain and summer heat reduced the 2006 harvest, leaving processors with less canned inventory than usual to carry into this year.

Growers hope for decent prices this year, as canners seek to rebuild inventories. Both of the Modesto-area processors, Seneca Foods and Del Monte Foods, plan to boost production. Del Monte will process an estimated 74,600 tons of peaches and 27,000 tons of pears, along with smaller amounts of apricots and other fruit, according to Del Monte spokesman Bryson Thornton. He said all the fruits are up from last year, but he did not have exact 2006 figures.

The industry is also trying to eliminate a perception that canned fruit is less nutritious than the fresh kind.

Dietician Roberta Duyff (a former spokesperson for the North American Olive Oil Association) tried to dispel that in a recent article in Cling Peach Review. She said the cooking and canning processes seal in the substantial nutrients in peaches, including vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, folate and fiber. Randy Fiorini, a member of the California Cling Peach Board, said an educational effort could improve the image of canned fruit.

The National Marine Fisheries Service published a final rule that would create seafood marketing councils, as called for in the Fish and Seafood Promotion Act (FSPA) of 1986. The councils, which would be funded by assessments on companies in the sector, would develop marketing and promotion plans designed to increase the general demand for fish and fish products by encouraging, expanding and improving the marketing and use of fish and fish products, both in domestic or foreign markets, through consumer education, research and other marketing and promotion activities.

Sectors within the industry that wish to establish a council must apply to the NMFS.

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service issued a final rule, effective April 13, which increases the assessment rate established for the California Olive Committee for the 2007 and subsequent fiscal years from $11.03 to $47.84 per assessable ton of olives handled. The higher rate was recommended because the 2006-07 assessable olive receipts as reported by the California Agricultural Statistics Service (CASS) are only 16,270 tons, compared to 114,761 tons in 2005-06. Unusual weather conditions, including a wet winter and very hot summer, contributed to a substantially smaller crop.

— FDA NEWS —

In October 2006, FDA updated its “Questions and Answers Regarding Food Allergens” in part to identify 19 nuts considered to be “tree nuts” and nine grains considered “wheat” for purposes of allergen labeling. The allergen Act (FALCPA) identifies the “big eight” food allergens as milk, egg, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, and soybeans.

The following are considered to be tree nuts: almonds, beach nuts, Brazil nuts, Butternuts, cashews, chestnuts, Chinquapins, coconuts, hazelnuts, ginko nuts, hickory nuts, lichee nuts, macadamia/bush nuts, pecans, pine/pinon nuts, Pili nuts, pistachios, sheanuts and walnuts.

The following are considered wheat: common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.), club wheat (Triticum compactum Host.), spelt (Triticum spelta L.), semolina (Triticum durum Desf.), Einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. subsp. monococcum ), emmer (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. dicoccon (Schrank) Thell.), kamut (Triticum polonicum L.), and triticale ( x Triticosecale ssp. Wittm.).

FDA posted guidance on its web site reminding manufacturers and distributors of conventional food products about the different types of labeling claims available for use on conventional food products. The guidance identifies the four types of claims that can be used in food labeling (health claims, structure/function claims, nutrient concontent claims, and dietary guidance) and provides basic details of use along with examples of each type of claim.

The following companies were approved for membership by the AFI Board of Directors at its April 26 meeting:

Overseas

Agra Trading, Dublin, Ireland – trader in food ingredients, nuts, beef, lamb and dried fruit

DAMSA, S.A., Laayoune, Morocco – producer of canned sardines and mackerel

La Dispensa di Amerigo SRL, Monteveglio, Italy – manufacturer/exporter of vegetables packed in oil, wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar

Meridionale Alimenti SRL, Avellino, Italy – processor of baked beans and pasta, with and without tomato sauce

Pranburi Hotei Co., Ltd., Prachuapkirikhan, Thailand – manufacturer and exporter of canned fruit and juice

Tiryaki Foods A.S., Gaziantep, Turkey – grower, producer and processor of beans, lentils, wheat, sesame seeds and pistachios

Vanni Guizzardi SRL, Bologna, Italy – supplier of coffee, tea, chocolate and cereals

— AFI CALENDAR —

The Annual Meeting of the North American Olive Oil Association will take place July 11 at the Grand Hyatt in New York.