Produce Recall & Field Survey

Produce Recall & Field Survey plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

A voluntary recall of a variety of summer produce has been issued by a California produce packing company. Wawona Packing Company has recalled both organic and conventionally sold whole peaches, nectarines, plums and pluots due to possible contamination by listeria. The produce has been distributed to Sam's Club, BJ's Wholesale Club, Trader Joe's, Stop & Shop, Whole Foods, Costco and a number of other large food retailers. This has also caused Wegman's supermarket to recall a number of baked goods prepared in the store that contained the possibly contaminated fruits.

USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service is sending out almost 25,000 surveys to farmers for this upcoming August crop report, plus there will be actual field evaluations according to Mark Harris with NASS.

HARRIS: Once they receive the questionnaire they'll have a code number that they can go on the internet and report or then we will begin calling those farmers who haven't reported on July 30th. And then conclude that first few days of August. On the Objective Yield Surveys, because of the field visits and the potential of going to the labs we start a bit earlier, July 25th and then be concluding it that same period of time that first week of August. The report then is actually on August 12th.

Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray.

Quite a while back my husband had the opportunity to help enlighten a friend about GMO foods. His friend wanted to know what all the uproar was about over genetically modified organisms, admitting that he really knew nothing about the subject. My husband is not an expert, but he has worked in and around the ag industry for nearly a decade, which has given him a little more insight than the average consumer. So he answered his friend's questions as best he could. Thankfully for the past year there has been a place consumers can go to get answers from honest to goodness experts about GMO foods. The Council for Biotechnology Information, along with its supporting partners, funded the GMO Answers initiative and created a website where consumers can ask the tough questions about GMOs and get honest, informative, and easy to understand answers. Since its inception roughly has a year ago GMO Answers has helped give consumers the information about biotechnology in food and agriculture they're seeking. In doing so GMO Answers has also been able to dispel a lot of the fears, concerns, and downright falsehoods about GMO foods.

Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.