Oser Communications Group

BY LORRIE BAUMANN Serving special diet food tribes, including Paleo, vegan and vege- tarian eaters, may pay dividends for grocers, a strategist for New Hope Natural Media told an au- dience of Natural Products Expo West attendees. Natural Products Expo West was held March 5-8 in Anaheim, California. "A lot of forces are driving products and in what consumers want and are looking for," said Eric Pierce, Director, Strategy & Insights, for NEXT at New Hope Natural Media. NEXT is New Hope's business intelligence unit. Pierce noted that grocers are see- ing a growing consumer aware- ness about food, a shift in the values that are driving purchasing BY RICHARD THOMPSON An encouraging report by the FDA showed little evidence of antibiotic residuals in milk, with a system of dairy regulation that continues to provide safe and healthy milk to the market. Fol- lowing up on concerns of ele- vated levels of antibiotics in dairy products, the study was done in part with farms that had a previ- ous violation with antibiotic residue. The report concluded that while the small number of posi- tive drug residuals was encourag- ing, the FDA will continue to collaborate closely with state reg- FDA Testing Finds Small Incidence of Antibiotic Residues in Dairy Continued on PAGE 14 BUYERS GUIDE: Frozen Desserts & Toppings SEE PAGE 24 HOT PRODUCTS: eSutras SEE PAGE 9 UPDATE: Confections SEE PAGE 15 Continued on PAGE 6 Continued on PAGE 11 ulatory partners and the dairy in- dustry to strengthen the residue testing program for Grade "A" milk. The FDA will also continue to educate dairy producers on best practices to avoid drug residue in both tissues and milk, keeping consumers safe and dis- tributors compliant. These results are a continuation of an ongoing trend for the past 20 years in reducing antibiotic residue in dairy products, noted Dr. Robert Collier, Professor of the School of Animal and Com- parative Sciences at the University of Arizona, "The dairy industry is continually improving. Milk is tested at least five times before it gets to the store." Collier, who was not part of the study, contin- ued, "The dairy industry has a tried and true method to keep quality product that is safe and good for you." Targeting specific dairy farms with previous drug residue vio- lations, the FDA wanted to study whether those farms with previous violations continued to have antibiotic residuals in their product. The FDA looked for evidence of drug residuals from 31 different antibiotics, and what they found was that over 99 percent from almost 2000 samples taken were free of any antibiotic residuals – it's that tiny percentage remaining that raises concerns. Using antibiotics in cattle is not unusual for the animal's health and preventative care, but those medications are supposed to be metabolized before the animal can be considered a "lactating cow" that produces milk for sale. Recent studies have linked grow- ing bacterial resistance to antibi- otics with the infiltration of antibiotics into the human food chain. Olive Oil Seminar Looks at Pitfalls Serving the Few Also Serves the Many decisions, that consumers are find- ing it more worthwhile to invest their time in food, and that natural foods are continuing to main- stream into the food marketplace. He noted that two nascent trends in particular that should be of interest to grocery retailers: new interest in special diets, especially Paleo and vegan diets, and the be- ginning of a migration of products that we know as shelf-stable to new offerings that require refrig- erated storage as consumers ex- press their preference for foods with less preservatives. These new trends are already affecting sales patterns. While conventional food sales are cur- rently flat, survey data indicates a 12 percent growth in the natural and organic sector in 2014. Al- though the size of the vegan and Paleo populations are now small, with Paleo eaters accounting for only 6 percent of the American population, the number of Paleo eaters is growing at 56 percent per year and is expected to quadruple by 2018, while the number of vegetarians and vegans is ex- pected to be growing at a 23 per- cent rate by 2018. These growth rates represent a sizable opportunity for retailers willing to cater to them, Pierce said, especially since products that appeal to these special diet tribes also appeal to other shop- pers who share some, but not BY LORRIE BAUMANN A presidential task force has re- leased a plan to curb illegal, un- reported and unregulated fishing and seafood fraud. IUU fishing circumvents the rules to save the costs of complying with sustain- able fishing practices, sometimes by taking chances with food safety or using slave labor on fishing boats. Seafood fraud in- volves mislabeling or other forms of deceptive marketing that take place after the fish is off the boat, Continued on PAGE 8 Presidential Task Force on IUU Fishing and Seafood Fraud Releases Action Plan such as techniques that make tuna steaks look more red or that add weight to the product. Seafood fraud overlaps with IUU fishing when illegally caught fish are then sold as a legal catch. The action plan released on March 15 details proposals by the Presidential Task Force on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud, which is co-chaired by the U.S. Departments of Commerce and State. The proposals correspond to recommendations that the task force made late last year, with ac- tion expected on them during the remainder of this year and next year. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- ministration, U.S. fishermen landed 9.9 billion pounds of fish and shellfish worth $5.5 billion in 2013. Those U.S. fishermen, as well as others engaged in BY LORRIE BAUMANN Retailers who understand new grading and testing standards for extra virgin and other olive oil products will be in a better posi- tion to capture a premium price for extra virgin olive oil that have health benefits that are not con- ferred by lesser grades, according to attorney Christopher Van Gundy, who practices food law in California. Moreover, they will substantially reduce their liability exposure or harm to their name (particularly with private labels) from ever increasing litigation in- volving alleged false advertising filed by consumer and govern- ment attorneys. In addition, the seminar will provide grocery retailers and their suppliers and manufacturers with in-depth information about the nutrition science behind extra vir- gin olive oil that support premium pricing. Olive oils are generally sold side-by-side on a shelf, with the oils grouped together by brand, which gives consumers lit- tle information other than price to help them distinguish between the products. If consumers can't distinguish a benefit for the higher-priced products due to quality or authenticity issues, VOLUME 80, NUMBER 5 MAY 2015 n $7.00 RETAILER NEWS n Foothills IGA: A Georgia Peach of a Market PAGE 11 SUPPLIER BUSINESS n Star Kay White Celebrates a Sweet Heritage PAGE 12 SPECIALTY DISTRIBUTORS & BROKERS n Manufacturer Husk Foods Takes on Distributor Role to Make Local Food an Indiana Reality PAGE 13 NATURALLY HEALTHY n LOLIWARE Edible Cups and Packaging Could be a Game Changer PAGE 14 SMALL ELECTRICS n Blenders & Mixers PAGE 25 News ..............................................4 Ad Index .......................................26 Smorgasbord ................................26 www.gourmetnews.com G OURMET N EWS T H E B U S I N E S S N E W S P A P E R F O R T H E G O U R M E T I N D U S T R Y ®

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