The Grocery Shopping Experience: Fresh Foods, Fresh Ideas

The Grocery Shopping Experience: Fresh Foods, Fresh Ideas

The grocery shopping experience continues to evolve. More than one third of U.S. grocery shoppers are now shopping online, according to Coresight Research. In their U.S. Online Grocery Survey 2019 that was recently referenced in The Supermarket News, 36.8 percent of those polled bought groceries online over the past year. This is up 23.1 percent from the previous year. They figure that this represents about 93 million online grocery purchasers, a gain of nearly 35 million from 2018. However, their research also showed that only 39.5...Continue Reading...
Rethinking Food Safety and the Supply Chain

Rethinking Food Safety and the Supply Chain

Recently, I saw the Produce Marketing Association’s Dr. Bob Whitaker present on food safety and the supply chain. Dr. Bob, as he’s affectionately known, was the opening keynote speaker at the Salinas AgTech Summit in March and also the closing keynote speaker at this month’s PMA TechKnowledge conference. At both events, his message was about the need to rethink how we, as an industry, address food safety challenges and the supply chain. For me to summarize his presentations would be challenging as they were quite comprehensive and...Continue Reading...
Blockchain for Fresh Food Supply Chains – Reality Sets In?

Blockchain for Fresh Food Supply Chains – Reality Sets In?

When it comes to implementing blockchain for fresh food supply chains, has reality set in? Back in late 2017, blockchain was seen as a messiah, of sorts, for food safety and traceability. It seemed like it was hard to go a day without seeing an article in the press about this. Blockchain was going to solve all of our supply chain problems for freshness, traceability and food safety. Has it? Gartner’s Opinion Last year, in August of 2018, Gartner, the internationally recognized analyst firm, in its Hype Cycle for Emerging...Continue Reading...
Earth Day 2019 and Looking Ahead to 2020

Earth Day 2019 and Looking Ahead to 2020

Last Monday was Earth Day 2019 and today marks the conclusion of Earth Month. The first Earth Day was back in 1970. 49 years later, we should probably ask ourselves how much progress has been made? Cause to Celebrate According to a recent article about Earth Day in Supermarket News, of late, there has been some good news to celebrate, including: Aldi announced that by 2025, 100% of their packaging, including plastic packaging, will be reusable, recyclable or compostable. Aldi will also reduce packaging material across its entire...Continue Reading...
Cold Supply Chain Variability – The Impact of Delays

Cold Supply Chain Variability – The Impact of Delays

Cold supply chain variability is, oddly, a constant. And, the impact of delays and other variables on freshness and quality can be significant. Politics aside, this issue has been highlighted of late due to delays of getting trucks across the border from Mexico into the USA. According to an article in Fresh Fruit Portal “Producers of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries have on average experienced a 20% drop in sales as the extended wait times crossing into the U.S. have resulted in reduced shelf life for the...Continue Reading...