March 18, 2016
CapitalPress.com
13
U.S. potato product exports see growth OSHA plans surprise
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
DENVER — U.S. pota-
to product exports resumed
growth during the irst seven
months of Fiscal Year 2016
after dropping for the irst
time in a decade during the
previous iscal year, accord-
ing to a recently released trade
report.
U.S. frozen and dehydrat-
ed potato exports increased
signiicantly from July 2015
year through January. Though
fresh exports to Canada plum-
meted, several foreign mar-
kets also saw healthy growth
in the fresh category.
USPB Chief Marketing Of-
icer John Toaspern attributes
much of the improvement to
his organization’s efforts to
address foreign market con-
cerns following disruptions
caused by a labor slowdown
at West Coast ports.
“A lot of the decline last
year was deinitely due to the
port issues,” Toaspern said.
“We’ve done a lot of work to
regain those markets.”
According to Global Trade
Atlas, U.S. frozen exports
during the seven months were
up 10.81 percent, at 565,184
metric tons. Honduras and
Guatemala were among the
bright spots, with frozen ex-
ports to those countries up
roughly 30 percent at 2,112
metric tons and up 18.81 per-
cent at 11,048 metric tons re-
spectively.
“Other important market
Courtesy of U.S. Potato Board
U.S. Potato Board promotional materials are displayed in Japan.
The organization believes its efforts to restore foreign markets where
spud shipments were disrupted by the recent labor slowdown at
West Coast ports has helped to restore a positive export trend.
growth has been occurring
throughout Asia,” Toaspern
said. “We’re recovering from
last year and making market
gains even beyond that.”
Exports of dehydrated po-
tatoes — the lone category
to see a gain during the irst
seven months of FY 2015 —
continued positive movement
through the same period in FY
2016, growing 17.43 percent
overall to 84,323 metric tons,
led by hefty gains in Mexico,
the United Kingdom, Korea
and the Philippines. Toaspern
said the Philippines started
producing snacks from dehy-
drated potatoes, resulting in a
120 percent export increase to
5,282 metric tons.
Fresh exports for the irst
seven months of FY 2016
dropped by 8.36 percent to
223,153 metric tons. There
was strong fresh growth in
Mexico, where exports were
up by 27 percent to 60,504
metric tons, and in Hondu-
ras, where fresh exports rose
20.57 percent to 4,572 met-
ric tons. Canada, however,
bought 84,547 metric tons of
fresh U.S. spuds, represent-
ing a 21.41 percent decrease.
Toaspern said Canadian
growers increased their own
fresh production, especially
of chipping potatoes.
Toaspern believes the gen-
erally positive export trend
conirms foreign markets are
willing to pay a premium,
despite the strong dollar, for
high-quality potatoes, and
that foreign restaurants and
distributors value USPB’s
marketing support.
Idaho Potato Commission
President and CEO Frank
Muir said his organization is
also active in foreign mar-
kets and has opened access
for Idaho fresh potatoes into
the Philippines and Taiwan
during the current iscal year.
In Singapore and Malaysia,
customers have Idaho potato
logos wrapped on their supply
trucks, he said.
“It’s not a surprise,” Muir
said of the export trend.
“There was signiicant growth
taking place internationally
before the port slowdown that
help back supply, but it didn’t
hold back demand.”
Lamb Weston spokeswom-
an Shelby Stoolman said in-
creasing demand is among the
reasons her company plans to
expand its Boardman, Ore.,
facility.
“Last year was impacted
heavily by the slowdown at
the West Coast ports,” Stool-
man said. “That said, we are
encouraged by increased
demand for fries and frozen
potato products domestical-
ly and internationally, which
means we have a big opportu-
nity to support our customers’
plans here and abroad.”
FDA releases inal acrylamide guidance
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
WASHINGTON,
D.C.
— U.S. potato industry lead-
ers say the federal Food and
Drug Administration’s recent
release of inal guidance on
managing for acrylamide — a
potentially unhealthy chemical
found in certain starchy foods
cooked at high temperatures
— should provide closure on
an issue that once threatened
their long-term proitability.
Acrylamide, formed by a
chemical reaction during fry-
ing or baking, was discovered
in food in 2002 and identiied
during subsequent testing as a
possible carcinogen, causing
concern among regulators.
The new guidance is fo-
cused on french fries and po-
tato chips, coffee and grain-
based foods including cookies,
crackers, breakfast cereals and
toast. Public comments may be
submitted at www.regulations.
gov.
The potato industry worked
proactively with FDA, making
acrylamide its No. 1 research
priority, according to a website
about a $7.8 million USDA
Specialty Crop Research Ini-
tiative acrylamide grant span-
ning from September 2011
through Aug. 31, 2016. The
grant funded a multi-state,
cooperative effort to breed
low-acrylamide varieties.
The inal guidance, issued
March 10, outlines nonbind-
ing suggestions growers,
manufacturers and food ser-
vice operators may follow to
reduce acrylamide accumula-
tion. Industry sources say little
changed in the inal document
from a draft issued in Novem-
ber 2013, and the standards are
consistent with their current
processing practices.
The guidelines offer sugges-
tions on reducing acrylamide
formation through a variety of
practices such as potato han-
dling, storage temperature, fry
and chip cutting, variety se-
lection, trimming of defects,
sprout management, frying
temperature and recondition-
ing, which entails warming
spuds prior to processing to
allow sugars to convert back to
starch.
“The original guidance
wasn’t a surprise to anybody,
and in many ways it relected
the conversations the industry
and FDA had in the years lead-
ing up to that,” said Paul Bethke,
a research plant physiologist
with USDA’s Agricultural Re-
search Service in Madison, Wis.
Bethke said FDA’s guidance
recognizes certain practices
that lower acrylamide aren’t
practical because they impair
product quality. Jeanne Debons,
executive director of the Potato
Variety Management Institute,
which oversees licensing of
Northwest potato varieties, de-
scribed the acrylamide issue as
a “storm in a teacup.”
Debons believes nonbinding
recommendations are appropri-
ate for acrylamide, which has
never been deinitively clas-
siied as a health risk, and the
guidance demonstrates FDA is
“closing the door on the acryl-
amide story.”
Washington State Universi-
ty potato specialist Mark Pavek
believes the low-acrylamide
breeding effort, which produced
varieties such as Payette Rus-
set, fostered cooperation among
programs. He said the industry
strives to develop light-frying
varieties with low sugars for
improved color and storage. He
said lowering sugars also lowers
acrylamide potential.
Simplot Plant Sciences
spokesman Doug Cole was
pleased that the inal guidance
added language acknowledging
the six biotech potato varieties
his company has engineered
with low acrylamide levels.
“The potato industry was
following the intent of the draft
guidelines since they irst came
out a few years ago, but it’s good
to have them inalized,” Cole
said. “We were pleased that FDA
stated that new biotech varieties
may ultimately provide the most
effective solution for acrylamide
reduction and should be consid-
ered for adoption.”
ag inspections in Idaho
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
BOISE — Federal Occu-
pational Safety and Health
Administration managers plan
to start random, surprise work-
er-safety inspections of Idaho
farms, dairies and ranches,
based on concerns about recent
agricultural workplace fatali-
ties.
Dave Kearns, area director
of OSHA’s Boise ofice, said
he’s making revisions to a draft
inspection policy created by his
staff.
The policy will then be for-
warded to OSHA’s Seattle of-
ice for review by oficials and
attorneys, and Kearns hopes to
have the document in the hands
of the agency’s national ofice
for inal approval within a few
months.
“Most of the (agricultural)
inspections we do now are in
response to a tragic incident,”
Kearns said, adding that com-
plaints also occasionally trigger
inspections.
Kearns said there’s been a
spike in Idaho’s agricultural
deaths since 2012.
Since last April, he said
four of 10 OSHA-investigated
workplace fatalities in Idaho
have involved agriculture —
an ATV roll-over, a feed wag-
on backed over a dairy worker
on an ATV, an 18-year-old day
laborer succumbed to heat ex-
posure while weeding a wheat
ield and a worker drowned in a
dairy lagoon.
“It used to be there’d be one
or two or maybe no agricul-
tural deaths,” Kearns said. “A
few (operations) may be put-
ting forth real efforts at worker
safety, but as a whole, the ag-
ricultural community in Idaho
has got a long ways to go make
safe and healthy workplaces a
part of their culture.”
Kearns explained the poli-
cy won’t represent a new rule,
which would necessitate an ex-
tensive public scoping process,
but will rather be a “special em-
phasis program” OSHA is au-
thorized to create at the nation-
al, regional or local level based
on “hazards that are serious and
need special attention.” No
public comment will be tak-
en on the inspection policy,
which will apply to operations
with more than 10 non-family
workers, Kearns said.
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