Washington Insider-- Thursday

By DTN's Washington Insider

Here’s a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN’s well-placed observer.

‘Geographical Indications’ High on Agenda at TTIP Talks this Week

U.S. and European trade officials are meeting in New York this week in an effort to move forward the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade agreement. As has been reported before, a potential sticking point has been Europe’s insistence that the United States recognize the system of Geographical Indications (GIs) that the European Union uses to protect certain agricultural and food products.

It remains to be seen how many GIs European negotiators will want to be included on the list of protected products. The EU currently recognizes more than 1,250 such items, but European Commission sources have indicated that the list of GIs to be presented to U.S. negotiators this week will be far short of that total. The sources say the TTIP list likely will be very similar to the one agreed in the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). That list contains “only” 145 EU-protected GIs.

U.S. negotiators may agree to protect some GI products, but will fight others. Dairy products, especially cheeses, appear to be the largest area for disagreement. But until the list is made public, it will be difficult to judge the prospects for a rapid conclusion of the TTIP talks.

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Next Week’s Obama-Abe Meetings Expected to Focus on Trade Issues

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is coming to the United States this weekend for a series of meetings in Washington and around the country. Much of the prime minister’s agenda during his April 26 to May 3 U.S. visit will be taken up with trade issues, beginning with his planned meeting with President Obama.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Abe said he wants to share an understanding with Obama that the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is “extremely beneficial for both countries.” He added that “It would be good if I could reach an agreement during my meeting with the president, but when you climb a mountain, the last step is always the hardest. Ultimately, what needs to happen is for both countries to make a political decision” to address sensitive trade issues, especially those involving agriculture and automotive product.

Separately, U.S. and Japanese trade officials earlier this week failed to resolve differences on autos and farm exports that are hindering progress toward the TPP free trade agreement, but say they believe agreement is within reach. Japan’s economy minister, Akira Amari, said he believes the bilateral talks are in their final stages and that it is likely that some of the remaining issues between Japan and the United States can be resolved when all 12 TPP nations gather for talks in June.

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Washington Insider: More Food SafetyThreats

There is a lot of press attention being paid to food threats these days—the poultry industry is being hammered by a somewhat mysterious flu that is wiping out some turkey and chicken farms in the Midwest, but seems to pose no threat to consumers. So far, the food safety establishment blames wild birds but cannot provide much detail about how the disease actually spreads. Losses are already well into the millions of dollars, and experts’ views on the outlook are fairly bleak.

In addition, in a story that reached all the way to the Wall Street Journal, ice-cream maker Blue Bell Creameries LP’s is pulling all of its current products from stores in response to a listeria outbreak. The recall is one of the most sweeping by a single brand, the Journal says, and observes that it emphasizes the difficulty of controlling the potentially deadly bacteria.

At least it emphasizes the problems facing the Blue Bell firm. The company announced a voluntary recall late Monday after identifying contaminated samples through internal tests. However, it also notes that the current tests were begun following an earlier recall in March that came after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked Blue Bell ice cream to three deaths at a Kansas hospital as well as additional illnesses in Kansas and Texas.

Blue Bell markets ice cream in 23 states and says it still has not tracked down the source of the bacteria it found in two of its three plants last March.

Chief Executive Paul Kruse said the company is committed to fixing the problem, although “…we initially believed this situation was isolated to one machine in one room, we now know that was wrong,” he said. He promised to “take all of our products off the market until we are confident that they are all safe.”

The Centers for Disease Control called the Blue Bell case “a complex and ongoing multistate outbreak” occurring “over several years.” It recently said additional illnesses were confirmed in Arizona and Oklahoma. The company said it will take two to three weeks to complete the recall.

The WSJ noted that listeria typically doesn’t cause “significant illnesses” in healthy people but is a high risk for pregnant women, newborns, older adults and people with weakened immune systems. CDC’s reported four listeria outbreaks in 2014, compared with one in each year from 2011 to 2013.

It will be important to note the longer-term impacts of this case. It seems that regulators are becoming increasingly active in food contamination cases, and judges are responding with tougher sentences. A Judge recently sentenced the owner and manager of an Iowa egg farm to jail. Last year, two Colorado brothers whose cantaloupes were linked to a 2011 listeria outbreak that resulted in 33 deaths in 28 states were convicted and given five years’ probation, including six months of home detention.

Blue Bell, which claims to be the third-largest US ice-cream brand isn’t the first company to recall all its products in response to foodborne-illness outbreaks, but such cases are rare, according to experts and can wreck the company involved, the Journal notes. At the same time, it points out that hamburger chain Jack in the Box Inc. which was linked to a deadly E. coli outbreak in 1993, recovered from that crisis.

Blue Bell, based in Brenham, Texas, enjoys a loyal consumer base, particularly in the southern half of the country. US presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush had Blue Bell ice cream shipped to the White House during their terms. However, the company’s future clearly depends on its capacity to find and fix its food safety problems, which could come from poor sanitation or a contaminated ingredient supplied to multiple Blue Bell facilities.

Blue Bell suspended operations at its Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, plant earlier in April for sanitizing and says it will remain closed as the company investigates the source of the bacteria. It is also implementing a tougher “test and hold” process for product it ships to grocery stores, and it is beefing up employee training and lab testing of samples from more surfaces.

The Journal seems to expect that Blue Bell will be able to control its safety problems and survive this year’s outbreaks, but there are suggestions by food experts that it has been slow to impose its new test requirements and that it may have more problems than in pinpointing the cause of its contamination.

In addition, it could face an increasing awareness of safety threats by consumers, regulators and the courts. Thus, future demonstrations of food safety processes and precautions may become yet another labeling issue, if not for foodies, then for the public at large, Washington Insider believes.

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