Re: ALMONDS: reply from Trader Joe's

There is no date on this, so not sure how current, but:


http://www.premierorganics.org/


I wanted to let you know that we learned today that the Almond Board has asked USDA to delay implementation of the pasteurization rule until March, 2008. It is very likely that USDA will approve the request. I wish I could say that this is a result of our efforts but it appears, from the direct reports we have, to be due to problems getting all of the treatment equipment in place for the almond crop.



In any event, this is good news and it also means that we have more time to get our campaign cranked up on this issue. I now expect that we will issue a news release by the end of next week on the broad set of problems that we identified during our conference call last Friday.



While the delay in the processing mandate is certainly not a state secret, it would be nice if the news release that we issue next week breaks the news – if it hasn't been published by then. That would make one more hook for reporters to pick up on the story. So, if possible, please don't go out of your way to call your local reporter with this tip.



We are pulling together a lot of the pieces we talked about for a public action plan during our phone conference (action alert, form letters, congressional contacts, fact sheet, new website, etc.) and much of that will also be set-up, I hope, next week. It's an ambitious amount of work. Stay tuned and please stay in touch with any other news that you hear.


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