SUCCESS STORIES

An exporter of cashew kernels was placed on import alert by FDA and all shipments into the USA were being automatically detained. A pesticide residue was the reason for detention, but the exporter could not understand how the cashews could have come in contact with the pesticide. Shipment after shipment tested positive for the pesticide but no pesticides had been used by the growers or producers. The exporter asked Foreign Trade Service for help in solving the mystery and in a short time we found that the pesticide had migrated into the kernels during transport and storage from other treated materials. The exporter corrected the situation and subsequent shipments were pesticide free. The exporter was then able to petition FDA and was released from the import alert.

SNACK FOOD PROCESSOR WITH COSTLY PRODUCTION DELAYS

A major processor of snack foods was experiencing serious and costly production delays. The main ingredient was an imported tree nut that was vacuum-packed in flexible bags with a modified atmosphere. The nuts could not be put into production because they were fused together in a solid block. In order to break the blocking and make the product free flowing, many hours of labor were required. Production was reduced by half. The snack food processor turned to FTS. We were able show that excessive vacuum and high moisture in the nuts was the cause of the bonding. FTS ran extensive tests and determined that there is a linear relationship between pressure and moisture with respect to bonding. The data was shared with the nut exporters and subsequent shipments have been free flowing.

COFFEE BRAND RECEIVES SUB-STANDARD SHIPMENT OF GREEN COFFEE

A large specialty coffee brand had a received a series of container loads of green coffee that exhibited off-flavor when roasted. Green coffee is susceptible to taints if not properly processed and stored. The company suspected that the problem was due to taints picked up from the shipping containers and made a marine insurance claim on more than 320 tons of coffee. FTS investigated and tested the pre-shipmet control samples as well as samples from each of the suspect container loads. We were able to show that the off-flavors were due to improper processing at origin in all but one instance that was clearly a container taint. The loss was reduced to the one container load of 17 tons.