Author: The Packer- By Christina Herrick

Screenshot of The Packer podcast with Christina Herrick and Chris Sollid

Why Americans Are Losing Faith in Food Safety — And How to Fix It

Written by The Packer- By Christina Herrick on August 28, 2026. Posted in Blog.

The International Food Information Council’s Kris Sollid breaks down survey data on dropping consumer trust and how repeated, transparent messaging can win back produce buyers in the aftermath of the cyclospora outbreak.

The International Food Information Council conducts its Food and Health Survey annually to help the industry better understand what information consumers seek to help them make more informed choices.

Registered dietitian Kris Sollid, senior director of research and consumer insights for IFIC, joined “The Packer Podcast” to discuss some of the findings from its most recent surveys.

“Among Americans, we’ve been asking about the safety or the perceived confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply,” he says. “And for three straight years we’ve seen a decline in that confidence, so [there’s] some erosion in that confidence, and that cuts across just about every demographic that we capture.”

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How Produce Industry Rebuilds Trust After Cyclospora Outbreaks

Written by The Packer- By Christina Herrick on August 10, 2026. Posted in Blog.

From The Packer –

Crisis communication strategist Amy Philpott outlines why outdated response playbooks fail and how targeted messaging restores credibility.

In a typical food safety outbreak, a consumer response goes from “What’s happening?” to “What do I do to protect myself and my family?” to “Who is to blame?” and then “What is being done to prevent this from happening again?” says Amy Philpott, a public relations and crisis communication expert specializing in the food, agriculture and fresh produce industries.

But Philpott says that’s not happening in the recent cyclospora food safety outbreak, as there are few outbreaks in different stages. Because there are different timelines, consumers need different information — and that has made the response playbook almost obsolete.

“Consumers are asking all of these questions at the same time,” she says. “We’ve lost any sort of linear flow that we normally have, and that’s making it challenging.”

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New House Bill Draft Paves the Way for Year-Round H-2A Access for Mushroom and Indoor Growers

Written by The Packer- By Christina Herrick on July 2, 2026. Posted in Blog.

From The Packer

The Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act aims to redefine temporary labor, providing a potential lifeline to specialty crop sectors teetering on a workforce tipping point.

As part of House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson’s draft of the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act, the legislation paves the way for the mushroom and controlled environment agriculture industries to participate in the H-2A temporary guestworker program. A provision in the bill redefines temporary labor by allowing any contract under 350 days to qualify for the H-2A program, regardless of whether the underlying job is technically year-round.

The Breaking Point of Existing Workforces

Rachel Roberts, president of the American Mushroom Institute, says currently mushroom growers in the U.S. use workers who are descendants of the original Bracero program participants, who arrived in the U.S. legally from Mexico.

“I like to say we’re not just growing mushrooms; we’re growing communities because we are this year-round opportunity for stable employment,” she says.

Read full story, including comments from CEA Alliance Executive Director Tom Stenzel from The Packer…..

Boosting Mushroom Sales Through Gen Z Marketing and Strategic Retail Pricing

Written by The Packer- By Christina Herrick on May 6, 2026. Posted in Blog.

From The Packer:

Windmill Farms CEO Greg Ogiba says a recent trip to Mushroom Days 2026 in the Netherlands highlighted a growing global challenge: As geopolitical instability and inflation squeeze household budgets, the mushroom category is feeling the pressure of shifting consumer priorities.

While mushrooms have long been a produce aisle favorite, Ogiba notes that current market conditions have transformed them into a nice-to-have item rather than a must-have one for many shoppers. This shift, coupled with a significant generational handoff, has created a challenging environment for growers.

“The older generations that kind of grew up on mushrooms are leaving the category for various reasons, and the next generations — millennials and Gen Z — aren’t stepping in to fill the gap,” Ogiba says.

Read full story from The Packer by Christina Herrick…