Chilling Or Thrilling? JD.com Founder Envisions A '100%' Robot Workforce

Jon Bird , CONTRIBUTORI write about the new retail reality; what it means and what’s next Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

“I hope my company would be 100% automation someday … no human beings anymore, 100% operated by AI and robots.” That’s Richard Liu’s audacious goal, which he outlined to my colleague David Roth* in a rare, just-released interview conducted in English at the World Retail Congress in Madrid last week.

David Roth

Richard Liu, founder, CEO and chairman of JD.com

Liu is the 44-year-old founder, CEO and chairman of JD.com (JD), which is China’s largest retailer by revenue, and in the top three e-commerce companies globally. (In fact at $55.7 billion in revenue last year, if ranked alongside all U.S. retailers, JD would be just outside the top 10.)

JD is a serious player, and deadly serious about AI and robotics. The company is investing $4.5 billion to build an AI center in Guandong province, and has set up its JD-X robotics research hub in Silicon Valley, led by the ex-Senior Research Manager of Amazon Go.

Operationally, JD sees humans being removed from the retail process. Picture the near future: When a customer makes a purchase, the order will be picked by robots in a “people-free warehouse” (Liu’s term), then delivered by drone or a self-driving vehicle within 30 minutes, where the recipient will gain access to the package via facial recognition. AI technology will manage inventory and price products as well – far more efficiently than humans.

JD is already trialing robot delivery via “campus couriers”across several universities in Beijing, and is planning to build 200 drone airports in Southwest China.

Models stand near a drone on the JD.com stand on the opening day of the Consumer Electronics Show Asia in Shanghai on June 7, 2017.  (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

JD also has a view on how physical retail will be reshaped. Shoppers will enter a store, select what they need and leave – with payment controlled by biometrics (facial recognition). This interface is being tested now at JD.com’s headquarters in Beijing. JD has also recently launched a new supermarket concept where robot shopping cartsfollow the customer around the store.

Does JD’s people-free future mean that the company will be reduced to a staff of one – Richard Liu? Well, no, it’s the “boring bits” (my technical term) that will be powered by robotics and AI. There will still be a place for staff, but there will be fewer of them and their roles will be very different. “We have over 160,000 full-time jobs today. In the next 10 years, I hope we will have less than 80,000,” commented Liu. “[Jobs] will reduce in half, or we will reduce working time. People will do less work but get more pay, it will be easier, more fun and less dangerous.”

Of course, JD is not alone in embracing and experimenting with AI and robotics. Lowes has played around with “Lowebots” – store greeters and navigators. Walmart is testing shelf-scanning robots.

All-told this is not just a race for robots, but a furious competition to build platforms that can then be licensed. The world’s biggest retailers, including Amazon, Alibaba and JD are all striving to create the operating system for the future of retail. Alibaba is rolling out its vision of “New Retail”, Amazon has Alexa and “Walk In, Walk Out Shopping,” and JD is going for 100% automation. Richard Liu says that JD is “trying to use visual technology and physical technology which can connect the whole world via goods and services.”

Who will win? Who knows? But one obvious concern in all of this is that once robots take people’s jobs, will we be able to earn enough to enjoy the incredible future being created?

It’s not much of a stretch to envisage a day when your home robot will anticipate your desires and place an order with the retailer, which will then set in motion a robot chain to bring you exactly what you require at precisely the moment you want it. Which is about the time that the robots figure they don’t need us at all.

*David Roth is the CEO of The Store WPP, EMEA and ASIA. WPP is the parent company of VML, which is the author’s employer. You can watch David Roth’s complete interview with JD.com’s Richard Liu below.

PM Perspectives: Voice-Activated Devices Set To Create Disruption In Grocery Sector

Apr. 29, 2018 6:19 AM ET 

 

|

 Includes: AMZN

Janus Henderson Investors

Growth, mutual fund manager, bonds

Janus Henderson Investors

(3,204 followers)

Summary

The US grocery market, accounting for 20% of retail spending, is set for a major shakeup as Amazon makes the sector a strategic imperative to boost revenues from Prime members.

Voice-activated personal assistants could power a revolution in grocery and personal goods shopping, reducing – and possibly eliminating – the need to regularly visit physical supermarket stores.

The new shopping paradigm could spell trouble for established supermarket chains that fail to compete in this emerging digital marketplace.

By Joshua Cummings

Voice-activated devices such as Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Alexa are set to disrupt how U.S. consumers shop for groceries, creating potential headwinds for incumbent supermarket chains that have failed to foresee and prepare for such a digital revolution. Research Analyst Josh Cummings discusses the prospect of permanent and radical change to the $800 billion U.S. grocery market following Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods.

We expect grocery to be a battle ground industry over the next several years. US grocery is approximately an $800 billion industry. E-commerce adoption within grocery is still very low. We estimate in 2017, this was about a $20 billion or 2-1/2%. Groceries also the category that consumers purchase most frequently.

So why is this? Previous digital options were mostly just expensive third-party delivery solutions. And incumbent grocers had very little incentive to push these because they represent less profitable forms of transactions for them. But Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods last year put the industry on notice. We think the big challenge for incumbent grocers is that grocery has become a strategic imperative for Amazon and it's all about frequency. We estimate that at least half the households in the US are currently Prime members representing at least 70% of consumer spending. So the growth algorithm for Amazon going forward is to increase that spend per household and we believe that grocery is an obvious way for them to do that. As we often see in industries facing structural change, the disruptors have a different set of financial incentives than the incumbents. Driving per capita spending through the Amazon ecosystem will help them leverage their supply chain, sell other goods and services and will likely make it a more attractive advertising platform. The discreet profitability of their grocery sales may be less important. That's a problem for incumbent grocers who now must simultaneously defend physical store traffic while investing in digital which brings us to voice commerce.

Recent data suggests that home speaker penetration and usage are beginning to surge in ways that remind us of mobile several years ago. Survey data suggests that approximately 25% of US households already own a home assistant. And while most are not yet using these for shopping, for those who do, groceries and consumables are emerging as two of the more popular use cases. This makes sense to us as the typical household shopping list doesn't vary much from week to week. There's really very little shopping going on. It's more like a physical search process where you have to load your own items. Why spend all that time in grocery stores week after week buying the same items when Alexa can automate that for you and give you that time back? What we've seen across other categories is that consumer perception begins to change rapidly once a better way becomes economically viable and we believe we're reaching that point with voice commerce and grocery. The point of sale effectively moves from the store to a customer's home allowing the owner of that home speaker or that ecosystem to own and capture and control that data. So what does the mean for brands? It's a potential positive for number one or number two brands but a potential negative for third and fourth tier brands. The use of home assistance also gives companies like Amazon the opportunity to substitute their own private labels for branded products.

We think the evolution to voice commerce is going to put pressure on the incumbent grocers and most likely lead to consolidation. And while consolidation may enhance profitability of the survivors, we're not necessarily sure this is going to be the case if voice commerce and Amazon continue to put pressure on the industry. Home speaker adoption clearly skews toward millennials. And as that cohort enters their peak spending years, it's going to drive significant change in the grocery industry.

Walmart and Sainsbury’s announce combination of Sainsbury’s and Asda, Walmart’s wholly owned UK business

Mon April 30, 2018 2:10 AM|Business Wire|About: WMT

BENTONVILLE, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Walmart Inc. (WMT) (“Walmart”) and J Sainsbury plc ("Sainsbury’s") today announce the combination (the “Combination”) of Sainsbury’s and Asda Group Limited ("Asda"), Walmart’s wholly owned UK retail subsidiary (the "Combined Business"). At a time of significant and rapid change in the retail sector, the Combination will create one of the UK’s leading grocery, general merchandise and clothing retail groups. Bringing together two distinctive customer propositions will create a more competitive, adaptable and resilient business - better placed to invest in price, quality, range and more flexible ways for customers to shop.

Under the terms of the Combination, which is subject to various approvals, including from the Competition and Markets Authority, Walmart would hold 42 percent of the share capital of the Combined Business. This holding will be made up of 29.9 percent of Sainsbury’s ordinary shares, with full voting rights attached, with the balance held as non-voting shares convertible into voting shares. In addition, Walmart would receive approximately £2.975 billion in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments, valuing Asda at approximately £7.3 billion on a debt-free, cash-free and pension-free basis. Walmart would retain the Asda defined benefit pension scheme as part of the combination, along with any ongoing defined benefit pension related obligations.

"We believe the Combination offers a unique and exciting opportunity that benefits customers and colleagues,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart’s president and chief executive officer. “As a company, we’ve benefited from doing business in the UK for many years, and we look forward to working closely with Sainsbury’s to deliver the benefits of the combination."

Walmart is embracing technology and thinking differently to serve customers and drive growth. That includes developing partnerships like this one to unlock value for shareholders and customers in the UK.

As a strategic long-term partner, Walmart will share its global retail network and knowledge. The Combined Business will have enhanced capabilities and a strengthened balance sheet to help deliver value and opportunities for customers, colleagues, suppliers and shareholders of both businesses.

The new business will operate a distinctive dual brand strategy. Asda would continue to be run from Leeds by its own CEO, Roger Burnley, who would join the Group Operating Board of the Combined Business, ensuring Asda retains its heritage and roots. Key benefits of the Combination include:

• Creating one of the UK’s leading grocery, general merchandise and clothing retail groups, with combined revenues of c.£51 billion for 2017A¹
• Enabling investment in areas that will benefit customers the most: price, quality, range and creating more flexible ways to shop, across Sainsbury’s, Asda and Argos. It is expected that value will be passed on to customers through significant price reductions
• Maintaining both the Sainsbury’s and Asda brands and enabling them to sharpen their distinct customer propositions and attract new customers
• Offering more opportunities for over 330,000 colleagues at all levels within the enlarged and more resilient group, drawing on the shared values and heritage of both businesses
• Combining a complementary network of more than 2,800 Sainsbury’s, Asda and Argos stores and several of the UK’s most visited retail websites to create greater choice for customers through more store formats and channels, with a combined 47 million customer transactions per week
• Generating net synergies, post price investments, across the enlarged group of at least £500 million. These are comprised largely of buying benefits, opening Argos in Asda stores and operational efficiencies. There are no planned Sainsbury’s or Asda store closures as a result of the Combination
• A comprehensive range of channels and formats across supercenters, superstores, supermarkets, convenience stores and digital

Based on the current deal terms, Walmart expects to recognize a non-cash loss of approximately $2 billion, which is based on the current value of shares to be received and current foreign exchange rates. This estimate could fluctuate significantly due to changes in the fair value of the equity consideration to be received and changes in currency exchange rates. Due to the conditions to complete the transaction, including regulatory approval which could extend into the second half of calendar year 2019, the timing of the loss recognition is not yet determined. Walmart expects the impact to earnings to be slightly dilutive in the first full year following completion of the transaction and neutral to slightly accretive in subsequent years, as synergies are realized. Walmart will update further after the deal closes. Walmart is scheduled to report first quarter results on May 17, 2018.

Two trends transforming the food industry

Photo: Habit Food Personalized, L.L.C.

04.27.2018

By Monica Watrous

 

4

MIAMI — Personalized wellness and conscious consumption are two of the biggest trends affecting the food and beverage marketplace over the next few years, said Davey McHenry, vice-president of Consulting Services at The Hartman Group.

Technology has elevated the importance of customization in American food culture, giving rise to an empowered consumer, Ms. McHenry said during The Hartman Group's Food Culture Forecast 2018 summit on April 19 in Miami.

“Personalizing is in our DNA,” she said. “Even ordering a coffee is saturated with cultural-specific meanings.”

Food is an expression of one’s identity, beliefs and desires, as well as a tool for managing wellness. Many consumers are experimenting with various diet and lifestyle approaches to achieve optimal mental and physical health.

“Consumers are beginning to believe in the uniqueness of individual’s bodies and minds,” Ms. McHenry said. “Advice is just that. It’s advice, until I’ve been able to try it and see what works for me.”

In the future, mindful consumers may dig deeper in exploring food’s role in the areas of gut and brain health, stress and sleep quality and personalized nutrition, Ms. McHenry said.

“This overarching trend toward mindfulness that we see in health and wellness has enabled consumers to ask meaningful questions about the origins of food,” she said. “What’s in it? ... How was it made? ... Who made it? ... What we’re seeing more and more is there is another layer that is coming into consideration, which is, how was it grown?”

Consumers are becoming concerned about soil health and its impact on nutrients in food. The issues of pollution and waste also are gaining importance in consumers’ minds and purchasing decisions.

“A willingness to investigate combined with the ease of doing so means Gen Z will likely value transparency even more,” Ms. McHenry said. “Nine in 10 consumers globally rate ingredient transparency as important or very important for companies to address.”

To adapt to the trends of personalized wellness and conscious consumption, businesses must be nimble, innovative and strategic, Ms. McHenry said.

“The rate of change in the food industry is messier and accelerating faster than ever before,” she said. “To be successful, companies have to be able to anticipate and adapt to this new world order... Perhaps the business model you use to measure success no longer works because it’s not business as usual.”

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, she added.

“What is that thing that is going to help you carve out that niche in the marketplace and continue to be relevant to consumers in the future?” — Davey McHenry, The Hartman Group

“Your pathway to growth is dependent on your unique circumstances,” she said. “It’s about your brand, your customer and your competitive environment. It’s about figuring out which of these trends will be the most impactful or the most threatening to your business and focusing on that.

“You can’t be everything to everyone. You can’t tackle everything. So what is that thing that is going to help you carve out that niche in the marketplace and continue to be relevant to consumers in the future?”

Walmart Is Getting Suppliers to Put Food on the Blockchain

By 

Camila Russo

April 23, 2018, 3:18 PM EDT

From 

A shopper looks at produce at a Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas. Photographer: Beth Hall/Bloomberg

Walmart Inc. is getting suppliers to put food on the blockchain to help reduce waste, better manage contamination cases and improve transparency.

The retailer, which started running tests with International Business Machines Corp.’s blockchain platform in 2016, is ready to use the technology on its live food business, according to Frank Yiannas, vice president of food safety and health. Yiannas spoke Monday at the MIT Technology Review’s Business of Blockchain conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Yiannas said blockchain was able to cut the time it took to track produce to two seconds from six days.

Reports indicate Kroger is losing its 'fresh' pricing advantage

AUTHOR

Jeff Wells@JeffWellsWH

PUBLISHED

April 26, 2018

Dive Brief:

• Price checks conducted by Barclays in Nashville, Tennessee, found that Kroger has ceded its pricing advantage in perishables to two key competitors: Walmart and Sprouts Farmers Market.
• When comparing a basket of 117 items, representatives from the investment firm found that Walmart’s “fresh” items were 6.6% cheaper than Kroger’s, compared to the Cincinnati-based grocer’s 3.6% price advantage a year ago. In a comparison of 130 natural and organic products, meanwhile, Barclays found that Sprouts Farmers Market had overtaken Kroger in natural and organic perishables pricing, gaining a 2.4% advantage. Sprouts had an even larger advantage in produce, with prices 25.5% cheaper than Kroger’s. Barclays also examined prices at Whole Foods and found the grocer to be narrowing the price gap with Kroger.
• Kroger remains competitively priced on center store items, lagging Walmart 6.4% while beating Sprouts and Whole Foods on specialty items by 14.4% and 20.8%, respectively. Still, the firm expressed puzzlement as to why Kroger had ceded so much ground on perishables. “While [Kroger] clearly has a scale advantage in the commoditized categories — and could be using its scale to reduce prices — perishables drive frequency, so we are perplexed as to why the price gap would have widened vs. a year ago,” analysts wrote in a note to investors.

Dive Insight:

These findings highlight why Kroger’s margins are under so much pressure these days: It’s getting squeezed on both the high and the low ends of the market.

Walmart has been steadily lowering prices to compete with dollar stores, discounters and traditional competitors like Kroger. And while Kroger is never going to beat Walmart on overall pricing, it can stay competitive in key categories. Losing its advantage in perishables pricing is a worrying sign for the grocer.

It’s particularly worrying given Walmart’s efforts to broaden its reach. For years, the mega retailer and Kroger have served separate consumer groups. But now, through a range of efforts that include its rapid e-commerce expansion, stocking more premium and local products, sprucing up its stores and acquiring upscale companies like Bonobos, Walmart has its sights set on Kroger customers and beyond.

A lot of attention has been paid to the threat Whole Foods and Amazon poses to Kroger, but as Barclays’ price checks show, Sprouts is also problematic. Targeting traditional retailers is core to the Phoenix-based upstart’s strategy right now, and fresh produce pricing is a very effective weapon to wield in this fight. The category has always been a major focus for Sprouts, and these days it’s also targeting prepared foods and private label, just like Kroger.

While Kroger’s store growth has stalled, Sprouts is expanding by around 30 locations a year. It just moved into the competitive mid-Atlantic region, and should become a thorn in the side of Kroger and other legacy retailers as it continues to grow.

As for Whole Foods — the company has made some high-profile cuts that reports claim were more about marketing than actually bringing down the company’s price premium. But Barclays' checks indicate the grocer has been making some steady progress behind the scenes.

Whole Foods may need to make deeper cuts to stay competitive with the likes of Kroger. But owner Amazon is targeting value in other ways, primarily through its Prime loyalty program, which now offers credit card discounts and free two-hour shipping.

Kroger hasn’t sat idly by in all of this. It has trimmed its operational costs along with prices, zeroed in on key growth streams like private label and meal kits, and invested in store technology. It’s a dizzying amount of work for the nation’s largest retailer, and it’ll have to continue in order for Kroger to keep up.

Winners and losers in the food retail landscape

Photo: Adobestock

04.26.2018

By Monica Watrous

 

5

MIAMI — Today’s consumer food purchases span a continuum of transactional to experiential. Successful retailers, manufacturers and food service operators will offer a balance of both extremes, said Christina Bowden, senior director of Consulting Services at The Hartman Group.

The food retail landscape is increasingly complex and blurry. While traditional grocery remains the main player in retail, consumers are shopping on average more than four different channels each month, Ms. Bowden said during The Hartman Group’s Food Culture Forecast 2018 summit on April 19 in Miami.

Nearly half of shoppers visited multiple stores on the most recent grocery trip, citing selection and price as top reasons. Additionally, half of consumers are shopping more online than a year ago.

“That poses a really interesting and unique challenge for the current system of shopping that we have today,” Ms. Bowden said. “Digital is basically increasing the competition. They’re stepping things up.”

Online grocery shopping offers elements of transactional and experiential, answering consumer desires for convenience and value while also delivering a customized, playful and fun experience, Ms. Bowden said.

“Online is a treasure hunt for consumers,” she said.

An example is Thrive Market, a subscription-based platform that delivers natural and specialty snacks and pantry staples to members at discounted prices. Products are categorized by more than 70 values, ranging from low-FODMAP to locally sourced. In addition to selling branded products, Thrive Market features a variety of private label items, including organic chickpea fusilli, organic sprouted popcorn and non-G.M.O. canned tuna.

“Online will continue to change the competitive landscape,” Ms. Bowden said. “It’s not just about being online but also offering a unique and interesting experience that resonates with consumers, and online also has the opportunity to really deliver on that experiential element as well to differentiate itself in the market.”

Two key needs articulated by consumers when shopping across retailers are fresh, less processed foods and convenience, driving growth at specialty grocers such as Aldi and Sprouts, Ms. Bowden said. Forty-four per cent of consumers are shopping more at discounter Aldi, which rates high among shoppers for value and satisfaction.

“Aldi has found their prices are around 20% lower than that of their competitors,” Ms. Bowden said. “But it’s not just about price. It’s about finding balance and that place on the continuum that really makes them have own point of differentiation.”

She pointed to the brand’s private label program, which includes gluten-free and plant-based options, sustainably sourced meats and a line of products free from artificial ingredients.

“They’re really speaking to consumer values and building trust with the consumer around what they say they want,” she said.

Food service operators also are delivering on a continuum of transactional to experiential, fueling growth of premium quick-service restaurants in recent years, Ms. Bowden said. An example is Sweetgreen, a fast-casual salad chain featuring a menu of fresh, seasonal ingredients.

“We’re also seeing a lot of interesting and unique offerings that deliver on another type of experience as well,” she said, citing Starbucks’ color-changing Unicorn Frappuccino as an example. “When we talk about experience, it’s all about trying something new, playing, having fun.”

Letter From The Editor: Romaine, Reform and Revive

BY DAN FLYNN | APRIL 29, 2018

OPINION

The purpose of the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) is the prevention of foodborne disease. We’ve invested billions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of years of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) professional time since 2011 to make that so.

When foodborne disease happens, FDA, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state health experts still must react. At the moment, those professionals are responding to the romaine-lettuce caused E. coli O157: H7 illnesses around the country.

Public expectations arise whenever there is a severe outbreak of foodborne illness. They expect CDC and FDA to figure out the exact source. Taxpayers provide CDC and FDA with about $12 billion a year, and, yes, they think that entitles them on occasion to some timely answers.

This is one of those occasions.

There’s no doubt CDC and FDA would like nothing better than to name the sources for all the illnesses caused by the last two romaine-related E. coli O157: H7 outbreaks.

Two?

Yes, two. Romaine caused 25 E. coli O157: H7 illnesses in 15 states between Nov. 4, 2017, and Dec. 17, 2017. The same outbreak was associated with another 42 illnesses in Canada.

Neither country found a common supplier, distributor or retailer of the contaminated romaine lettuce. The outbreak caused two deaths, one each in the U.S. and Canada. Twenty-six people in the two countries required hospitalization.

The first romaine outbreak was over by Jan. 25, 2018, and it is not related to the current romaine outbreak, according to CDC. It’s just another in a long list of outbreaks involving leafy greens since 1995, many unsolved.

CDC and FDA on Friday conducted a media teleconference to announce that romaine lettuce from Harrison Farm, located outside Yuma, AZ, caused eight of 98 confirmed cases of E. coli O157: H7.

The Yuma growing area is the likely source of the other 90 confirmed cases, but CDC and FDA cannot yet name any additional growers. Shipping and receiving records don’t tell the whole traceability story. There are not enough dots to connect.

Without more dots, we are not likely to see a romaine recall. We did not see a recall in the first romaine outbreak. By the time, CDC and FDA work from the ill person through each link in the supply chain back to the source, all the contaminated lettuce will likely be consumed.

At this point, however, the agencies cannot even confirm industry statements that no additional romaine is being harvested and shipped from the Yuma region.

The current outbreak is a severe one. No deaths yet, but more than half of those sickened have required hospitalization and ten people, including three children, have developed kidney failure.
The specific E. coli O157: H7 bacteria, known as “STX2 only” aggressively attacks blood vessels, kidneys, digestive system, and brain.

Restaurants do seem to be taking the outbreak seriously. Many are merely announcing caesar salads are off the menu until the romaine outbreak is over and they get the “all clear” sign.

Growers in California and Arizona are not babes in the woods about all this. After the 2006 E. coli outbreak involving bagged spinach, growers and their major retail customers came up with Leafy Green Marketing Associations (LGMA) for the two states.

LGMA growers submit to both scheduled and announced audits by their state agriculture departments. LGMA membership has its advantages, such as being able to sell to those big retailers and cross the Canadian border without any delays.

Anyone looking for an example of an instance where private industry took action ahead of government to solve a problem would have to look at the LGMAs. They deserve credit, but they also deserve scrutiny.

Our understanding may not be complete or timely, but we are under certain impressions. LGMAs do not seem to be systems for helping CDC and FDA name the source of an outbreak. It strikes us that they should be more helpful.

In the recent rockmelon outbreak in Australia, the industry reacted in just the opposite way, demanding the government name the responsible grower. All the other rockmelon growers did not want their brands or export prospects hurt.

The LGMAs, with their reliance on state auditors, need to reexamine their role in solving outbreaks. If as we suspect, California romaine growers are all taking a hit now, maybe there’s room for improvement in the way the overall system works.

This is romaine lettuce Photo illustration

And, this brings us to a few final thoughts about the subject the industry hates–testing.

And we are not talking about testing and holding like the beef people.   We understand perishables and all that.   We are talking about testing.

Once not so long ago, we had a little unit called the Microbiological Data Program (MDP). Run by USDA, the MDP contracted with a dozen state agricultural labs to go out and test fresh produce.

In other words, the MDP sent the state ag labs out during the various harvest seasons to sample and test what’s coming out of the fields. The MDP existed from 2002-2012. It reached a point where it was responsible for 80 percent of the fresh produce testing in the U.S.

The MDP only cost taxpayers about $5 million. The New York Times called it “a tiny program that matters.” But the produce industry hated the MDP, and it apparently had a significant hand in killing it.

The MDP murder remains unsolved. Big produce did not like it because the testing occurred as fruits and vegetables were being picked and shipped. A positive MDP test could throw a wrench in the salad bowl. MDP did not have “predictive value,” according to the rap on it.

But MDP scored for consumers. It caught a rare strain of hepatitis A, preventing its entry into the U.S. from the Middle East and North Africa; and it kept a nasty parasite in Mexico from crossing into the U.S.

MDP was good at creating data on surges of fresh fruits and vegetables, either at harvest time or as from imports. FDA also tests fresh produce. It did about 20 percent of the testing back when MDP did 80 percent.

We have not a recent report, but we doubt that numerically FDA has come anywhere close to making up for MDP’s demise. When leafy green outbreaks occur now, our federal experts go into the field thin on data.

Let’s review. The romaine outbreak is very severe. It’s the second to occur the 2017-18 growing season. The first was deadly. No recalls have occurred. Progress is slow. The LGMAs may require reform to be more useful during outbreaks. And the public is missing the testing MDP contributed to food safety for a full decade.