Changes to the Plant Health regulations will provide a major challenge for importers next year and we continue to devote our attention to this issue.

We will be holding two meetings for fresh produce companies to examine the issue and the implications for the trade.

The meetings, organised in conjunction with Defra’s Plant Health Division, will be held in London and Peterborough within the next few months.

We’ll be able to brief you fully on Defra’s plans for the implementation of the new regulations and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions of the bodies involved. We’ll get details to you of these two meetings as soon as possible.

As mentioned in the article on gangmasters on this page, we will also be holding meetings around the country to examine the implications of the Gangmaster (Licensing) Act passed by Parliament last month. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at these events.

I’d like to thank all those in took part in the FPJ poll last month, answering the question “Would you actively support a national 5-a-day week?”.

An overwhelming 88 per cent answered “Yes” and we will certainly be taking the idea forward and putting it to the Department of Health and its advisers.

We are also looking at possibilities for 5-a-day related promotional activity specifically for the wholesale sector.

In the meantime, we are still open to any good ideas for promoting the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, so I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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