MONTEREY, CA -- Longtime industry-leading dried fruit processor Mariani Packing Co. has gotten a taste of the fresh fruit market -- and it likes it.

The effort took root when U.S. Fruit & Veg Inc., based here, presented a proposal to Vacaville, CA-based Mariani Packing to grow and market fresh strawberries bearing the "Mariani" label. Mariani Packing agreed, and Albion- variety strawberries carrying the "Mariani" label began shipping across the United States and in Canada and Mexico in early June.

Produce for Kids, a Reidsville, GA-based organization that promotes the benefits of healthy eating while raising funds for Children's Miracle Network hospitals nationwide, announced that its 2007 spring campaign has set a new fundraising record of over $415,000, generating more than $1 million in total donations since the program began in 2002.

The Arizona Department of Agriculture approved the Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement Sept. 27 and closed nominations to serve on the Marketing Committee one week later on Thursday, Oct. 4.

Pink Ribbon Produce, a retail program committed to breast cancer prevention and awareness, will return this October for its second year at hundreds of Meijer and Harris Teeter stores. The educational fundraising program, created by Consumer Effects, teams the two grocery store retailers with 21 produce suppliers in an effort to raise support for chapters of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Both Meijer and Harris Teeter will direct shoppers to the participating produce suppliers with a new pink ribbon program icon on posters and point-of-sale wobblers.

An innovative traceback program that provides real-time onion inspection data from Fort Boise Produce Co. has met with enthusiastic support from both the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has approved the program, and U.S. Foodservice, a major buyer of product from the Parma, ID-based grower-shipper.

Each year, visitors walk onto the floor of the annual Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition to view hundreds of exhibitor booths (774 are now booked for the Oct. 12-15 expo in Houston). Many are elaborately designed and decorated with bold graphics, colorful displays, floral arrangements, flowing banners and other unique, eye-catching details.