SALINAS, CA -- Indianapolis-based Imagination Farms has partnered with Church Bros. LLC and True Leaf Farms LLC, both located here, to further consumption of fresh produce by children.

Church Bros. will supply Imagination's "Disney Garden" line with commodity vegetables from its operations, while True Leaf will supply "Disney Garden" bagged vegetables, bagged salads and unique vegetable products designed for children. Full-line vegetable grower-shipper Church Bros. is the exclusive sales agent for True Leaf Farms.

Watsonville, CA-based Driscoll Strawberry Associates Inc. announced the formation of a new European berry company that will be the largest fresh berry company in Europe and the second-largest fresh berry company in the world next to Driscoll.

The new company joins Driscoll with two long-standing partners: KG Growers and Alconeras.

The tide has turned in the produce industry's Bronx turf battle.

On Nov. 9, a five-judge panel in the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, reversed a May 15 decision in favor of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association. Inc.

Electronic commerce provides the highest level of accuracy, speed and cost containment. Transactions integrated into the system automatically further eliminate or, at the very least, greatly reduce errors and costs associated with manual input.

We know this because several companies which are leading the way on the road to standards and technology are seeing savings of almost $10 per transaction on such common transactions as purchase orders, invoices, advanced ship notices, price and item changes.

WASHINGTON -- State and federal health officials said that the recent E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak tied to fresh spinach was a fine example of quick detective work and good coordination among agencies despite concerns raised at a Senate hearing about the speed in which the public was notified of the outbreak.

John W. McDonald, 71, died Oct. 29 at his home in Salinas, CA. Mr. McDonald was the sole proprietor of Best West Trading in Salinas for the past two decades.

Born in Hot Springs, AR, Mr. McDonald moved during World War II with his family to South San Francisco, CA, where his parents worked in the shipyards. Then the family moved to Salinas, and following graduation from Salinas High School in 1953, Mr. McDonald served in the U.S. Army.