TAMPA, FL -- With hard freeze warnings issued for Florida all the way south to Homestead, Dec. 13 will be a long, tense night for Florida growers. Misters will spray, Rain Bird sprinklers will chatter, helicopters will fly and countless gallons of water will flow through fields until dawn as farmers pull out all the stops to try to hold back an unprecedented early-season onslaught from Mother Nature.

The Dec. 12 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. should not have much of an impact on the chain's produce creditors due to the protection afforded by PACA Trust provisions, which puts produce debt in a priority position over other creditors.

Clifford Produce, a Ruthven, ON-based greenhouse grower, named Chris Jacobs company president Dec. 2. He is the first president at Clifford Produce, which previously operated under the direction of its board of directors and management team.

"We are very excited to welcome Chris to Clifford Produce," Gerry Mastronardi, board president, said in a Dec. 2 press release. “His expertise and leadership will be valuable in taking this company to the next level.”

Morris Okun Inc., a fixture on Row B of the Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx, NY, recently purchased four-and-a-half units on Row D, and the firm's director, Roni Okun, could not be prouder of the purchase and of her team.

"We’re very excited about this, because it is the first time we’ve ventured off of Row B," Ms. Okun told The Produce News Dec. 8. “We want exposure on both sides of the market to enhance our customer base and expose the customer base of Rows C and D to the Okun operation.”

Charlie Eagle, vice president of business development for Southern Specialties Inc. in Pompano Beach, FL, told The Produce News in early December that the company hired Daryl Johnston to fill its newly created vice president of sales position.

"Daryl's responsibilities in the new position include creating strategies to drive profitable growth for our company, our customers and suppliers, and to provide input for new-product initiatives and maintain relationships with new and existing customers," said Mr. Eagle.

WASHINGTON — With the lame-duck session winding down, the House of Representatives passed food-safety legislation Dec. 8 attached to a must- pass federal government spending bill.

House Democrats had been scrambling to find a way to pass food-safety legislation to fix a procedural error discovered after the Nov. 30 Senate passing of S. 510, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act. The bill must now return to the Senate for another vote.