Fusion Marketing, a Los Angeles-based full-service marketing company, and the NPD Group, a New York-based international consumer research firm, announced the formation of a perishables industry-focused alliance.

When a few employees of Selah, WA-based Rainier Fruit Co. and some of their family and friends looked for ways to improve their fitness level in a team- building environment, they looked for something fun and challenging.

Wenatchee, WA-based Columbia Marketing International has hired Bob Carter as food-safety coordinator. Mr. Carter reports to Mike Hambelton, former CMI vice president of marketing, who is now in charge of special company projects.

"The commitment to do food safety -- it's all or nothing," Mr. Carter told The Produce News in a recent interview.

The Idaho Potato Commission is marking its 70th anniversary this year. Formed in May 1937 and originally (and only briefly) known as the Idaho Fruit & Vegetable Advertising Commission, the IPC has been actively promoting Idaho potatoes since its inception.

It was "the first organization formed in Idaho to promote any type of produce" and "one of the earliest commodity organizations" formed in the United States, said Frank Muir, the commission's president.

PLEASANTON, CA -- Consumers have never had more choices than they have today regarding where to buy fresh produce, according to research gleaned from scan data, interviews and focus groups.

This is one of the major messages delivered to attendees of a recent Fresh Produce & Floral Council luncheon meeting by keynote speaker Steve Lutz of the Perishables Group. Mr. Lutz was speaking on trends with regard to fresh produce that his company has noted from the material it reviews on a regular basis.

Fact: Nineteen of the 22 E. coli 0157:H7 discoveries associated with leafy greens that have resulted in confirmed illnesses since 1995 took place in late summer or early fall.