FRESNO, CA -- "As we sit here today and look at the public policy issue, and as we are moving toward an election, the number one [issue] on our radar screen ... is labor availability and the importance of having a legal and adequate work force," said Berry Bedwell, president of the California Grape & Tree Fruit League, here.

"Having said that," Mr. Bedwell told The Produce News Monday, Aug. 21, "the biggest challenge is also probably the most difficult, given the political climate we are in right now."

SALINAS, CA -- The U.S. Food & Drug Administration launched a multi-year food-safety initiative in the Salinas Valley in an effort to identify and prevent reoccurring E. coli 0157:H7 outbreaks linked to leafy greens in recent years.

FDA officials alerted local growers and agricultural trade representatives about the inspections during a day-long food-safety summit held here Aug. 29. The inspections cover local fields, coolers and packing plants.

For a produce industry that was already generally opposed to single-source produce buying for the Defense Commissary Agency, word that Carroll Allred has been a consultant to at least one company that bid on military business may not be well received.

Mr. Allred was the category manager for produce before retiring from DeCA in Fort Lee, VA, at the end of 2005. In recent weeks, DeCA has announced that a handful of companies have won military contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.

Amid a lawsuit claiming that its operations are unconstitutional (see story on page 1 of the Aug. 28 issue of The Produce News), the California Tomato Commission and its president, Ed Beckman, defended their actions in separate statements released the week of Aug. 28.

In addition, Mr. Beckman said that the board continues to march forward to a Sept. 19 meeting in which the downsizing of the commission's programs and a refocusing of its message are expected to be approved.

Canada's federal government will spend as much as $1.5 million over two years to help develop international markets for the country's wild blueberries.

The money will be given to the Canadian component of the New Brunswick-based Wild Blueberry Association of North America, which represents growers and processors from Quebec and Atlantic Canada. The association acts as a promotional arm for the industry.