CHICAGO — Serving fresh produce to Chicago schools was an important motivator for Panama Banana, located on the Chicago International Produce Market, to receive its USDA-GAP food-safety certification.

Tom Durante, a salesman and buyer for Panama Banana, said, “Because I deal with the school systems, we had to be certified.” The USDA certification “is required of us here.”

Beyond that, “in general we are very, very concerned with cleanliness in this house. We are known to be very clean at all times. If anything occurs” to create a mess, “it is taken care of immediately,” Durante noted.

Furthermore, warehouse cooler temperatures are very carefully monitored to assure food safety at Panama Banana, Durante said.

In an early September telephone interview, Durante indicated: “Business has been very good. We had a very nice summer and it is winding down nicely. There has been a pretty good supply of merchandise this year and reasonably priced soft fruit stimulates business. All in all it was a good summer.”

Durante is not part of the firm’s vegetable department, which he said, “is getting bigger and bigger. They are picking up new business as well. Everything is very positive. Very upbeat.

“Going into the winter months, the apple crops from everyone will be big. We will have a lot of sale items. We’re not figuring things will suffer because it’s winter. We will be just fine. When we get on a roll and create a lot of action, people have to come here to shop” to take advantage of buying opportunities.

In addition to enjoying great support from independent grocers “we have a very, very strong retail base with many of the retail chains in the city and suburbs.”

Independent chains such as Caputos, Cermak and Pete’s Produce “all support us very well. In the meantime, I work very closely with a lot of major foodservice companies.” He referred to Angelo Caputo Fresh Markets, headquartered in Addison, IL; Cermak Fresh Market, based in Aurora, IL, and Pete’s Produce, which is headquartered in Chicago.

He said the foodservice companies “come on” when the retailers’ business slows. “All of this helps keep nice fruit fresh in the cooler for a very nice business,” he said.

Having bananas as a base for Panama’s fruit business gives the company an “extensive” customer base because “there are not that many banana houses.” When customers go to Panama Banana to buy bananas, it is easy to pick up pineapples, mangoes and otherwise shop from the firm’s “very full line of fruit,” Durante said.

Through Albert’s Organics, based in Los Angeles, Panama Banana is adding to its organic line.