Christopher Ranch, headquartered in Gilroy, CA, is taking its wide range of high-quality products across the U.S.-Canada border with correct bi-lingual labels, which it will feature at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association’s Convention and Trade Show in Vancouver, BC, on April 2-4.

“Christopher Ranch will be at Booth No.101 at the event,” said Patsy Ross, vice president of marketing. “We will be represented there by Rich Pirozzoli, sales representative, and Jeff Stokes, vice president of sales for our company.”

For over 50 years, the Christopher family has been growing superior California garlic from its privately owned farms in Gilroy. Today it is one of the United States’ most popular brand names representing garlic and other specialty items in the country.

“This is our first time exhibiting at the CPMA show in many years,” said Ross. “Our Canadian retail customer base is growing, and we want to make sure we support their trade show and see all of the customers that we can at this event.

“Christopher Ranch has a line of items available with the correct bi-lingual labels needed in Canada,” she continued. “They include peeled garlic, specialty items and value-added jarred products, along with fresh garlic.”

The company has celebrated numerous milestones in recent years. Today, in addition to its Gilroy headquarters, it has facilities in Edison, NJ, Chicago, IL, Pompano Beach, FL, and Los Angeles, which was opened in 1997 when the company recognized the need to have the ability to better service its Southeast customers.

Last year, the company relocated its Edison location while remaining within the city. The new facility gave the company the opportunity to transition its facility with major refrigeration and storage spaces as well as new efficiencies that will improve its operations for years into the future. It has updated refrigeration that adds 25 to 30 percent more cold storage capacity, as well as improves the facility’s overall cold chain integrity in the receiving, processing and shipping divisions for its customers’ orders. The new facility also offers a second refrigeration zone for improved storage and handling of its specialty items, such as fresh ginger.

Christopher Ranch also continues to celebrate the not long ago launch of its proprietary “Monviso” garlic. Over 50 years ago, Don Christopher came upon a variety of garlic that he believed was the most flavorful he had ever tasted. The seed had been cultivated in Italy for centuries, originating in the Piedmont area near Monviso, Italy. When Christopher established his ranch in the fertile Santa Clara Valley, he planted the “Monviso” varietal.

The company nurtured the heirloom seed line for over half a century to preserve its exceptional flavor while, the company claims, other growers chose to adopt higher yielding, less flavorful varieties.

Christopher Ranch has also maintained an intensive seed program throughout its history, and it has never sold its beloved seed to any other farmer. Today, consequently, “Monviso” is the only commercially grown heirloom garlic produced in the United States.

The company also has an extensive line of organic garlic and specialty items, including jarred and value-added packaged products.

In its conventional line, Christopher Ranch offers garlic in every imaginable form, such as peeled, chopped, minced, pickled, roasted and more, a full-line of specialty onions, shallots and even cherries and sweet corn.

In 2013, the company proudly announced that it had been awarded a Superior rating in its most recent PrimusGFS audit, earning a score of 95.8 percent.

In its October 2013 announcement, Janette Codiga, vice president of food safety and compliance at Christopher Ranch, said, “At Christopher Ranch, food safety is of paramount importance, and we work continuously to improve and maintain high standards of quality and sanitation in our growing, processing and packing facilities. We are committed to giving our customers the best, and the safest — products possible by following strict guidelines to ensure ‘quality from the ground up.’”