“Our program is growing by leaps and bounds,” Louie Galvan, a partner in Delano, CA-based Fruit Royale told The Produce News April 1, referring to the company’s involvement in the Mexican grape deal.

“We are actually tripling our numbers from last year,” he said. “We have brought on a couple of sizeable growers, and we are making some moves to get involved in the growing process down there as well. We will have a sizeable deal.”

All of the company’s grapes from Mexico will ship out of Nogales, AZ, he said.

The ribbon is cut at Wakefern's newest warehouse facility in Elizabeth, NJ, during an April 17 ceremony.Making a return to its roots, Wakefern Food Corp.

Working with a handful of growers and shippers, two major paper manufacturers and the National Watermelon Promotions Board, the National Watermelon Association has created a new bin that it hopes will gain traction at retail as the primary vehicle to represent the watermelon industry.

Six leaders of the Texas produce industry will be honored April 28 at the 2014 Texas Produce Hall of Fame Banquet.

The Produce Hall of Fame was established in 1988 and has since presented 134 living and posthumous awards and 17 Scott Toothaker Awards to men and women who have contributed a large part of their lives to the betterment of the Texas produce industry.

Baldor Specialty Foods, headquartered in the Bronx, NY, held its second annual Bite event Monday, April 21. More than 120 companies — including farms, growers and produce companies — offered samples at the Metropolitan Pavilion, located in New York City.

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Seven of the country's most exciting chefs and foodservice professionals representing an array of culinary styles and backgrounds will be honored this June as part of the United Fresh Produce Excellence in Foodservice Awards Program. Sponsored by PRO*ACT LLC, and now in its seventh year, the program honors chefs and their companies for their innovative and influential use of fresh produce in the culinary arts. The United Fresh Produce Association will formally recognize the seven winners at United Fresh 2014, the association's annual convention and expo in Chicago, June 10-13, 2014.