Awe Sum Organics, a leading importer of organic apples and organic kiwifruit, will supply organic red and green seedless grapes to the United States and Canada beginning in late December.

Baloian Farms has recently introduced a merchandising bin for hard squash.

The goal of this new bin design is to provide a single merchandising source that will display various varieties of hard squash in one easy-to-access location on the retail floor, as well as make retail ordering and store merchandising easier.

Crispy, wedge-cut fries served in America's finest steakhouses are now making their way to kitchen tables as younger, health-conscious shoppers are seeking a fresher alternative to saturated fat-ridden frozen french fries.

MountainKing, based in Houston, has introduced its new Steakhouse Roasters, a slender, thin skin, tubular-shaped fresh potato variety that doesn't require peeling and cooks up fast to create steakhouse-quality, oven-baked wedge fries.

A Nov. 20 fire at the Hunts Point market in the Bronx, NY, began at Mendez International Tropical Foods Inc., which occupies units 158 through 162 in Row A of the market.

The fire broke out shortly after 11 a.m. and quickly escalated into a four-alarm blaze.

The first alarm reached firefighters at 11:15. They had to force their way into the building due to a steel beam that blocked their path to the source of the blaze, ultimately causing them to retreat to their fire ladders to fight the flames.

Houston-based FreshPoint Inc. has agreed to pay $4.2 million to resolve allegations it overcharged the Defense Department for fresh fruit and vegetable purchases after the government was tipped off about the fraud case through a whistleblower lawsuit.

Owned by Sysco Corp, FreshPoint is a leading distributor that operates 31 distribution facilities throughout the United States and western Canada. The government contracts at issue were awarded to East Coast Fruit Co. but later performed by FreshPoint when the company acquired East Coast in 2007.

The “Lil Snapper” brand of apples, pears and citrus created by Stemilt Growers LLC continues to provide retailers with ongoing opportunities to boost sales while helping children eat more healthily. “The big deal is still our ‘Lil Snapper’ line,” Director of Marketing Roger Pepperl told The Produce News. “We are really pushing the Gala/Navel mixed bag for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are lining up a lot of customer demand for this bag and feel it will be a homerun.”