Paul Frederic, senior vice president of sales and marketing for To-Jo Mushrooms Inc., headquartered in Avondale, PA, told The Produce News that the Produce Marketing Association Foodservice Conference & Expo in Monterey, CA, on July 26-28 was “the best ever show from our prospective.”

Besides displaying its full line of fresh mushrooms and processed mushroom products, To-Jo featured its new “Bella Blended” meatballs.

Bill Litvin, regional sales and national account manager for Giorgio Fresh, headquartered in Temple, PA, said the popular trend in the mushroom category, which is currently being promoted by the Mushroom Council, is the idea of Swapability.

“Consumers are encouraged to eat healthier by swapping out an ingredient in a standard meal with mushrooms, or using mushrooms as a topping,” said Litvin. “This can include topping a burger with a Portabella mushroom, chopping up mushrooms and combining them with meat to create a unique burger and many more ways.”

Maurice A. Auerbach & Co. in Secaucus, NJ, is a major player in the whole fresh and whole-peeled garlic business across a broad section of the northwestern United States.

About a year-and-a-half ago, the company relocated from South Hackensack, NJ, to its new Secaucus facility with more than twice the space and eight times the cold storage capacity. The state-of-the-art facility has “full temperature control and cold chain throughout, including the docks and the packaging area,” said President Paul Auerbach.

“One of the things I think really sets us apart is we have control over the garlic all the way from seed through distribution,” said Patsy Ross, vice president of marketing for Christopher Ranch LLC in Gilroy, CA, in an interview with The Produce News July 22.

That distinction contrasts Christopher Ranch garlic particularly with imported product, according to Ross. “We know where the garlic has been and where it is going. I don’t think that can be said of imports.”

The Garlic Co. in Bakersfield, CA, held steady in its planted acreage of garlic for the 2013 harvest, and as of late July it appeared the harvest was going to be right on target with company expectations, according to John Layous, a partner in the company.

“We didn’t do any kind of an expansions or contraction of acres,” he said July 24. “We just grew our normal amount, and so far, the crop looks just exactly that — what we expected to get.”

Main Street Produce Inc. in Santa Maria, CA, is in the fortunate position of being able to produce a strawberry crop from the same plantings over a very long season. “We are still picking on the plants that we planted back in October” and expect to continue harvesting from those same fields — always weather permitting — through December. The harvest from those fields started in March, giving the company 10 months of continuous production from the plants, according to President Paul Allen.