After months of buildup about a mystery special guest at the National Watermelon Association’s centennial celebration — underway in San Antonio, TX, Feb. 20-24 — hundreds of attendees at the Feb. 22 morning keynote session were stunned when former President George W. Bush strolled through the door of the Westin La Cantera resort to a thunderous ovation, accompanied by a phalanx of Secret Service agents.

Almost 50 million people learned about the cholesterol-lowering capabilities of apples on Feb. 17 from USA Weekend. The popular Sunday publication partnered with the Emmy Award-winning medical television show "The Doctors" to advise Americans on small steps to keep their cholesterol on track, including eating apples.

Mack Farms, headquartered in Lake Wales, FL, hired NICK LEGER as a sales associate.

His responsibilities at Mack Farms include servicing existing accounts and developing new accounts, with some procurement and food safety responsibilities, he told The Produce News.

Prior to joining Mack Farms, Mr. Leger worked at Melon 1 Inc. for two years. He has been working in the produce industry for over five years and was first introduced through his family’s company, L&M Melon Sales/Leger & Son Inc., where he worked during his teenage years.

“We are looking forward to the Southern Exposure event again this year,” Paul Frederic, senior vice president of sales and marketing for To-Jo Mushrooms Inc. in Avondale, PA, told The Produce News.

“Our comprehensive line of fresh and prepared mushrooms will be showcased, and we’ll be promoting a new protein-type item that we are particularly excited about: a mushroom meatball.”

“We’ve got a couple of new items this year,” said Steve Yubeta, vice president of sales at Farmer’s Best International LLC in Nogales, AZ. “They are European cucumbers and tomatoes-on-the-vine.” The company has been offering those new items through the winter, and they will continue into spring. “Thus far, we have had very positive feedback from all of our customers that have been receiving them,” he said Feb. 9. “It looks like it has worked out very well.”

Suntreat has begun shipment of its exclusive Sumo citrus, which continues through April. This year marks the third commercial crop by the same group of citrus growers who originally brought the wildly popular fruit to California from Japan, where it is known as Dekopon or Shiranui.