John Gates, president of Lancaster Foods LLC in Jessup, MD, told The Produce News that the company continues to increase the amount of processing it does.

“We continue to process salads, but we are also engaged in numerous other fresh-cut and repacked items today,” he said. “A tremendous amount of our fresh-cut processed products go to foodservice operators, as well as retailers, for which we offer retail packs.”

Idaho Falls, ID-based Kingston & Associates Marketing added EDGAR SALAZAR to its quality control team Aug. 27 as the new QC/QA and field inspector for its Monterey, CA, office.

NAPLES, FL — The 300-plus attendees at the 69th annual Florida Fruit & Vegetable Convention, held Sept. 18-21 at the Ritz-Carlton resort, here, heard from some of the industry's leading lights, met to discuss issues and challenges, relaxed a little in the Florida sunshine, and then went home to deal with an ever-evolving agriculture landscape in the state.

Florida Sen. Alan Hayes (R-Umatilla), honored as one of the FFVA Legislators of the Year, perhaps put it best during his acceptance speech: "This is a team sport, folks. It's also a contact sport."

Originally named Rebel Farms because everyone doubted that Belgian-style endive could be grown successfully in America, California Vegetable Specialties has a new name: California Endive Farms.

Founded in 1983 with just five acres by Rich Collins and his wife, Shelly, the company is the leading grower of white endive in the United States and one of the larger growers of red endive in the world.

Mann Packing is expanding its staff with two new hires. Denise Takakjian joins the sales staff to replace Bixby Ramsey, who is moving to field operations, and Brian Bengard is the new regional sales manager for the company's foodservice division in the Western United States.

With the start of fall, apples are showing up in the produce aisle in a big way. And Sweetie, a new and intensely sweet and crunchy apple variety from FirstFruits of Washington, is making an appearance at retail this September.