With the start of the 2012-13 pear season only weeks away, the Pear Bureau Northwest in Milwaukie, OR, is already excited about crop prospects and export opportunities. “We’re coming off a great export year,” International Marketing Director Jeff Correa told The Produce News July 23. “We’re on pace for a record year with volume and size.”

Although Washington’s apple producers expect the 2012 statewide volume to be down this season due to a recent hailstorm, CM Holtzinger Fruit Co. anticipates a 30-percent increase in its available apple inventory for the coming season.

The company is headquartered in Yakima, WA, and is a packer-shipper-marketer of quality fruit from the Evergreen State. The company’s field staff has been increased and its grower network has expanded to move increasing amounts of fruit into the pipeline.

WASHINGTON — Health officials have yet to name the southwestern Indiana farm that is being investigated as a likely source of a deadly Salmonella outbreak tied to cantaloupe.

On Aug. 17, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 141 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 20 states. Two deaths were reported from Kentucky, a state hard-hit by the outbreak. Illnesses began to appear July 7 to August 4 and 31 patients have been hospitalized.

Organic grower Wholesum Harvest announced that the company has extended the deadline for its Grow With Us Sweepstakes to Sept. 30. The sweepstakes, which began April 1, requires contestants to “like” Wholesum Harvest’s Facebook page and fill out a registration form to qualify. The more “likes” the company receives, the more prizes it will award.  

Since the debut of the new “Monviso California Heirloom Garlic” label by Christopher Ranch LLC in Gilroy, CA, last year, demand for the product has been strong, and the company has plans to continue increasing production by 10 percent each year, according to a company press release.

The label is used for a particularly flavorful variety of garlic that the company has been growing for more than half a century.

Joe Caldwell, vice president of Monterey Mushrooms Inc., headquartered in Watsonville, CA, told The Produce News that the company continues to focus on its new sustainable corrugated mushroom packaging.

“The sustainable package has received tremendous comments from customers and consumers since we launched it in late 2011,” said Mr. Caldwell. “It is specially designed to deal with the high humidity that mushrooms create, and we wanted a package that we could print consumer-friendly information on, such as meal solution ideas and recipes.”