Chiquita Brands International Inc. dedicated Sept. 10 the James R. Lugg Global Research & Innovation Center in Salinas, CA, affirming the company's commitment to the Salinas Valley.

The center is named in honor of Mr. Lugg, Fresh Express' executive vice president for science and quality, and celebrates the contributions of Fresh Express employees to the fresh produce industry.

The center also will comprise the company's trial farms, pilot manufacturing plant, consumer test kitchen and a retail merchandising lab where value- added products are created and tested.

Robert and Helen Strube have established the Bob & Helen Strube Freedom from Hunger Fund to support the Greater Chicago Food Depository's distribution of fresh produce to hungry people.

The fund complements the Strube family's commitment to fighting hunger in the Chicago area. Mr. Strube, the former president of Strube Celery & Vegetable Co., established the food depository along with other community leaders in 1978. It distributed more than 46 million pounds of food last year to 500,000 people in Cook County.

The California Avocado Commission executed a succession of consumer co- marketing promotions for spring and summer, including a Build a Better Burger program tie-in with Sutter Home wines and a Fiesta de Flavor sweepstakes partnering with Corona beer.

Los Angeles-based Gourmet Trading Co., which claims to be the largest importer of Peruvian asparagus in the United States, expects retail promotional activities for the item to start taking off as the summer season ends and family meals gradually migrate back to the kitchen.

As a cooking vegetable, asparagus tends to be enjoyed more often in the fall and winter months, which coincide well with the peak of the Peruvian deal. Although some importers, including Gourmet Trading, import the product on a year-round basis, shipments peak from September to January.

SaviaGrapes, located in Santiago, Chile, has introduced a new technology to lower shrink by giving grapes longer shelf life.

This summer, the company demonstrated its product to leading Chilean grape importers at ports in Wilmington, DE, and Gloucester City, NJ, to show the "new life-extension technology for table grapes."