The Produce Marketing Association Foundation for Industry Talent is pooling efforts toward identifying and attracting talent to the fresh produce industry. PMA FIT has raised about $3.5 million toward its goal of $5 million.

"Philanthropy actually steps up in tough times," said Cindy Seel, executive director of PMA FIT, a nonprofit, 501(c)3 corporation that was founded in 2006 and is dedicated to ensuring a quality workforce for the industry.

PHILADELPHIA -- At Storey's Fruit & Produce on the Philadelphia Regional Produce Terminal, here, not a single box of produce was in sight Jan. 16.

On a sunny and bitter cold day, Butch Storey attended to the final details as the company prepared to close its doors for good.

Upstairs in the antiquated business offices constructed in 1959, Butch Storey's brother, Danny, and father, Dan, worked on closing the company's accounts.

River Ranch Fresh Foods Inc. in Salinas, CA, laid off 16 people over the past two weeks including Bruce Knobeloch, who was vice president of marketing.

Pro-Act, a leading fresh produce supplier to the foodservice industry based in Monterey, CA, announced that General Produce Co. in Sacramento, CA, has joined its distribution network.

General Produce, a third-generation, family-owned produce distribution company, was founded in 1933 and is currently led by cousins Thomas Chan and Daniel Chan. Its 85,000-square-foot facility boasts a refrigerated receiving dock and superior third-party sanitation and security rating.

Irradiation may be effective in ridding fresh produce of pathogens, but it may not be so easy to bring irradiated fresh produce to the marketplace.

It is no secret that foodborne outbreaks are causing the industry to take a closer look at the technology, especially after the U.S. Food & Drug Administration gave its approval last August to use irradiation for killing pathogens on Iceberg lettuce and spinach. But is the technology a good fit for various commodities? And how effective is it?