Coastline Produce in Salinas, CA, is offering premium clipped and washed green beans in microwaveable bags. The new value-added product is a 12- ounce bag packed six or nine bags per carton. Receivers have a choice of an English-only version or a French/English bilingual version for the Canadian marketplace.

SHERMAN OAKS, CA -- Sunkist Growers is realigning its sales operations, trading bricks and mortar for electronic technology to better serve its customers, shippers and growers. According to Mark Tompkins, Sunkist's director of domestic fresh fruit sales, the changes are a result of a comprehensive business evaluation undertaken by the cooperative citrus marketing organization.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Department of Agriculture officials took the first crack at fielding scores of questions about the new country-of-origin labeling rule during an Aug. 6 webinar sponsored by the Produce Marketing Association and Western Growers Association.

The webinar was the first opportunity members from both trade groups had to hear top-level Agricultural Marketing Service staff members navigate through specific questions regarding how the produce industry should comply with the Aug. 1 interim final rule, which goes into effect Sept. 30.

This is an interesting food industry. It is amazing to see how it evolves from year to year under so many struggles and challenges. Yet it continues to change dramatically and move forward each time we turn around.

Following the discovery of the same Salmonella Saintpaul strain that was identified in the current Salmonella outbreak in the United States in a Jalape?o pepper and a sample of irrigation water collected on a farm in Mexico, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency established an import alert and hold-and-test sampling plan for Mexican Jalape?o and Serrano peppers entering Canada.

BAKERSFIELD, CA -- More than 100 grape growers and marketers from 14 countries around the world converged here July 29-31 for Sun World International's second Table Grape Producer Expo.

The first such event was held five years ago.