Facing stiff foreign competition, balky weather, a dwindling labor supply and a future punctuated with question-marks, Pacific Collier Fresh Co. in Immokalee, FL, one of Florida's larger grower-shippers of fresh vegetables, ceased operations effective immediately, the company announced June 14.

The U.S. Apple Association announced the second week in June the hiring of Mark Gedris as its new director of membership and communications. In his new position, Mr. Gedris will lead USApple's member communications programs, provide strategic guidance to USApple's media relations and direct the association's membership recruitment and retention programs.

WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Working Group’s latest “Dirty Dozen” list released June 13 took direct aim at apples this year, saying that the commodity jumped three spots to claim the top spot for pesticide residue hits.

Potato operations for Potandon Produce are in full swing at the company's key packing facility in Arizona, owned by Pinto Creek Co.

The strategic alliance between the two companies, established in 2002, has proven instrumental to the year-round availability of Potandon's specialty potatoes (such as Klondike Rose and Klondike Goldust), as the Arizona season bridges the gap between the Idaho and Washington seasons for these varieties.

LoBue Citrus announced the first week in June that it has formed partnerships with growers in Chile and South Africa to import lemons, Navel oranges and Mandarins, which will be shipped to the ports of Long Beach, CA, and Philadelphia.

The program is expected to start in late June and run through October.

This is the third consecutive year that LoBue has offered imported fruit at the Long Beach port and the first year that it has offered Chilean and South African imports through Philadelphia.

WASHINGTON — Facilities that handle certain commodities associated with past foodborne illness outbreaks should not be automatically deemed high risk under the Food & Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act, according to trade association representatives who testified at an FDA public meeting June 6.