Former Peruvian Minister of Agriculture Ismael Benavides sees a very bright future for his country's citrus exports.

Peru is already building its citrus industry with greater technology, new varieties and better growing techniques, Mr. Benavides said. With this "Peru has a great potential for growth," he told The Produce News. "We are going in that direction."

California Vegetable Specialties Inc. has the majority of U.S. production of Belgian endive all to itself.

"Several other companies have tried over the years, but as far as I know -- and I think I'd know -- I am the only producer in the country," said Richard Collins, owner and president of the firm, which is located in Rio Vista, CA, about 45 minutes south of Sacramento on that city's namesake river.

Sundia Corp. announced that Mark Sherburne, a veteran of the value-added produce industry, has joined the Oakland, CA-based company as vice president of sales, a new position.

Mr. Sherburne will have responsibility for Sundia Corp.'s distribution channels and strategies worldwide.

"Sundia has been growing so quickly that we now need someone of Mark's caliber to guide us through the company's next stages of growth," Dan Hoskins, general manager and chief operating officer of Sundia, said in a press release.

UTICA, NY -- Chanatry's Market is a family-owned supermarket that has been serving this upstate New York community since William Howard Taft was in the White House. Its practice from the start was to offer high-quality items at competitive prices in a friendly atmosphere. That practice endures to the present time, only in a larger setting.

EW Brandt & Sons, a grower-packer-shipper of premium cherries, stone fruit, apples and pears based in Wapato, WA, introduced a new clamshell that it said represents the next generation of donut peach and nectarine packaging, representing a new level of value-added convenience and usage.

WASHINGTON -- The federal government promotes a diet rich in fruits and vegetables but is silent when it comes to defending its science-based pesticide safety limits in news stories attacking the produce industry.

This was the message delivered by United Fresh Produce Association Chairman Steffanie Smith and other industry representatives who met June 15 with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson.