WASHINGTON -- New legislation that would give the Food & Drug Administration authority to write federal produce-safety standards and set up sweeping traceability regulations cleared its first hurdle when a subcommittee approved the bill on June 10.

The House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee approved the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749), a bill that is likely to "have a lot of impact on the produce industry," Robert Guenther of the United Fresh Produce Association told The Produce News at the Capitol Hill hearing.

WASHINGTON -- Two years after launching new standards in California for growing and handling leafy greens, a coalition of produce groups has petitioned the federal government to establish a national marketing agreement for leafy greens.

In a June 9 petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the groups asked the federal government to set up a national marketing agreement based on best practices and a verification program designed to reduce the potential for another crippling outbreak like the 2006 E. Coli episode associated with fresh spinach.

LOS ANGELES -- Melissa's/World Variety Produce Inc., here, has just introduced a new dried chili product that is "definitely the hottest dried chili" currently in distribution in the United States, according to Robert Schueller, director of public relations for the firm.

With weekly Mexican mango shipments to the United States in the voluminous 1.7 million-carton to 2.3 million-carton range for a six-week period in April and May, the situation pointed to a potential marketing disaster. But it did not happen.

Importers indicated that retail movement was very good and they received a lot of promotional support during that time period to help move the large crop.

Z&S Fresh Inc., with offices in Fresno, CA, and Nogales, AZ, has ceased its operations as a shipper and is attempting to collect its accounts receivables and sell assets to pay more than $4.6 million in debts to potential PACA creditors.

After a 47-year career, Don Basso said that he does not need any help planning his retirement.

Mr. Basso spent 41 years with A&P in Indiana and elsewhere, then another six with B&W Quality Growers, a Fellsmere, FL-based firm that specializes in watercress, before announcing his retirement recently.