Biennial elections for the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association's board of directors took place March 25 at its bimonthly meeting in Irvine, CA.

Incoming Chairman Mike Browne is joined by Vice Chairman David Ruiz Vega, Secretary Giovanni Cavaletto, Treasurer Alfredo Rodriguez and Directors J. Jesus Lopez Herrera, Ed Figueroa, Aureliano Pena Esparza and Doug Meyer. Alternate board members are Ross Wileman, Mario Rivas Barrag?n, Avi Crane, Antonio Villase?or Zurita, Alejandro Alvarez del Toro, Jimmy Lotufo, Sergio Guerreo Urbina and Phil Henry.

David Dever, chief operating officer and president of Delano, CA-based Pandol Bros. Inc., and Tony DiMare, vice president of DiMare Homestead Inc. and DiMare Ruskin Inc., both in Florida, will testify Thursday, April 2, before the House of Representatives' Committee on Agriculture in Washington, DC, in what is being described as an educational and informational public hearing.

"The grape season up to now has actually been quite good," Mark Greenberg said March 13.

The good news for buyers is that with an increase in import volumes, the amount of avocados in the marketplace in the United States over the course of the 2009 calendar year is expected to be greater than last year and could potentially approach a record 1.1 million pounds, according to some projections.

Unfortunately for California avocado growers facing one of the smaller California crops in years, possibly in decades, the California share of that market will only be somewhere around 20 percent of the total. The remainder will come primarily from Mexico and Chile.

WASHINGTON -- With the food industry still reeling from a massive peanut recall, a California firm is recalling some 1 million pounds of pistachios after food processors detected Salmonella during routine testing. "We are trying to be proactive," said David Acheson, the Food & Drug Administration's associate commissioner for foods, who held an evening press call March 30 to announce the recall. The new FDA acting commissioner, Joshua Sharfstein, who took over running the agency March 30, "wants to clearly get out in front of this," said Dr. Acheson.

Federal policymakers rely on laws and regulations to safeguard the food supply. This is understandable, since these are the tools at their disposal. But it overlooks the expertise our supply chain has gained over the years to enhance safety.

I believe that it is our industry's obligation -- and that it works to our benefit -- to bring that information and expertise to Washington, DC, where significant changes to our food-safety system are now being considered.