Some U.S. apple professionals engaged in interesting travel abroad in April and May. The New York state Department of Agriculture & Markets in Albany organized a Cuban trade mission that took place April 21-24.

And on May 19-24, a delegation of apple-industry professionals from several states participated in a trade mission to Russia that was organized by the U.S. Apple Export Council.

WASHINGTON -- News that $10 million in specialty crop block grants are in jeopardy caused produce industry trade associations to sound the alarm.

Four leading berry producers -- Michigan-based blueberry grower MBG Marketing; Santiago, Chile-based berry-growing corporation Hortifrut S.A.; Delano, CA-based Munger Bros. Farms; and Salem, OR-based Pan-American Berry Growers LLC -- have banded together to form Naturipe Foods LLC, a value-added berry-marketing company.

Pan-American Berry Growers was not previously part of sister fresh-pack company Naturipe Farms and is new to the mix.

Brooks Tropicals' Homestead, FL, packinghouse, shipping docks and storage cooler were recently audited, and the inspector was quite pleased and impressed by what he found.

According to a Brooks press release, the facilities were so on target that the food-safety inspector had trouble believing his eyes, and he said that he planned to come back to see it again.

Louis Pizzo Sr., the former mayor of Deerfield Township, NJ, and one of better-known citizens of Rosenhayn, NJ, died the evening of Friday, June 27, 2008, in the hospice inpatient unit at the Bridgeton Health Center in Bridgeton, NJ. Mr. Pizzo was a lifelong resident of Deerfield Township and had been in declining health. He was 91.

NEW YORK -- If you've been to New York and missed eating at Peter Luger Steak House, get your carnivore appetite back here.

The Brooklyn location (a second restaurant on Long Island in Great Neck opened in 1960) has been dishing out the finest USDA Prime steaks since 1887. It was originally established as Carl Luger's Caf?, Billiards & Bowling Alley in the predominantly German neighborhood tucked under the Williamsburg Bridge.