Table grape growers in the San Joaquin Valley generally are expecting their earliest varieties to start a week or more later this year than they did last year. Some call it "later than normal"; others say that last year was early and that this year is closer to normal. But with just a few exceptions, most growers who have grapes in early districts do not expect to start harvesting in any significant volume before the Fourth of July.

Almost without exception, growers are expecting good volume and good to exceptional quality.

If good things come in threes, then continued success is in store for ENZA's Jazz Apple Cycling Team as it speeds across North America on its third consecutive racing tour that started in May and runs through August.

Six months after naming Allen Vangelos to the position of president and chief executive officer on an interim basis, the owners and board of directors of Sun World International LLC have made the appointment permanent.

The announcement was made in a June 12 press release following a nationwide search for a candidate to fill the position on a permanent basis. "Sun World's board and management team are delighted with Al's decision to accept the position on a permanent basis," board Chairman Christopher Parker said in the release.

YEADON, PA -- Specializing in serving high-ticket, high-quality specialty produce sales to white tablecloth restaurants in the Philadelphia area is the focus of Killian's Harvest Green Inc., which is headquartered in a red brick warehouse that was once part of the operations of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc., which is based in Montvale, NJ.

ENGLEWOOD, NJ -- After nine months of hard work, Riviera Produce has started moving product into its newly revamped 10,000-square-foot warehouse that features "green" technology.

Ben Friedman, founder and president of Riviera Produce, based here just across the Hudson River from New York City, gave The Produce News a tour of the warehouse, which is part of the firm's 30,000-square-foot facility, which is third-party audited and approved and HACCP-certified, June 10, a day after it started utilizing the space.

WASHINGTON -- The Salmonella outbreak associated with fresh tomatoes is likely to cost the food industry more than the 2006 spinach recall, but this time the Food & Drug Administration is working with the produce industry to lessen the financial blow while it untangles the paperwork that will ultimately point to the source of the more 160 illnesses.