HAMMONTON, NJ - The season's first "Southern Kiwi" are in the distribution pipeline.

Nick Pacia, owner of A.J. Trucco Inc. in New York, met The Produce News at the Hammonton, NJ, warehouse of Lucca Freezer & Cold Storage Inc. to show this reporter the kiwifruit, which arrived break bulk May 15 at the port of Wilmington in Delaware.

"It's beautiful," Mr. Pacia said of the product. The fruit had "plenty of size," which was mostly in the 30- to 33-size range. "The size profile is very good; much larger than last year. The sugars are beautiful."

Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are assessing the extent of damage sustained by Colorado agricultural producers in Weld and Larimer counties following a powerful tornado and hailstorm prior to the Memorial Day weekend.

HealthPro Brands Inc. has started selling Fit, its fruit and vegetable wash, in the United Kingdom, where the company hopes its launch of sales of natural products to health-conscious consumers pays off.

In May, England became the first country to begin selling Fit at Whole Foods Market, the world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods.

"We see it as a $100 million market in Europe," said HealthPro Brands President and Chief Executive Officer Todd Wichmann. "We think the latest launch will kick start the business there."

There is an old hit song by Johnny Mercer, performed by Bing Crosby in the 1944 movie "Here Come the Waves," familiar for the lyric, "You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative ..."

That is good advice in many aspects of life, and the sequence of those two imperatives is significant, particularly when applied to a healthful diet. Too often, people focus on eliminating the negatives and never even get around to accentuating the positive.

Once grown primarily for export, white-flesh California peaches and nectarines have found a solid niche in the domestic market. They now represent roughly 25 percent of the state's peach and nectarine volume, and while they are still in demand in the Asian markets, growers say that majority of the white-flesh crop is now sold in the United States. That number is expected to grow as more and more consumers discover the white-flesh varieties, which are generally characterized not only by their snowy-white interior color but by high sugar levels and low acid levels.

Jim Cranney, vice president of the Vienna, VA-based U.S. Apple Association, has resigned from his position at the association and will become president of the California Citrus Quality Council, according to a source familiar with the situation who wished to remain anonymous.

Mr. Cranney, who has worked at USApple for the past 15 years, will depart the association on June 20. He was unavailable for comment as of this publication's deadline.