HOUSTON -- The Oppenheimer Group, based in Vancouver, BC, featured two major new initiatives -- one health related and one brand related -- at its booth during the 2007 PMA Fresh Summit expo, here, Oct. 12-15.

On the health front, Oppenheimer is "rallying behind a campaign to reduce the risk of diabetes through the consumption of fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy lifestyle" by becoming a national sponsor of the American Diabetes Association's "I Decide to Fight Diabetes" campaign, according to an Oppenheimer press release.

Wilson-Batiz LLC in Nogales, AZ, and sister company Wilson-Batiz of California in San Diego came into being in 1999 as a result of the merger of the James K. Wilson Produce Co. in Nogales, AZ, with the Batiz family, which had been formerly involved in R.B. Packing and various other agricultural enterprises in Mexico.

The families have now separated their operations into two entities: Wilson Produce in Nogales and Royal Flavor in San Diego.

HOUSTON -- The same error is made in virtually every supermarket, every day of the year, by almost every checker. A loose apple, tomato or onion is scanned at the wrong price. The harried checker sees a Royal Gala coming at her and because she is familiar with the price lookup number for the more popular, and less expensive, Red Delicious apple, that's what she uses while weighing the apple. Or maybe it's an organic orange that gets weighed as a conventional one. Or cluster tomatoes that get mistaken for medium round.

Numerous wildfires throughout a wide area of Southern California but primarily in various locations of northern San Diego County were raging out of control Tuesday Morning, Oct. 23.

The fires had already damaged and, in some instances, devastated numerous avocado groves in various growing areas over the previous couple of days, and additional acreage was threatened as dry conditions and fierce Santa Ana winds continued to spread the fires more rapidly than firefighting crews could contain them.

HOUSTON -- Sunkist Inc. has entered the premium juice category with the launch of "Sunkist Naturals," a line of nutrient-rich smoothie beverages that was introduced at the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit, here.

The product line will be available in eight flavors in two sizes: a single-serve 15.2-ounce version as well as a one-liter size. Both sizes come in an attractive, sleek bottle, which lists the nutritional benefits. For example, Berry Cherry Bountiful is touted as being high in antioxidants and vitamins A, C and E.

HOUSTON -- A flourishing Chilean blueberry export trade received an additional shot in the arm last season when grower-exporters volunteered to contribute an additional $100,000 beyond their check-off agreement toward the North American public relations effort by the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association. This helped move a 34 percent increase in Chilean blueberry exports last season.