Apeel Sciences announced the promotion of Ryan Fink to senior vice president of the Americas and the appointment of Marius du Plessis as chief commercial officer in EMEA to lead priority business initiatives in their respective markets. Du Plessis and Fink will leverage their extensive produce supply chain experience to strengthen Apeel’s core commercial business, improving supply network value and expanding market growth in Europe and The Americas. 

ORLANDO, FL — The Southeast Produce Council held its 2023 Southern Exposure conference and trade show March 2-4, here. The event was successful on all fronts. Retailers, attendees and exhibitors were in full force at educational and social events as well as on the show floor, where the hustle and bustle lasted from the ribbon-cutting until the closing bell.

Double Date Packing supports stores in merchandising high-quality dates to shoppers through innovative packaging options and in-store materials. “Dates are becoming very popular,” said Hope Barbee, vice president of sales for the Coachella, CA-based company. “On Instagram and Facebook, they are trending and showing different ways to eat them. We want to give consumers convenient ways to get their dates.”

The Southeast Produce Council kicked off a morning of educational sessions with “The Prime Directive: Food Waste & Nutrition Insecurity.” Hosting the conversation was moderator Pete Pearson, global initiative lead of food circulatory at the World Wildlife Fund, who set an important tone for the morning reminding the audience that an estimated 30-40 percent of food goes to waste and represents the largest category of material placed in landfills.

Born of necessity because of a Listeria outbreak in the apple industry, a Canadian-based company has developed and is offering a 30-second innovative waterless technology to kill up to 99.99 percent of pathogens on virtually any fruit or vegetable.

Pacific Trellis Fruit, owner of the Dulcinea brand, has promoted two of its team members to leadership roles. Rob Markel has been promoted to the newly created position of vice president of sales-melon division, and Dan Carapella, Jr. to vice president of sales-fruit division.  These promotions reflect the organization’s strategy of delivering partner value, volume growth and reputation as a market leader.