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St. Louis Produce Market acquiring more acreage

In four to six months the St. Louis Produce Market will have closed deals to expand by about 25 acres.

Clarence Hughes, St. Louis market manager, said Feb. 8 that the market will purchase eight to 10 acres adjacent to the north side of the market, and will lease another 15 acres adjacent to the east side of the facility.

Mushroom industry hit with class-action lawsuits

A year after the U.S. Department of Justice cleared the actions of the Eastern Mushroom Marketing Council in Wayne, PA, the group was hit by a new series of class-action suits.

The suits were filed in mid-February in the U.S. District Court Eastern District, Pennsylvania, according to Jack Crooks, chief executive officer of the council. The suits claim that actions taken by the defendants artificially raised mushroom prices in 2001.

Caribbean Sunrise available in steady volumes from Brooks Tropicals

After several years spent refining production, Brooks Tropicals now has steady volumes of Caribbean Sunrise papayas this year, and the company is optimistic that it will be able to capitalize on the rise in consumption of the fruit in the U.S. marketplace.

Mary Ostlund, director of marketing for the Homestead, FL-based firm, said that Caribbean Sunrise is a Solo papaya variety with many qualities that make it attractive to U.S. consumers. Chief among them are the manageable size and the flavor of the fruit.

In The Trenches: Regional organizations devoted to the needs of the industry

Industry organizations have been in existence for many years. These groups serve the purpose of promoting product, educating people and promoting good fellowship among members.

There are thousands of organizational groups from many worldwide industries. I'll bet you never heard of some of them. I am fascinated by some of their names: the Soap & Detergent Association, International Society of Explosive Engineers, Distilled Spirits Council and the National Association of Tower Erectors.

USDA announces new regulations for leaf lettuces

Relaxed grade standards for field-grown red and green leaf lettuce have been published by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service in the Federal Register and will go into effect March 23.

While this is the first time there have been grade standards for these field-grown items, previously USDA inspectors would grade the product against the tougher standards in place for greenhouse-grown red and green leaf lettuce.

Publix kicks off RFID pilot with three suppliers

Three produce suppliers began shipping radio frequency identification-tagged cases to Publix supermarkets last month in a pilot program that will test the web-based tracking system and involve nearly 300 stores across Florida.

"We're excited by the results so far," said Maria Brous, media and community relations director for Publix Super Markets Inc. We started reading RFID shipments in late January.

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