BALTIMORE -- The convenience chain Sheetz Inc. said that its popular fruit cups have been a successful model for marketing fresh-cut products, but other fresh-cut offerings have been a disappointment.

In the retail sector, news abounds about club stores and super stores. Organics are also making headlines, whether it's the growth of Whole Foods or the expansion of that line in Wal-Mart.

Most of the news about traditional supermarkets tends to revolve around disappointing quarterly financial earnings or the sale of one chain or another. Some have argued that the traditional supermarket is a thing of the past.

NEW YORK - -The Florida Tomato Committee, headquartered in Maitland, FL, made a healthy statement on the morning of May 2 when it hosted the morning "Skipping breakfast is bad" event here at the Cornell Club. Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion, and Reggie Brown, manager, represented the committee, and they brought Steven Schwartz of Ohio State University.

PARLIER, CA -- As recently as two weeks earlier, it would have been hard to imagine that with all of the weather they had been through, California peach, nectarine and plum orchards could possibly set anything remotely close to a full crop this year.

CHICAGO -- United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association Chairman Nick Tompkins and International Fresh-cut Produce Association Chairman Mark Miller announced at the May 6 opening general session of the United Produce Show that their respective memberships have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the two organizations merging.

WILMINGTON, DE -- Chile's orange and grapefruit growers have completed their paperwork. Now, to export these products to the United States, they are simply awaiting for a final approval from the U.S. Department of Agricutlure's Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, according to Ron Bown, chairman and chief executive officer of the Chilean Exporters Associaiton in Santiago.