HOUSTON -- Although it's been 14 years in the making, Sun World's new grape variety is paying dividends, and company executives believe they have hit a home run with the new Scarlotta seedless variety.

The late-season variety produced 250,000 cartons this year and there are expectations for volume to increase for the next several years until it surpasses the 1 million-carton level. Increases after that will depend upon how many new acres are planted. Like other grape varieties, it takes three years from first planting to produce a commercial crop.

Although the f.o.b. prices for Iceberg lettuce that surpassed $35 in mid- October dropped considerably the third week of the month, the lettuce market remains strong, and experts said that the current conditions should hold for at least the next several weeks.

Speedy97 S.r.l., headquartered in Scordia in the province of Catania, Sicily, is a major grower and packer of high-quality Sicilian citrus fruits. Sebastiano Spicchiale, president and chief executive officer, Rudolf Baron Von Freyberg, partner and vice president, and Giuseppe Spicchiale, junior partner, attended their first PMA Fresh Summit in Houston in October. Initially not certain of what they would learn about doing business in the United States, they came away from the PMA experience inspired by future possibilities.

Pro*Act, a leading fresh produce supplier to the foodservice industry based in Monterey, CA, announced the promotion of Max Yeater to the newly created position of chief operating officer.

Mr. Yeater previously held the position of vice president of procurement. In his new role, Mr. Yeater will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company with procurement, client services, marketing, business development and food safety all under his purview. He reports to Steve Grinstead, president and chief executive officer of Pro*Act.

An initiative that started in early 2006 as a project among the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, the Canadian Horticultural Council and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association to promote food safety by establishing comparability of Canadian industry-led food-safety programs at the primary production and packer-wholesaler levels of the supply chain with those in place in other countries has resulted in a detailed, 125-page comparison report on 15 non-Canadian programs from around the world.

HOUSTON -- It's an innovation that may just set the produce industry on its ear.

AAAbco LLC, the marketing arm of Feasterville, PA-based seed company Abbott & Cobb, unveiled its new microwaveable, easy-open single ear of premium corn at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit, held here Oct. 12-15.