Eddie Caram, general manager of New Limeco LLC in Princeton, FL, knows consumers are focused on food safety now more than ever. While consumer concerns about foodborne illnesses have grown in recent years, problems like the recent European E. coli and U.S. listeria outbreaks have only heightened that awareness.

Gary Wishnatzki

The company began as Wishnatzki and Nathel in 1922, then shifted to Wishnatzki Farms before a stroke of market

Scott Wilkins

Mark Bassetti, senior vice president for Duda Farm Fresh Foods, headquartered in Ovieda, FL, said on Nov.

Sixty years ago, Max Lipman founded Six L’s in Immokalee, FL, each of the L’s representing one of his three sons and three daughters. Today, the same family still owns the company, but with an eye on the future, it recently rebranded itself as Lipman.

In 1984, Willy Pardo started selling exotic and tropical produce from the back of his truck in Miami to neighbors who wanted items that were staples of their diets but not always easy to find in supermarkets.

A quarter-century later, W.P. Produce has grown into a full-line purveyor of tropical and exotic items headed by Mr. Pardo and his daughter, Vice President Desirée P. Morales.

The company has had great success as an importer of Dominican avocados and Hispanic specialties. Now, W.P. is branching out to cover another growing demographic group.