When tailgaters across the United States prepare for their next parking lot picnic, they may be thinking a lot more about adding a produce favorite to their usual burger, hot dog and salad fare. The Hass Avocado Board has pulled out its marketing playbook to create a game plan to encouraging consumers to include Hass avocados in tailgating events.

Hurricane Felix, which reached Category 5 status and slammed into the Nicaragua-Honduras border Sept. 4, was reduced to a fast-moving tropical storm over eastern Guatemala.

The storm broke up and lost strength as it hit the Honduran mountains, according to Martin Maldonado of Miami-based Team Produce International Inc.

Harry Morford, senior director of produce, procurement, merchandising and marketing for the Nash Finch Co. in Minneapolis, said that over 1,200 people attended the company's second annual Fall Food Show Aug. 20-22 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

"We operate in three regions of the country: the Midwest, Great Lakes and Southeast regions," said Mr. Morford. "We hold two shows in each region annually. This was our second, or fall show, for the selling season in the Midwest region."

Building on its success in the United Kingdom, Wild Rocket Foods soon will launch its first fresh produce-processing facility in the United States in Riverside, CA.

The company celebrated its upcoming fall launch on Wednesday, Aug. 29, with an event that included city officials.

Wild Rocket will supply whole produce, fresh-cut produce, fresh dips and salsas, plus freshly squeezed juices and lemonades, and it will have a mix of both conventionally and organically grown products.

City of Industry, CA-based Los Angeles Salad Co. recently recalled its "Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots" with sell-by date codes of Aug. 8, 2007, and Aug. 16, 2007, because the product may have been contaminated with the bacteria Shigella.

Shigella infection can cause diarrhea (which may be bloody), fever, nausea and vomiting. Illness usually lasts from four to 14 days. Infection can occur after eating and drinking food and water that is contaminated with Shigella, and can be passed from person to person.

MONT-TREMBLANT, QC -- Sobeys Inc., Canada's second-largest supermarket chain, recently went through a major shakeup in its produce division, both nationally and in Ontario.

Joseph Sbrocchi, Sobeys' national senior director of produce procurement, tendered his resignation Aug. 20, while two key staffers in its Ontario division, Stephen Rodrigues, its vice president of merchandising and replenishment for produce, floral and bulk, and Brian McDonald, its director of produce operations in Ontario, were let go within an hour of each other on Aug. 22.