At Rene Produce LLC in Nogales, AZ, “we have really taken food safety extremely seriously, because we want to make sure that our customers and the consumers feel comfortable with our products,” said Mark Cassius, vice president of sales and marketing. “We take a lot of pride in what we have done” and have always tried “to take a step ahead, before it became a requirement.”

Food safety is “always a concern,” and customers expect it, he said. But “we don’t necessarily have those conversations day-to-day” because people know that “we have taken a leadership role in the industry.”

With regard to traceability, Cassius said, “this was something that we really took on as a challenge even before it became commonplace.” There has been “a lot of discussion” about the Produce Traceability Initiative, but “we have been PTI compliant now for two years.”

In addition to being “100 percent PTI compliant,” Cassius said, “we are SQF Level 3 certified as well as Primus certified with regard to food safety.”

Cassius said that he feels confident going forward that everyone will continue to focus on those issues in the industry. “I think everybody takes it seriously,” he said, which is good, because the industry “needs to put people at ease when it comes to that.” Because everyone is taking it seriously, “hopefully we won’t have to have these uncomfortable issues in the future.”

The people at Rene Produce are “proud of the fact that we have a company that focuses on quality and food safety, not necessarily in that order,” said Cassius, who recently joined the company after nine years with EuroFresh in Wilcox, AZ. Prior to EuroFresh, he spent 10 years with Del Monte.

“I am happy to be working for Rene,” he told The Produce News. “I have had a long relationship with Rene Produce. We used to collaborate on some items that they grew for us and we helped distribute at EuroFresh, so I am very familiar with the company. Great family, great people and really great products.”

One of the best things about Rene Produce, Cassius said, “is we have been family owned for 50 years. We essentially sell what we grow. I think there is a sense of pride when you have your name on the box. It is a family pride thing. That is something that is important to us and our team.”

On sales, along with Cassius, are Director of Sales Jaime Hernandez Jr., Marco Moreno, Hurley Neer and Michael Stewart.

Neer is based in North Carolina. Rene Produce crosses some of its products through McAllen, TX, and Neer focuses “mostly on the McAllen imports for us,” Cassius said.

This will be the third year that Rene has crossed product at McAllen. “I think given the freight constraints we all have these days,” going through McAllen with some products “may be more of a reality for a lot of shippers, to try to offset some of the costs.”

Rene is one of the larger shippers in Nogales, Cassius noted. “I think we are one of the top three shippers, in terms of volume,” bringing products from Mexico into Nogales.

“We have some great signature items,” notably “our Roma tomatoes, our eggplants and our cucumbers,” he said.

In addition, “we have green bell peppers. We have red peppers and slicing cucumbers.”

New for the company this year will be Italian squash and gray squash. “That is something we are testing the waters on,” he said.

Also new this year will be tomatoes-on-the-vine.

The company ships some organic items in addition to its conventional line. That started three years ago with Euro cucumbers, Cassius said. “Last year, we brought some organic Romas into the mix. This year, we added organic TOVs.”

Rene expected to start Euro cucumbers this year about the first of December, and “our tomatoes will start in January,” he said. “The tomatoes and cucumbers are coming out of Sinaloa. That is where our family farms are.”

Overall, Cassius expects a similar volume to last year for the company. “We are focused on our customers,” he said. “We try to plant and produce what we think we can sell.”

Rene’s customers comprise “a lot of different people” throughout the United States and Canada, he said. “We have some good wholesale, broker and retail relationships.”