The tomato category has been growing ever since the Incas first cultivated them back in 700 A.D. Today, tomatoes are a major sales contributor to the supermarket produce department.

It wasn’t until the 1980s that tomatoes began to show some new spark. By the mid-1990s, tomato varieties were continuing to help expand the category by reaching new sales-volume heights.

As tomatoes experienced steady growth, new varieties were constantly being offered and placed on the market to retailers. Diverse packaging also helped boost tomato sales immensely.

The winners of the first Mango Mania Display Contest have been announced by the National Mango Board. Participating stores competed for $10,000 in prizes and reported a collective 1,095 percent increase in mango volume compared to the same period in 2010. The contest was open to retailers with up to 50 stores.

Weather

Daytime temperatures in Salinas, CA, will briefly remain in the mid-70s through Sept. 23 then fade into the upper 60s to low 70s through September 27. Overnight lows will range in the low to mid-50s. Patchy morning fog and sunny afternoons will continue through Sept. 27.

In Mendota, CA, Daytime temperatures will briefly remain in the mid- to upper 90s through Sept. 24 then drop into the upper 80s by Sept. 26. Overnight lows will drop from the mid-60s to upper 50s beginning Sept. 24.

Demand

Produce industry veteran Rick Eastes joined Seald Sweet International’s team Sept. 19 as general manger of its West Coast sales and marketing operations.

This move follows the earlier announcement of its major West Coast expansion opportunity and partnership with Fresh Select LLC, located in Dinuba CA.

Yerington, NV-based Peri & Sons Farms will for the third year support the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s efforts to heighten awareness of breast cancer through education, prevention and screening.

With the launch this fall of new packaging that features NBCF information, Peri & Sons provides customers

WASHINGTON — U.S. Food & Drug Administration investigators say they have found Listeria on cantaloupe grown by Jensen Farms and sold in a Denver-area store and on samples taken from the farm’s packing
equipment.

Tests confirmed that the Listeria monocytogenes found in the samples match one of the three different strains of Listeria monocytogenes associated with the multi-state outbreak of listeriosis, the FDA announced Sept. 19.