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.

Seald Sweet International, based in Vero Beach, FL, announced a major expansion of its West Coast operations through a partnership with Fresh Select, a new state-of-the-art packing and cold storage facility located in Dinuba, CA.

The agreement substantially increases Seald Sweet West’s overall volume and production capacity of domestic and imported fresh produce. Seald Sweet West’s sales offices will also relocate to the new facility, enabling the sales and production teams to operate within the same location.

The specialty produce category is nearly impossible to define. Its interpretation is based on a product’s uniqueness, difficulty in procuring, newness to the market, short growing season, limited growing region and other factors. The category includes the odd, peculiar or particularly interesting in shape, size, color or texture. One commonality is that specialty produce is typically more expensive than conventional products.