WASHINGTON — Facilities that handle certain commodities associated with past foodborne illness outbreaks should not be automatically deemed high risk under the Food & Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act, according to trade association representatives who testified at an FDA public meeting June 6.

As the sweet onion category continues to grow and mature, industry discussion has inevitably turned toward the question of whether a national sweet onion certification standard is necessary.

The discussion was sparked by Sweet Onion Trading Co. in Melbourne, FL, with its June 6 announcement of a company-wide 2011 Global Certification Initiative.

McCALL, ID — Jeret Peterson, a three-time Olympian and Silver Medalist in the men’s freestyle skiing event at Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympic Games, has signed on with the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee as 2011-12 spokesperson for the region’s famed Spanish Sweets.

HILLSDALE, NJ — The record for the largest crowd ever to attend a regular meeting of the Eastern Produce Council was set June 8, 2010. That record lasted exactly one day shy of a year when it was broken Tuesday evening, June 7 — by the same sponsoring groups.

A severe freeze earlier this year in northern Mexico caused extensive damage to tomatoes industry-wide and, for Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce, resulted in “the lowest volume of tomatoes in April that we have had in probably 10 to 15 years” according to Mark Munger, vice president of marketing for A&W.

In what is still an unpublished decision, a judge sided with growers and ordered the receiver in the Salyer American Fresh Foods case to pay the final PACA Trust claims.

The case arose in 2009, when Salinas, CA-based Salyer American was placed into receivership and closed its doors. Soon after, 16 PACA Trust claims were filed, with the receiver filing objections to all 16. Under the provisions of the PACA Trust, produce creditors essentially are first in line to get paid in the event of a bankruptcy or a company dissolution, as was the case with Salyer American.