Produce and floral retail industry veteran Anthony Barbieri will join the Produce Marketing Association staff in June as vice president of sales and business development.

The Canadian Produce Marketing Association's 85th annual convention and trade show will be held May 12-14 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. "Today, our annual convention and trade show attracts approximately 2,700 delegates and over 240 exhibitors from Canada, the United States, Mexico and many other countries," said Adrian Abbott, CPMA's 2009-10 chairman of the board. "This growth represents the confidence of the trade and recognition of the value that CPMA brings to its membership."

WASHINGTON - Food & Drug Administration investigators have traced Romaine lettuce grown in the Yuma, AZ, region to an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 19 people in three states, Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner of foods for FDA, said at a May 6 congressional hearing.

The first case of E. coli poisoning was reported April 6, but it took until May 5 when the New York state Public Health Laboratory in Albany found a positive sample of E. coli O145 in a bag of Freshway Foods shredded Romaine lettuce to track down the possible source of the outbreak, said Mr. Taylor.

Rain at or just prior to harvest time can devastate cherries by causing the fruit to split. But in spite of an unusually wet spring in California's San Joaquin Valley, most of the early cherry varieties in the valley escaped serious damage due to a happy coincidence: the spring weather in the valley has been unseasonably cool as well as uncharacteristically rainy. The cool temperatures have delayed the maturity of the crop, so most of the cherries that saw rain were still too small and too green for the rain to do much damage.

Glory Foods Inc., a Columbus, OH-based privately held company that produces Southern-style products including canned vegetables, frozen entrées and fresh-cut bagged vegetables, has been purchased by McCall Farms Inc. in Effingham, SC. The purchase, for an undisclosed price, was finalized in December but was announced publicly May 3. McCall Farms had served as Glory Foods' contract packager for its first 10 years in business.

Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, a Leamington, ON-based member organization that lobbies, conducts research and promotes for Ontario greenhouse vegetable growers, is looking to connect its products with the locally grown concept via a new consumer initiative.

George Gilvesy, general manager of the organization, told The Produce News that its new locally grown program, known as "Oh-So-Local" and with the tagline “Request Ontario Greenhouse Freshness,” launched April 30 and will focus on greenhouse-produced vegetables.