WASHINGTON -- Federal disease officials advised at-risk consumers not to eat fresh Serrano or Jalapeno peppers in the latest development of an ongoing Salmonella outbreak that appears to have started with tainted tomatoes and now widened to peppers.

This is the largest foodborne outbreak linked to culture-confirmed cases to date and one of the larger Salmonella outbreaks, Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's food safety division said at a July 9 press briefing.

LOS ANGELES -- It is often said that the produce industry fares better in hard economic times than many other industries because people still have to eat.

But that is not to say that produce is immune to the effects of economic vicissitudes.

In fact, most of the shippers, wholesalers, repackers, distributors and brokers in the Los Angeles area with whom The Produce News has spoken in recent weeks say that they are feeling a slowdown in business and that most of their customers and suppliers are as well.

The first 2008 shipment of South African summer citrus arrived in the port of Philadelphia June 26.

The shipment aboard the container ship, Santa Adriana, totaled 1,340 tons of clementines and Navel oranges. It is the third of three container ships to arrive before larger breakbulk ships come to the United States from South Africa. The first two ships carried smaller container volumes with only clementines, according to a press release from the Western Cape Citrus Producers' Forum.

The Mexican Hass Avocado Exporters & Growers Association, more commonly known as APEAM, has elected its new president, Alejandro Alvarez del Toro, a grower who was the vice president on the outgoing board.

Having started in the new role July 1, Mr. Alvarez del Toro will be directing the association for the next two years.

WASHINGTON -- It would appear that Congress heard the cries from the suffering tomato industry, as a House of Representatives agriculture subcommittee has planned a July 15 hearing to investigate the federal government's handling of the tomato and spinach contamination outbreaks.

This comes after news that the federal government was expanding its outbreak investigation to other produce items commonly served with tomatoes.

A cooler loaded with about 30,000 cartons of tomatoes burned to the ground July 8 at Gonzales Packing Co. in Gonzales, CA, when a faulty generator sparked an electrical fire that quickly spread to the building.

Office Manager Melanie Horwath said July 9 that the fire was very large and temporarily resulted in the cessation of operations, but she said that the firm hoped to be up and running in a very short time. "We are going to have a crew in tomorrow cleaning things up, and then we'll see where we're at."