EDINBURG, TX - Frontera Produce Ltd. has announced its reinforced commitment to quality assurance by creating a dedicated division focused on food safety and security. Recent hire Betsy Klein will direct this new division.

As the quality assurance supervisor, Ms. Klein is responsible for all activities involving food safety and security for Frontera and its subsidiaries, including compliance with regulatory programs, government protocol and good manufacturing practices. In addition, Ms. Klein will drive to attain safe quality food certification for the company.

Vancouver-based marketer The Oppenheimer Group has welcomed two familiar faces back to its sales force.

Larry Hanson rejoined the company's Los Angeles sales team March 17. Additionally, David Cheung has returned to a sales role at the company's headquarters in Vancouver.

It has been just over a year since the first light brown apple moth, an invasive pest species native to New Zealand and Australia, was found in California. Since that first find in the San Francisco Bay area in February 2007, the moth has spread to 14 California counties.

While most of those counties are in Northern California, recent finds were made far to the south in Santa Barbara County. In all, some 17,000 moths have been trapped in the past year, and millions of dollars have been spent on ongoing efforts to suppress and eradicate the pest.

WASHINGTON -- University of Georgia researcher Mike Doyle said that his research is pointing to a new possible culprit in the contamination of fresh- cut produce: the coring knives used to cut and core lettuce in the fields during harvesting.

As co-president of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association Inc. Matt D'Arrigo has worked for a revitalized Hunts Point Terminal Market since 2000. In the process, he has seen more ups and downs than a West Virginia country road.

At this time, "all of our options are open to prepare for the future and compete as effectively as we can. One obvious possibility is creating a satellite market in New Jersey. There is quiet contact with New Jersey, which is an interested party in job development and industrial development."