The United Farm Workers union filed a complaint March 13 with the U.S. Department of Labor on behalf of 16 employees laid off by Tanimura & Antle.

The complaint alleges that Spreckels, CA-based T&A did not follow the rules when hiring temporary guest workers under the federal H-2A program. According to Armando Elenes, UFW's external organizing director, the laid- off workers -- all from the Tres Picos area near Huron, CA -- claim that at the same time T&A laid them off, the company was hiring workers under the H-2A program.

Santa Maria, CA-based Bonipak Produce Co. has hired Joe Leonard as chief executive officer.

Mr. Leonard officially began in his new position March 1, though he has been a consultant to Bonipak since near the end of 2007, according to Mitch Ardantz, Bonipak's vice president of sales and marketing.

On the one hand, proponents of reusable plastic containers for the produce industry have to be happy with the close to 50 percent growth over the past several years. On the other hand, RPCs still only account for 7-8 percent of the market, which is difficult to fathom if you believe the advantages touted by those same proponents.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Food & Drug Administration issued an import alert March 22 regarding entry of cantaloupe from Agropecuaria Montelibano, a Honduran grower and packer, because, based on current information, fruit from this company appears to be associated with a Salmonella Litchfield outbreak in the United States and Canada.

The import alert advises FDA field offices that all cantaloupes shipped to the United States by this company are to be detained.

VIDALIA, GA -- The Vidalia Onion Committee will be promoting Georgia's famous sweet onions this year on several fronts.

A massive fire the afternoon of March 13 completely gutted the 40,000- square-foot facility of Golden Valley Specialty Mushrooms Ltd., one of North America's larger growers of organic specialty mushrooms in Pitt Meadows, BC, about 25 miles east of Vancouver.