FRESNO, CA -- The recent rash of news reports about food-related illnesses has motivated the food industry to intensify the already high level of attention being given to food safety practices and protocols. From growers to restaurateurs to retailers, people at every level of the produce supply chain have been taking a hard look at their practices -- and their documentation of those practices -- to be sure that all bases are covered.

Gerald (Wink) Edmonds, 63, who worked for Global Produce Sales in Winter Haven, FL, died of cancer Jan. 2 at Winter Haven's Bartow Regional Medical Center.

Mr. Edmonds was born Sept. 6, 1943, in Flint, MI. He moved to Florida in 1970. He had been working for Global Produce Sales in Lakeland since 1995. Prior to 1995 he sold citrus for Lake Wales C.G.A. in Lake Wales, FL.

WILMINGTON, DE -- Twenty million boxes of Chilean fruit will be received through the port of Wilmington this season, according to Thomas Keefer, the port's deputy executive director.

The port's Chilean deliveries come from the steamship line Pacific Seaways, which carries breakbulk, palletized fruit for a variety of exporters. Joining the Pacific Seaways shipping cooperative this year is Dole Deciduous, based in Philadelphia.

Pacific Seaways will bring about 200,000 pallets to Wilmington from Chile this season. This is 14,000 pallets more than a year ago.

WASHINGTON -- Two growers told stories of labor shortages in the fields and orchards at a Jan. 10 press conference that marked the beginning of the agricultural worker debate in the new Democrat-controlled Congress.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Larry Craig (R-ID) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) reintroduced the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits & Security Act Jan. 10. Reps. Chris Cannon (R-UT), Howard Berman (D-CA) and George Radanovich (R-CA) introduced the House companion bill the same day.

With no smoking gun, Taco Bell supplier Ready Pac Produce Inc. finds itself in an awkward position.

"We're trying to put the feathers back in the pillow that [the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention] and [the Food & Drug Administration] pulled out," said Steve Dickstein, marketing vice president for Ready Pac. "We're as dumbfounded as anybody."

Year-to-date shipments of California Navel oranges were running ahead of last season as of Jan. 2, even though the estimated 2006-07 crop is smaller than last year's bumper crop, according to Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual in Exeter, CA.

The 2005-06 California Navel orange crop came in heavier than expected at a whopping 91 million cartons. This season, as the Navel harvest got under way last fall, the California Agricultural Statistics Service estimated the 2006-07 crop to be about 27 percent lighter than that, or about 66 million cartons.