PHILADELPHIA -- Seald Sweet International LLC in Vero Beach, FL, began selling Brazilian grapes in December, which is a new venture for the traditionally citrus-focused operation.

"Seald Sweet," of course, is among the older and more established Florida citrus brands. It did not seem to be a huge leap in the last decade when Seald Sweet moved to marketing citrus from other countries and other states. Such progress was greatly bolstered two years ago when Uni-Veg Group in Sint- Katelijne-Waver, Belgium, became the majority owner of Seald Sweet.

Twin Garden Sales Inc. is expecting its first shipment of lemons from Turkey the second week in January, and if all goes as planned, additional lemons will be available on a consistent basis through the spring.

The first shipment of 2,000 boxes was expected to arrive Monday, Jan. 8, at Port Elizabeth, NJ, Jack Lambke of the Harvard, IL-based company told The Produce News Wednesday, Jan. 3. The lemons will then be trucked from Port Elizabeth to Procacci Bros. Sales Corp. in Philadelphia, where they will be stored until they are ready for delivery.

DENVILLE, NJ -- Every company likes its employees to add depth to the organization as it strives to better serve its customers. In the case of Johnson Associated Fruit Co. Inc., that depth has been supplied most recently by Gregg Johnson and Kevin Johnson, the two sons of company President Bob Johnson.

The produce brokerage company, founded by Bob Johnson in 1992 and headquartered here, buys f.o.b. from all over the country. Its customers are primarily wholesalers and small retailers in the Northeast.

GREEN BAY, WI -- As the new year begins, a healthy, flavorful vegetable is making a comeback to grocery store produce departments, and a new web site is providing meal planners with everything they need to know when adding spinach to the menu.

Oxnard, CA-based Mission Produce Inc. recently announced its entry into the fresh asparagus industry with its agreement to purchase the assets of Salinas, CA-based Lee Pacific LLC.

The purchase includes a California and Mexican program that will strengthen Mission's strategic relationship with a Peruvian company with which Mission works in avocados to enable a year-round fresh asparagus program, said Steve Barnard, president and chief executive officer of Mission Produce.

Dozens of new seedless grapes as well as fresh plums, apricots and peaches -- bred by California fruit researchers -- will soon be more readily available to growers and marketers throughout Europe.

In an effort to expand its new fruit variety development and licensing programs, Sun World International LLC has established Sun World Europe, according to Sun World Senior Vice President David Marguleas.

The office will be based in Cesena, Italy, within the important fruit-growing region of Emilia-Romagna.