SYSCO Corp. has unveiled an innovative program to extend real-time food safety data to the non-"SYSCO" branded produce the company offers. SYSCO's self-imposed requirement, which has always been in place for "SYSCO" and "FreshPoint" branded products, should reassure customers that they are purchasing products only from growers and shippers that have implemented stringent food-safety and traceability processes.

Derek Burt has assumed the account responsibilities as Monterey Mushrooms' Dallas sales manager. In this capacity, he will be working with the firm's Madisonville, TX, production facility.

Mr. Burt comes to the Texas branch after a successful period as the sales merchandiser of Monterey Mushrooms' Princeton, IL, farm, where he worked with key accounts such as Hy-Vee, Jewel, Schnucks, Lunds and Byerlys. He was actively involved with the Park City Group and several category management projects.

WASHINGTON -- Marketing orders are not the way to regulate food safety, according to a staffer for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), who is expected to introduce his food-safety bill for the produce industry later this month.

Adela Ramos, a senior staff member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee, was one of the congressional aides who spoke on food- safety issues at the Sept. 13 Washington Public Policy Conference sponsored by the United Fresh Produce Association.

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns did not have good news to share about the prospects of attaching a guest worker reform bill to the 2007 farm bill or when Congress would next find the political fortitude to revisit the issue.

Kicking off the United Fresh Produce Association's annual Washington Public Policy Conference on Sept. 13, Secretary Johanns commented on plans to add AgJOBs to the Senate version of the farm bill as a measure to relieve the worsening labor crisis.

Very few people would argue with the desirability of buying locally grown produce in season. But there are those who object so strongly to transporting any foodstuff beyond a minimum arbitrary distance (most commonly 500 miles), mainly owing to the consumption of fossil fuels in transit, that for the sake of the environment, they urge people to eat nothing -- or next to nothing -- that has not been produced close to home.

NAPLES, FL -- What is the Food Network's newest star? Florida tomatoes. Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion for the Florida Tomato Committee, took the wraps off its newest marketing campaign during her presentation at the committee's organizational meeting, part of the 32nd Joint Tomato Conference held here at the Ritz-Carlton Naples.