There is no stopping the growth of the sweet onion category. And Matt Curry, president of Curry & Co. in Brooks, OR, said Peruvian sweet onions are a critical part of the company’s year-round sweet onion program. “Peruvian onions remain an important part of it,” he said Aug. 8. “Many consumers and retailers consider Peruvian sweet onions to be the closest onion to the ever-popular Vidalia onion. It has the same shape and is very similar in color as well.

Liberty Fruit Co. Inc. in Kansas City, MO, is a full service produce distributor providing delivery services to foodservice, retail and wholesale customers across an eight state area in the Midwest.

“We did over 4.5 million miles last year in transportation miles,” said Scott Danner, chief operating officer, in an interview with The Produce News July 22.

With the start of the 2012-13 pear season only weeks away, the Pear Bureau Northwest in Milwaukie, OR, is already excited about crop prospects and export opportunities. “We’re coming off a great export year,” International Marketing Director Jeff Correa told The Produce News July 23. “We’re on pace for a record year with volume and size.”

Although Washington’s apple producers expect the 2012 statewide volume to be down this season due to a recent hailstorm, CM Holtzinger Fruit Co. anticipates a 30-percent increase in its available apple inventory for the coming season.

The company is headquartered in Yakima, WA, and is a packer-shipper-marketer of quality fruit from the Evergreen State. The company’s field staff has been increased and its grower network has expanded to move increasing amounts of fruit into the pipeline.

WASHINGTON — Health officials have yet to name the southwestern Indiana farm that is being investigated as a likely source of a deadly Salmonella outbreak tied to cantaloupe.

On Aug. 17, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 141 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 20 states. Two deaths were reported from Kentucky, a state hard-hit by the outbreak. Illnesses began to appear July 7 to August 4 and 31 patients have been hospitalized.

Organic grower Wholesum Harvest announced that the company has extended the deadline for its Grow With Us Sweepstakes to Sept. 30. The sweepstakes, which began April 1, requires contestants to “like” Wholesum Harvest’s Facebook page and fill out a registration form to qualify. The more “likes” the company receives, the more prizes it will award.