School foodservice directors and educators can take advantage of a tasty new kit offered by the Pear Bureau Northwest, which incorporates delicious Northwest pears into school meal planning classroom activities.

Joe Spano, vice president of sales for Mucci Farms, a leading producer of greenhouse vegetables in Leamington, ON, told The Produce News that Mucci is among the leading companies that owns and/or contracts greenhouse acreage in eastern Ontario.

DANA BYRD joined the sales team at Pismo-Ocean Vegetable Exchange, located in Ocean, CA. She was previously a sales representative in the wine and spirits industry for the past two years in Northern California.

In 1917, Frank Dandrea began operating a farm he named Dandrea Produce on 400 acres in Vineland, NJ. He produced peaches and leafy greens, and distributed what he grew to local retailers.

Steven Dandrea, a third-generation Dandrea family member and grandson of the founder, is now the vice president of Dandrea Produce and explained how the company evolved from a grower to the major Northeastern grower-distributor that it is today.

Genuine Walla Walla certified sweet onions are coming to local grocery stores, and Keystone Fruit Marketing Co. is preparing for the selling season by putting the final touches on its "Make Taste Interesting" campaign, which will highlight favorite summertime foods.

Papaya specialist HLB Specialties, based in Pompano Beach, FL, has started importing rambutan fruit from Guatemala. The first shipment arrived the last week of June and is being sampled in the Florida stores of a major national retailer.