Tomato sales rebound as scare wanes
Most of the major fast-food chains were starting to put sliced tomatoes back on their products by June 18, and Mexican tomatoes from FDA-approved areas in Baja California were being shipped again. It appears as if the tomato scare will not have the residual effect on consumers that the spinach crisis had two years ago.
Hail decimates New York apple crop
A devastating hailstorm that tore across New York state Monday, June 16, could reduce the state's apple crop by as much as 60 percent.
"The storm swept across western New York," Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association in Fishers, NY, told The Produce News. "It moved from east of Buffalo across the main fruit belt area and hit south of Syracuse and the Hudson Valley. It was like the storm had radar for apples."
FDA: one trackback on tomatoes complete to Mexico and Florida
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration indicated that one traceback in the foodborne illness outbreak linked to red round and Roma/plum tomatoes is complete to certain farms in both Mexico and Florida, but stressed that the contamination may not have occurred on the farm, according to a June 20 Issue Alert from the Produce Marketing Association.
FDA is sending investigators to Florida and Mexico to look at the entire distribution chain to determine where contamination might have occurred. FDA indicated it believes the tomatoes were contaminated at a single point.
Martori Farms adds to sales team
Scottsdale, AZ-based Martori Farms, a grower-shipper specializing in cantaloupe, watermelons and mixed melons, recently expanded its specialty melon program and added two industry veterans to its sales staff.
Exceptional quality, good volume, later start seen for San Joaquin Valley grapes
Table grape growers in the San Joaquin Valley generally are expecting their earliest varieties to start a week or more later this year than they did last year. Some call it "later than normal"; others say that last year was early and that this year is closer to normal. But with just a few exceptions, most growers who have grapes in early districts do not expect to start harvesting in any significant volume before the Fourth of July.
Almost without exception, growers are expecting good volume and good to exceptional quality.
Wheels turn for well-rounded Jazz Apple Cycling Team
If good things come in threes, then continued success is in store for ENZA's Jazz Apple Cycling Team as it speeds across North America on its third consecutive racing tour that started in May and runs through August.
Sun World removes interim tag from CEO
Six months after naming Allen Vangelos to the position of president and chief executive officer on an interim basis, the owners and board of directors of Sun World International LLC have made the appointment permanent.
The announcement was made in a June 12 press release following a nationwide search for a candidate to fill the position on a permanent basis. "Sun World's board and management team are delighted with Al's decision to accept the position on a permanent basis," board Chairman Christopher Parker said in the release.
High-end produce and service hallmarks of Killian's
YEADON, PA -- Specializing in serving high-ticket, high-quality specialty produce sales to white tablecloth restaurants in the Philadelphia area is the focus of Killian's Harvest Green Inc., which is headquartered in a red brick warehouse that was once part of the operations of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc., which is based in Montvale, NJ.
Riviera Produce revamps facility, ramps up for local deal
ENGLEWOOD, NJ -- After nine months of hard work, Riviera Produce has started moving product into its newly revamped 10,000-square-foot warehouse that features "green" technology.
Ben Friedman, founder and president of Riviera Produce, based here just across the Hudson River from New York City, gave The Produce News a tour of the warehouse, which is part of the firm's 30,000-square-foot facility, which is third-party audited and approved and HACCP-certified, June 10, a day after it started utilizing the space.
FDA and produce industry learning lessons from tomato crisis
WASHINGTON -- The Salmonella outbreak associated with fresh tomatoes is likely to cost the food industry more than the 2006 spinach recall, but this time the Food & Drug Administration is working with the produce industry to lessen the financial blow while it untangles the paperwork that will ultimately point to the source of the more 160 illnesses.