Baldor going 'local' over high fuel costs and to preserve quality
As the ever-rising cost of fuel stands to affect the fresh produce industry now and in the future, some industry members aren't waiting for the future to find ways to deal with or compensate for the problem. They're doing it today.
Baldor Specialty Foods, a Bronx, NY-based distributor of specialty foods including fresh produce, is known for cutting edge business innovations. The company's customer base includes a wide range of high-end retailers and foodservice operators in the Northeast.
Consumer Reports tells shoppers to buy certain organic produce, pass on others
WASHINGTON -- While a popular consumer magazine is telling shoppers to be discriminating when it comes to spending money on organic products, it singled out certain organic fruits and vegetables as worth the money in order to avoid chemicals found in the conventional counterparts.
This prompted the Produce Marketing Association to challenge the report as misleading and to defend the safety of all fresh fruits and vegetables.
USDA names 18 new members to industry advisory committee
WASHINGTON -- Eighteen new produce industry members have been tapped to help advise the U.S. Department of Agriculture on policy issues that can affect how produce companies do business.
The 25-member committee attempts to mirror the industry by naming grower-shippers, wholesalers, retailers, trade association members, importers, produce processors, foodservice suppliers, fresh-cut processors, brokers and state departments of agriculture.
Pro*Act names client services director
Pro*Act, a leading Monterey, CA-based fresh produce supplier to the foodservice industry, has appointed Nick Proia as regional director of client services.
USDA abandons canker plan
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture & Consumer Services Charles H. Bronson has received word from top U.S. Department of Agriculture officials that it no longer believes that it is possible to eradicate citrus canker.
Officials said that based on USDA's scientific analysis of the potential spread of the disease from the unprecedented 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, a new management plan must be devised.
Potandon-Murakami partnership to boost marketing opportunities
In a joint announcement made Jan. 2, Potandon Produce and Murakami Produce Co. said their new partnership is projected to strengthen the supply base of both companies and expand marketing opportunities.
Idaho Falls, ID-based Potandon is the exclusive marketer of "Green Giant Fresh" brand potatoes and onions in North America and for Sunspiced potatoes. The company occupies a position as market share leader in Idaho with over 35,000 dedicated acres and garners 10 percent of market share in the United States.
Friends become business partners as Prime Produce and H&H align
PLACENTIA, CA -- Prime Produce International LLC, here, a year-round supplier of domestic and imported avocados, announced that it has invested in the H&H Avocado Co. in Yorba Linda, CA, and will be marketing fruit packed by H&H in both the "H&H" and "Prime Produce" labels.
FTC kick starts national TV campaign
The photos in the television commercials soon to be aired on major cable networks will put Florida tomatoes in an enticing new light, and enticement is the precise goal of Florida tomato growers in a new national advertising campaign.
USApple Association's attention to promotional activities equaled by that on member issues
The U.S. Apple Association, headquartered in Vienna, VA, is compiled of 40 state and regional apple associations.
Its goal is to promote apples and apple products, and also to provide the means for all segments of the U.S. apple industry to join in appropriate collective efforts to profitably produce and market apples and apple products.
Those goals are accomplished through a number of promotion efforts on multiple fronts.
Bab? Farms offering organic specialty lettuces on trial basis
All 16 varieties of baby lettuce that comprise the gourmet salad mixes from Bab? Farms are now available with organic certification.
In a collaboration with organic lettuce grower Produce International Marketing in Salinas, CA, Bab? is meeting its club store customer orders with the entire current crop available to it at this time.
The organic salad blends will be sold and packaged under the established "Bab? Farms Spring Mix" brand with a green label in a one-pound clamshell package.