FRANK MUELLER joined Hackensack, NJ-based Krass-Joseph Inc. on Sept. 10.

In his new position at Krass-Joseph, Mr. Mueller will be handling a full line of vegetables. The company specializes in vegetables from Canada, Mexico, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio. Mr. Mueller has been in the produce industry for a total of 25 years, most recently working for S. Katzman Produce, located at the Hunts Point Market in the Bronx, NY.

Attendees at this year’s Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit will have an opportunity to find out more about the all-American capabilities of Sev-Rend Corp. “The big theme we’ve carried this year is that all of our products — outside of wire — are made in the USA,” Vice President of Sales and Marketing Harrison Chien told The Produce News.

The management team at Nogales, AZ-based IPR Fresh spent its “off” season in “on” mode, among other activities developing a new strategic plan, brand positioning and image, according to a company press release.

The firm also moved to a new office location, where IPR Fresh President Jose Luis Obregon unveiled an energetic new logo with the tagline “freshness delivered.”

RIVERHEAD, NY — The increasingly popular microwavable potato category has a new option, courtesy of Fresh From The Start, a grower-shipper of a full line of produce, based here.

The new line, Fresh Sides, was launched earlier this year and is available in six SKUs, according to Dan Dubinsky, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Fresh From The Start. Those SKUs are reds, yellows, whites, russets, fingerlings and sweet potatoes.

Jupiter, FL-based Locus Traxx promises to help shippers keep an irrefutable eye on loads in transit, maintaining complete records of the journey of any shipment of produce via its proprietary monitoring systems.

However, the process sometimes has unintended benefits, according to John Hennessy, senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Turbana, the company representing the Colombian co-op of independent banana growers and the fourth-largest importer of bananas in the United States, has embraced the increasingly popular “farm-to-fork” concept by giving American consumers a chance to virtually meet the people who grow, harvest and ship their bananas via QR codes on the fruit.