The California cantaloupe industry has developed a new quality-assurance program it hopes will further distance the state's melons from the food safety problems that have plagued Mexican melons in the past.

Beginning July 1, produce companies that hire third-party auditors can tap a new service that allows managers, for the first time, to log on to a secure web site and view the corrective actions that need fixing, along with the employee responsible for the task.

Traditionally, a client who contracts with an auditing firm receives a bulky report with a numerical score on the top sheet, explained Karey Gilmore, spokesman for St. Louis-based ASI Food Safety Consultants Inc.

With its entry into the Texas citrus industry, Seald-Sweet International is continuing its effort to be the world's leader in the citrus industry.

If a customer defines a product as being in its citrus category, the Florida-based firm wants to be the provider of that product, no matter where the customer is and no matter where the product originates. "And more than that," said Seald-Sweet Senior Vice President David Mixon, it is not enough that we just supply it, we want to be the expert in that product.

It burst on the scene a half-dozen years ago promising a changed new world where all transactions would be done electronically, and just one touch of the keyboard would create the order, the invoice, the bill of lading and everything else associated with that transaction.

While its bark proved to be much bigger than its bite, today e-commerce is a routine part of the produce industry with many transactions being instigated and finalized electronically.

SALINAS, CA  Bruce Church, Russ Merrill, Gene Harden and Bud Antle will be the first inductees into the National Steinbeck Center's new Valley of the World Hall of Fame, complementing the Valley of the World Agricultural Wing and the innovative educational programs of the National Steinbeck Center, here.

Sun World International LLC, headquartered in Bakersfield, CA, has named three distributors as licensed marketers of its new stone fruit lines.

South Africa's Capespan Exports (Pty) Ltd. and Green Marketing International (Pty) Ltd, and Chiles Gesex S.A. are now eligible to export the new plum, apricot, peach and nectarine varieties grown by licensed Sun World producers, Sun World Senior Vice President David Marguleas announced May 24.