ANAHEIM, CA -- A pioneer in U.S. fresh produce importing earned two recognitions for his contributions to the international produce trade business at an industry reception Oct. 4.

Jack V. Pandol Sr. will receive Chile's highest presidential award, and was also recognized by Chilean and U.S. fresh fruit industry organizations. The awards were announced at Produce Marketing Association's annual International Partners Reception at the 2009 Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition, held here Oct. 2-5.

Rio Rico, AZ-based Divine Flavor LLC is marketing its own vegetables. The company perhaps is best known as a grower-shipper of greenhouse products and various tomatoes, zucchini squash and table grapes.

Divine Flavor's greenhouse products include cucumbers and grape tomatoes. The company provides the green table grape varieties Sugraones and Perlettes and the red table grape varieties Crimson and Red Flames from its grower operations in Hermosillo in the state of Sonora, Mexico. The company also grows product in northern Baja California in Mexico.

Frontera Produce Ltd., a vertically integrated grower, packer and shipper of fresh produce headquartered in Edinburg, TX, announced in a Sept. 28 press release that the company plans to invest in a consumer-focused marketing approach in the fourth quarter of 2009 and throughout 2010.

The announcement followed the launch of the company's recent addition to its marketing arsenal, a newly designed trailer featuring the company's latest consumer-focused message: "Growing the food your family loves to eat."

Over the past month, at four different locations across the country, pallet industry representatives, as well as others, have been discussing proposals related to the regulation of wood packaging materials, including pallets that move in interstate commerce in the United States.

Only about 14 percent of U.S. adults and less than 10 percent of teenagers are consuming at least two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables on a daily basis, according to a new report just released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Heidi Blanck, a CDC senior scientist and lead author of the State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables 2009, agreed that this report reflected "dismal data."

WASHINGTON  Ten buyers sent a message last month that they are expecting their produce suppliers to meet the first three milestones in the Produce Traceability Initiative and be able to electronically track produce throughout the supply chain by 2012.