HOUSTON -- Packaging in fresh produce aisles can easily be overlooked since the majority of consumers buy 15 percent or less of their produce in packages, and a panel convened, here, at the PMA Fresh Summit, suggested that retailers may want to look at their produce department with a fresh set of eyes.

Ron McCormick, vice president and divisional merchandise manager of produce and floral for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., who moderated the discussion, said that primary packaging -- what the consumer takes home -- is what the industry understands the least.

Fresh Express announced Oct. 16 that it had acquired privately held Verdelli Farms, one of the top regional processors of value-added salads, vegetables and fruit snacks on the East Coast.

HOUSTON -- "Are we listening to consumer trends?" The industry's answer to that question is critical to its future success, according to Brian Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, based in Newark, DE.

In his state-of-the-industry address delivered at the Oct. 13 breakfast general session during the PMA Fresh Summit International Convention, here, Mr. Silbermann emphasized the importance of focusing on basics, noting that "the first and perhaps most important basic rule is to listen to consumers."

HOUSTON -- Don Harris, who has served as the top produce executive at Wild Oats for the past five years, did not survive as the melding of the chain into Whole Foods was completed.

"I am happy that everyone on my team found positions with Whole Foods or with the Smart & Final aspect of the deal," he told The Produce News during the recent Produce Marketing Association annual convention. "But at the end of the day, there just wasn't a spot for me." He confirmed Oct. 13 "that as of midnight last night, I am out of a job and looking for another one."

HOUSTON -- In the quality vs. quantity equation, the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit International Convention and Exposition, held Oct. 12-15, appears to have won where it really counts: drawing the right people to Houston and the right foot traffic to the exhibition booths.

A random sampling of exhibitors indicated that the flow of foot traffic was down from last year and perhaps from some other recent years as well, but the quality of that traffic held up well.

Most experts who track sales of a product after a food-safety scare, expected sales of fresh spinach to rebound within six months of last year's E. coli outbreak linked to fresh spinach.

But about a year later, sales are still down by 16-18 percent, and while there are signs that recovery continues, it is happening at a slow pace.