Freska Produce International LLC, a leading marketer of mangos and avocados, has certified and begun to harvest and pack mangos in Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico. The first variety that will be harvested is Ataulfo (Honey) mangos. The company said this year’s crop looks to be very nice and has plentiful mangos currently available. Chiapas looks to start out with larger Ataulfos while Oaxaca will have more medium to smaller fruit. In about two to three weeks Freska will begin harvesting red mango Tommy Akins variety. With the opening of Mexican mango season, Freska will supply customers with both

The National Mango Board announced The Kroger Co. as its recipient of the 2022 Mango Retailer of the Year Award. Kroger has been selected from more than 100 retailers across the United States that work alongside the NMB in promoting the consumption of mango. Kroger and its family of companies has fundamentally changed its U.S. mango business model over the past several years and its willingness to identify mango as an opportunity item has allowed mangos to flourish, positively impacting the entire mango industry. The creation of a dual-sized program, carrying multiple mango varieties

The National Mango Board hired Angie Thomas as a retail consultant to serve West Coast markets. Thomas will work alongside retailers of all sizes to support marketing and merchandising of mango in store. Thomas brings with her a wealth of experience with over 15 years of strategic planning, sales management, data analytics and marketing experience within the produce industry. She has worked on both the retail and grower sides, including supply chain. Thomas comes to the National Mango Board from Oppy and Turners & Growers, where she managed North American sales planning and activation for Envy

With 20 years of experience directly importing mangos from South and Central America, one could certainly say that Mamaroneck, NY-based Panorama Produce Sales has mastered the art of mangos. “We specialize in mangos and we have an onsite inspector who inspects every pallet for quality, condition, pressure, Brix and internal color,” said Eric Nagelberg, who handles imports and sales for the company. Panorama Produce carries many different varieties of mango, including Tommy Atkins, Kent, Keitt, and Ataulfo, and is the second largest importer of Brazilian mangos, according to Nagelberg. “The

Continental Fresh, which specializes in tropical imports from Latin America to retail, foodservice and wholesale customers in the United States, is slowly winding down its successful Mexican mango program and gearing up to receive its first shipment of Brazilian mangos around the second week of September. “We’ve had an extremely successful Mexican mango season with over three million boxes of the Water For All label,” Miami-base Continental Fresh CEO Albert Perez told The Produce News in late August. “That label donates one penny per box to water projects in Latin America, which is a passion

The South American mango deal is under way with fruit from Brazil arriving in stores around mid- to end of September, followed by mangos from Ecuador toward the end of September/beginning of October and Peruvian mangos starting in November, according to the National Mango Board. “So far we have not heard anything that could indicate issues regarding quality, therefore the assumption is that the quality will be as usual —from good to very good,” said Rolff Vladimir Mitton, research manager for the Mango Board. As for the size, the Mango Board is expecting it will be mostly 9’s, 10’s and 12’s