A new, lower-cost "Snoopy" watermelon bin will be exhibited at this month's National Watermelon Association convention in Charleston, SC. Dan Hinkle, the owner of Hinkle Produce, based in Cissna Park, IL, which owns the license to brand all nuts, fruit and vegetables with Peanuts characters, said that the product costs the same as any other printed bin. Previously Hinkle Produce sold a preprinted bin "which made it cost a little more," he said. The new bin is a direct-print two-color (red and green) on white. International Paper, headquartered in Memphis, TN, produces the bins, and first

Fruit Logistica 2009 underlined its role as a leading global trade event for the fresh produce industry as exhibitors and trade visitors alike praised the international character of the event and the fact that it attracted a large number of top decision makers, according to the organizer of the event, which was held Feb. 4-6 in Berlin. Emphasis was also placed on the excellent contacts with wholesalers and retailers, fruit and vegetable growers, importers and exporters. Fruit Logistica 2009 attracted 50,000 trade visitors from 125 countries. The share of trade visitors from abroad rose to 78

Garry Rowe recently joined the sales team at Vero Beach, FL-based Seald Sweet International. Mr. Rowe will specialize primarily in deciduous commodity sales but will also offer Seald Sweet's fresh citrus and other fresh produce commodities. He will be based at Seald Sweet's Swedesboro, NJ, office. Formerly with C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Mr. Rowe brings more than 17 years of experience in produce sales, transportation, marketing and new business development to Seald Sweet.

According to Cherie Watte Angulo, executive director of the California Asparagus Commission in Stockton, CA, the past decade has been a period of adjustment for the state's asparagus industry. "Our supply is in line with demand during our season," Ms. Angulo told The Produce News Feb. 2. "Mexico has increased acreage in the last few years." California is in line with supply and demand not only in the United States but overseas as well, Ms. Angulo said. "California still has intrinsic value beyond supply and demand," she said, adding that the state's standards of production and food safety are

At two public meetings held during the last week of January, avocado growers vented their anger at the California Avocado Commission as a result of a recent audit that revealed questionable, perhaps fraudulent, use of commission funds. (See The Produce News, Jan. 19, 2009, page 1.) The California Department of Food & Agriculture audit was released in mid- January, and the findings have been the subject of much scorn from both inside and outside the industry. The lavish spending that was detailed in the audit has been covered in numerous media reports and parodied on late- night talk shows. The

WASHINGTON -- What does a peanut butter plant in Georgia have in common with fruit and vegetable producers? Not much until the peanut butter plant becomes the focus of one of the larger food recalls in history and fuels calls for new legislation to tighten food-safety regulations for the entire food industry. At least 550 people in 43 states and Canada have been infected with Salmonella Typhimurium, and at least eight deaths may be attributed to the outbreak, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. More than 800 products made with peanut butter, peanut paste and other