WASHINGTON -- State and federal health officials said that the recent E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak tied to fresh spinach was a fine example of quick detective work and good coordination among agencies despite concerns raised at a Senate hearing about the speed in which the public was notified of the outbreak. In the first congressional hearing on the matter, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's Robert Brackett said that federal officials learned more during this outbreak than all others combined, and that the internal response time was "as fast and as efficient as we could have possibly hoped."

John W. McDonald, 71, died Oct. 29 at his home in Salinas, CA. Mr. McDonald was the sole proprietor of Best West Trading in Salinas for the past two decades. Born in Hot Springs, AR, Mr. McDonald moved during World War II with his family to South San Francisco, CA, where his parents worked in the shipyards. Then the family moved to Salinas, and following graduation from Salinas High School in 1953, Mr. McDonald served in the U.S. Army. He began his career in produce delivering groceries at age 14 for local markets. While working for Purity Stores with Joe Carcione, "The Green Grocer," he

Cameo apple growers will harvest more than 1.25 million boxes this year, making the Cameo variety a key part of the apple category. "It is important to emphasize Cameo because it generates incremental category growth over the entire season, not just fall or spring," said Kevin Precht of the Cameo Apple Marketing Association, based in Wenatchee, WA. Mr. Precht said that 85 percent of the Cameo crop will be placed into controlled atmosphere storage this fall in order to deliver the highest-quality apples from January to July, which provides retailers an option beyond Southern Hemisphere-grown

Timco Worldwide Inc. issued a recall Nov. 14 for nine pallets of Mexican- grown cantaloupes because of the potential of Salmonella contamination, though the company said it was a precautionary move as no illnesses have been reported. Andrea McNees, a spokesperson for Timco, told The Produce News Nov. 15 that the Woodland, CA-based company had successfully traced both the destination and origin of each of the 504 cartons of "Sundia" brand cantaloupes involved in the recall. She said that the cartons had been distributed in four states -- Florida, Colorado, Arizona and Texas -- to a handful of

As the spinach crisis nears the two-month mark, retail sales continue to suffer and the produce industry continues to move ahead looking for the root cause of the original contamination and is trying to reduce the risk of something similar happening again. These were the salient points that came from a well-attended workshop session devoted to the crisis at the 81st annual meeting of Western Growers Association in Las Vegas Nov. 6 and 7. An overflow-crowd packed a large meeting room and listened to a familiar cast of characters discuss the issue once again. WGA President and Chief Executive

VISALIA, CA -- The effect of immigration reform (or the lack thereof) on the labor needs of California citrus growers was among several key issues facing the industry that were addressed at the California Citrus Mutual 29th annual meeting, here, Thursday, Nov. 2. The immigration issue has resulted in a labor shortage for the industry, and CCM is "exploring H2A programs to increase our labor supply," said CCM Chairman Philip LoBue of LoBue Bros. Inc. "We are working continually at the federal level to initiate true immigration reform that includes some type of guest worker program." But so far