A party of eight representatives of the U.S. Potato Board returned Dec. 3 from a weeklong meeting in England with the British Potato Council. One of those traveling from the United States was Larry Alsum, owner of Alsum Produce Inc. in Friesland, WI, who is on the U.S. Potato Board's executive committee and is chairman of the board's research committee. Mr. Alsum said that the board's executive committee leaders met with representatives of the British Potato Council to discuss common issues and to tour British potato operations and supermarkets. While this was Mr. Alsum's first such business

WASHINGTON -- A new study by the Institute of Medicine is calling for sweeping new changes to counteract the insidious marketing of junk food that is influencing the nation's children to eat high-calorie, less-nutrition foods. This is an "all-hands-on-deck" issue, IOM Committee Chair J. Michael McGinnis said Dec. 6. "Parents have a central role in the turnaround required, but so do the food, beverage and restaurant industries." Food manufacturers and restaurants should direct more resources toward advertising healthier foods for kids and enforcing tougher marketing standards, said the study,

Building on its reputation as a recognized leader and global provider of produce, Los Angeles-based Giumarra has announced the addition of two new members to its berry division: Michael Caputo and Bruce Turner. "We are experiencing phenomenal growth within our berry division and believe these appointments signal great things to come from Giumarra," said Hillary Brick, vice president of marketing. "We continuously strive to make buying from Giumarra the best possible experience and know that customer support is vital to achieving our goal. We are confident that these new hires have the skills

Members of the National Onion Association had an opportunity to trade information on a variety of topics at the group's 92nd annual convention in Scottsdale, AZ. The conference concluded Dec. 3. NOA Executive Vice President Wayne Mininger said that a hot topic of discussion involved labor and U.S. immigration policy. The association is following developments at the congressional level, and Mr. Mininger expects those developments to have a significant effect on the onion- growing industry. "How will the U.S. government respond to labor issues? There are a lot of very strong opinions," he said

Charley Wolk is stepping down after 20 years of successful leadership as chairman of the California Avocado Commission's Nutrition Advisory Committee. His retirement comes after a distinguished tenure of service overseeing the committee responsible for scientific research into the health benefits of California avocados. His deep commitment to the committee educated millions of consumers about the California avocado's role in a healthy diet and dispelled common myths about the fruit, industry observers said. According to David Heber, director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition and chair of

Having outgrown its current facility, Baldor Specialty Foods, one of the larger importers and distributors of fresh produce in the Northeast, will be moving to a larger facility this coming spring. "We are forward-thinkers and we have spent the last two years knowing that we needed to move to a larger building as we outgrew ours," said Michael Muzyk, president of Baldor. The company and its 510 employees will move into the 185,000-square-foot facility, located on 12 acres of New York City-owned land in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, sometime within the next three to six months. Mr