GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ " Belatedly, the 2005 South African grape deal was scheduled to begin in the United States on Feb. 24. Meeting with The Produce News Feb. 23 in a new location for Fisher Capespan in a historic old port white stucco office building, here, company President Marc Solomon said that a variety of factors postponed the South African grape exports to the United States. Mr. Solomon said that the South African grape crop was down in volume by about 20 percent this year. The short supply, combined with a more desirable exchange rate in Europe, prompted South African shippers to route

BALTIMORE " Jan. 11, 2005, marked the 21st anniversary of Da Mimmo, a well-known Italian restaurant, celebrity hotspot and favorite neighborhood hangout in this city's Little Italy section. And if you think one restaurant could not hold all those roles at the same time, you haven?t been to Da Mimmo. Baltimore?s Little Italy is a 12-block enclave nestled between the Inner Harbor and Fell?s Point. Italians began emigrating to the area in the mid-19th century. Today the neighborhood is home to numerous Italian restaurants and to several ethnic festivals which are hosted by area businesses during

The Environmental Protection Agency has set a reference dose for perchlorate, a chemical that has been found in lettuce, milk and now in breast milk. The new safe dose, which translates into 24.5 parts per billion in drinking water, is what the National Academy of Sciences recommended in January, a dramatic change from what the EPA had originally proposed. The EPA issued a preliminary recommendation two years ago for an exposure level of one ppb, a level the Pentagon attacked as too restrictive. Some state authorities have been urging defense contractors to pay for the cleanup of the rocket

The California Tree Fruit Agreement in Reedley announced a new partnership with the California Pear Advisory Board to share its retail sales representatives for the 2005 season. ?This is another step in our continuing effort to provide value to the industry," said CTFA President Blair Richardson. "We have been adjusting our resources during the past few years to provide increasing structure in our sales effort based on new data-collection systems for chain-specific programs. We believe the model that CPAB has employed during the past several years is very much in tune with our industry needs."

Except for a couple of light rain storms expected five to seven days out, a near-record onslaught of rainy weather in Southern California showed promise of coming to an end as what growers hoped would be the last major storms of the season moved out of the state on Tuesday, Feb. 22. The latest series of storms dumped another eight to 11 inches of water on already soggy soil, causing additional damage to various crops and disrupting both planting and harvesting schedules and bringing rainfall totals year-to-date close to a record. Strawberries in Oxnard and other Southern California districts

Growers Express LLC in Salinas, CA, has appointed Victor Feuerstein to the newly created positions of vice president of finance and chief financial officer, effective Feb. 16. In his new role at Growers Express, Mr. Feuerstein will oversee all financial, accounting and budgeting operations. He will report to Growers Express President Randolph Breschini. ?With our planned growth and goal of becoming one of the industry's premier produce companies, the addition of Victor Feuerstein, with his extensive financial knowledge, will greatly strengthen our overall management team and increase our