WILMINGTON, DE -- A record crowd exceeding 200 people attended the fifth annual Taste of Chile dinner on April 28, here. The evening's primary topic of discussion among the members of the host Chilean & American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia was the 8.8 magnitude earthquake, which struck Chile on Feb. 27. Andrés Montecinos, the Philadelphia-based U.S. East Coast representative of the reefer division of CSAV/SudAmericana de Vapores, told The Produce News that the earthquake caused Valparaiso’s primary pier for fruit exports to drop three feet. He said that rapid improvisations

At the upcoming Canadian Produce Marketing Association convention in Vancouver, BC, Ocean Mist Farms, based in Castroville, CA, will unveil a redesign of its bilingual packaging for all fresh vegetable commodities the company grows and ships. The features of the new bilingual packaging design, which will be on display during the CPMA exposition, are based on consumer research and input from retail partners, according to Kori Tuggle, marketing manager for Ocean Mist. "We focused on three areas of improvement with the new packaging design: product visibility, nutrition information and consistent

On May 5, H.E. Butt Grocery Co., the well-known San Antonio, TX-based regional retailer, is slated to open its first Joe V's Smart Shop, billed as a discount supermarket. The first store will open in Houston, and press reports indicate that it has a warehouse look. H.E.B. executives did not return phone calls or e-mails from The Produce News by press time, but they have been quoted in the Texas consumer press about the new format. The stores will be smaller than conventional H.E.B. locations, and H.E.B. is considered one of the top retailers in its marketplace. Instead of more than 30,000 SKUs

Temkin International and Chrysal USA have teamed up to produce a floral sleeve with a slow-release preservative patch for fresh-cut flowers. "I think this will be a real game-changer," Noam Temkin, vice president of sales and marketing at Temkin, said in an April 21 phone interview. "It's innovative, and the industry needs something new right now. We're trying it out on a small scale with growers, bouquet-makers and supermarkets, and getting a good response. We want to slowly trickle into selling this product." Temkin, the floral packaging manufacturer located in Payson, UT, will debut

Frederick Scott Salyer, who was the owner and chief executive officer of SK Foods as well as the owner of many related enterprises, including Salinas, CA-based Salyer American Fresh Foods, a grower-shipper of vegetables, was hit with additional criminal charges in late April. Mr. Salyer, who was commonly referred to as Scott Salyer and is the son of the founder of the Salyer agricultural conglomerate, was indicted in February on two counts of racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. He was charged with being involved in various schemes to defraud SK Foods'

LAS VEGAS, NV -- After nearly a year in development in close consultation with experienced package designers and several key retail customers, and after evaluating dozens of concepts, Pandol. Bros. Inc. in Delano, CA, is close to launching a truly innovative consumer packaging concept for fresh grapes -- a type of packaging that "has never been seen or used before in produce," according to Tristan Kieva, director of business development and marketing. The new packaging was being test marketed but was still about a month away from an official announcement and a nationwide launch when Ms. Kieva