WASHINGTON -- By the end of the month, the government will issue commodity-specific guidelines for tomatoes, melons and leafy greens - just one of several new food safety initiatives announced July 7 by the Obama administration. Top officials, including Vice President Joseph Biden, announced the findings of the Food Safety Working Group at a White House press conference. Created in March to advise President Obama, the group has been working on ways to improve food-safety regulation and coordination among the 13 agencies that regulate foods. "Instead of spending their time trying to get kids to

The sky is certainly the limit for Marcus Koornneef, both in the produce industry and in life in general. Mr. Koornneef, 23, currently handles sales and purchasing for Toronto-based Koornneef Produce Ltd., and even though he remembers being exposed to the produce industry since he was old enough to walk, he still wanted to try other occupations before committing to the trade. "Growing up with both my dad and uncle being partners in the business, I was going with dad to the market since I could walk," he said about the family business, run by his father, Fred, and Uncle Adrian, which since

BONITA SPRINGS, FL -- After a decade of bad news, the beleaguered Florida citrus industry finally had cause for celebration at its annual conference held here June 24-26. Research spearheaded by Tim Gottwald, a Florida-based plant pathologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, found that the virulent canker that has plagued Florida citrus for the past decade is not transmissible by blemished fruit, and the USDA has recommended the shipment of citrus from Florida groves be allowed to resume without restriction. The USDA published the proposed change June 30

Experts called the bankruptcy sale of two SK Foods processing plants a tremendous bargain June 26 when the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento, CA, approved an Asian company's offer of $39 million. The sale is a great relief to scores of processing tomato growers, who planted thousands of acres of tomatoes on contract with SK Foods before the bankruptcy filing took place in late spring. The new owner, Olam International in Singapore and its subsidiary Olam Tomato Processors Inc., will honor the vast majority of the contracts. However, it was not clear how many other contracts will be honored

Giumarra Cos. has entered into a new partnership with Campo Pablo Borquez S.A. de C.V. to market asparagus in North America. Campo Pablo Borquez has been growing green asparagus in Caborca in the northwest part of the state of Sonora, Mexico, since 1988. In 1999, it opened a new production facility in the Yaqui Valley near Obregon City, located south of Sonora. "I have known Pablo Borquez and his father for 30 years. I have the greatest respect for them and I believe this is a wonderful opportunity for our two companies who know one another well to combine our growing and marketing expertise

On June 26, a vessel arrived at the port of Long Beach, CA, bearing Florida- based DNE World Fruit Sales' first shipment of this season's Australian Navels. Stu Monaghan, DNE's national sales manager, said that the cargo "passed with flying colors. The fruit has great color, it eats very well, Brix ratios are right there in the low 11s, so we started off with really great-tasting fruit and no quality issues whatsoever. It's typical of an Australian start: always strong, always high color, very good tasting." He added, "We had very, very good quality last year, so in terms of quality, it's