Giumarra's Nogales division is now offering two new melon varieties shipped under its "Nature's Partner" brand. The varieties are the Summer Sweet cantaloupe and Sweet Pearl personal seedless watermelon. "The melons are coming from our new crops in Hermosillo and Guaymas Sonora," Giumarra Nogales Sales Manager Nick Rendon said in a Nov. 18 press release. "Our crops look outstanding, as does the fruit. Volumes are ample right now and will be increasing." The Summer Sweet variety is a Tuscan-style cantaloupe that has high pressure and sugar when initially harvested, which is great for processing

ST.-LEONARD, QC -- A new partnership between Pommes Ma-gic and Aliments Martel will see the former's sliced apples being distributed at gasoline station convenience stores across eastern Canada. Sebastien Alix, Pommes Ma-gic's general manager, told The Produce News about the new partnership at the Quebec Produce Marketing Association's Oyster Party, held here Nov. 7 at Le Rizz. Since it opened in 1998, Pommes Ma-gic has grown to become one of the larger operations of its kind in Canada with its sliced apples currently distributed at retail locations across the country. Mr. Alix said that his

The Center for Produce Safety hopes that $500,000 in new research will help the produce industry gain a better understanding of ways to prevent contamination during production. The California-based center was launched in response to the 2006 E. coli outbreak and funded with $2 million from the Produce Marketing Association and another $2 million from Taylor Farms. The California Department of Food & Agriculture and the University of California also pledged financial resources for the center, which is housed at the University of California-Davis. Over the last year, a Technical Committee polled

Nunhems, the vegetable seed business of Bayer CropScience, announced plans to invest $20 million in the expansion of its Parma, ID, facility. According to Joachim Schneider, head of the BioScience Business Unit, which is based at the Bayer CropScience offices in Monheim, Germany, the expansion is soundly based. "This investment lays the foundation for the sustainable growth of our vegetable seed business in the United States and beyond," Dr. Schneider said at the fall 2008 groundbreaking ceremony in Parma. He added that because Parma represents "the main processing facility for Nunhems in the

WASHINGTON -- Tomato business owners may feel vindicated when they read a new report documenting the flaws in the federal government's response to this summer's Salmonella saintpaul outbreak. The 32-page report, Breakdown: Lessons to Be Learned from the 2008 Salmonella Saintpaul Outbreak, represents an in-depth review of missteps and miscommunication that may have extended the outbreak that caused illnesses in more than 1,400 people nationwide. Penned by the Produce Safety Project, an initiative of the Pew Chartable Trusts, the report raises questions about how timely and effectively data were

NOGALES, AZ -- "We have heard every bad economic piece of news that is to be heard. Some of them are even true, unfortunately," said John Pandol, vice president of special projects for Pandol Bros. Inc. in Delano, CA, and chairman of the grape committee of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, here, who moderated a retail and foodservice panel discussion held Nov. 14 during the 40th annual Nogales Produce Convention & Invitational Golf Tournament. "We read about stores doing better or doing worse" in today's economic environment, "but everyone has to adjust" to the changing situation