In July, summer fruits such as peaches, grapes and nectarines come into play and compete head to head with strawberries in retailer produce aisles. According to Valerie Sill, strawberry business manager for Watsonville, CA- based Driscoll Strawberry Associates Inc., strawberries need not lie down for the competition. The industry should help retailers understand how important berry sales are and that they can compete with other categories. In July, strawberry sales are still peaking for consumers. Strawberries still have high penetration, and the high-impact category accounts for just below 10

According to the Peruvian Asparagus Importer's Association, exports to the United States are forecasted to increase by 8-10 percent for the 2008-09 season. In 2007, the United States imported more than 273 million pounds of fresh- market asparagus, of which Peruvian asparagus represented over 56 percent of the total world supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture further indicated an approximately 2.2 million-pound increase from 2006 to 2007 for fresh- market Peruvian asparagus imports for consumption in the United States. Also increasing is the import dollar value. In 2007, Peruvian

Vancouver, BC-based The Oppenheimer Group recently joined forces with grape producer Fazendas Labrunier in S?o Paulo, Brazil, with a five-year agreement linking its established Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere grape programs with a solid supply of preferred varieties. "Brazil plays a huge role in the autumn and early winter grape marketing period," John Anderson, Oppenheimer's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a press release. "The Brazilian grape industry is fairly fragmented, so by aligning with the country's largest grower, we can consistently meet the high

WASHINGTON -- Federal disease officials advised at-risk consumers not to eat fresh Serrano or Jalapeno peppers in the latest development of an ongoing Salmonella outbreak that appears to have started with tainted tomatoes and now widened to peppers. This is the largest foodborne outbreak linked to culture-confirmed cases to date and one of the larger Salmonella outbreaks, Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's food safety division said at a July 9 press briefing. The new advisory warns at-risk consumers, such as the elderly, infants and immune

LOS ANGELES -- It is often said that the produce industry fares better in hard economic times than many other industries because people still have to eat. But that is not to say that produce is immune to the effects of economic vicissitudes. In fact, most of the shippers, wholesalers, repackers, distributors and brokers in the Los Angeles area with whom The Produce News has spoken in recent weeks say that they are feeling a slowdown in business and that most of their customers and suppliers are as well. That slowdown does not always mean a decline. It may simply mean a slower rate of growth in

The first 2008 shipment of South African summer citrus arrived in the port of Philadelphia June 26. The shipment aboard the container ship, Santa Adriana, totaled 1,340 tons of clementines and Navel oranges. It is the third of three container ships to arrive before larger breakbulk ships come to the United States from South Africa. The first two ships carried smaller container volumes with only clementines, according to a press release from the Western Cape Citrus Producers' Forum. Piet Smit, managing director of the forum, said in the release, "It makes sense for us to ship our early-season