WASHINGTON -- The Food & Drug Administration is considering a plan that would allow tomatoes from certain certified counties in Florida to be shipped -- good news for some Florida growers grappling with a nationwide Salmonella outbreak that continues to expand to new states and has contributed to the death of one person so far. In a strange turn of events, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson announced in a June 10 press release that all Florida-grown tomatoes have been deemed safe by FDA and would be added to FDAs safe-to-eat list that night. "I was

On June 16, brothers Sam and Joe Ingardia will celebrate their firm's 35th year as a produce distributor in Southern California. Ingardia Bros. Produce has become one of Orange County's larger produce, seafood, dairy and grocery companies. In early February, Ingardia Bros. moved into a new 63,000-square-foot distribution facility in Santa Ana, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles. "It's an impressive building," Sam Ingardia said. The new facility allows ease in keeping the cold chain intact. It also has separate rooms to house items that give off ethylene gas such as tomatoes, bananas, citrus

Salinas, CA-based Grower-Shipper Association of Central California announced Dennis Donohue as its chairman for the 2008-09 term at its annual luncheon held May 29. It is the first time the association has had a current city mayor as its chairman. In addition to being the mayor of Salinas, Mr. Donohue is president of Royal Rose, a Salinas-based grower-shipper specializing in radicchio. He succeeds Kay Filice, the first woman to hold the chairman's post in the organization's 78-year history. Ms. Filice focused on nutrition education and public outreach during her year as chairman and will

The world is changing fast. As the economic pendulum swings, company executives are trying to figure out what exactly lies ahead for their businesses. There are several factors for companies to consider to keep ahead of the game these days: consumer requests, trends and the future. It is imperative to respond to these components when they enter the market-awareness zone. As soon as a food trend is born, you must act on it fast. The produce business is constantly faced with obstacles. If you don't understand all the obstacles and devise strategies to overcome them, they will devastate a company

SHERMAN OAKS, CA -- Sunkist Growers has named Kevin P. Fiori to lead the citrus marketing cooperative's domestic and international fresh fruit sales and marketing division. As vice president of sales and marketing, Mr. Fiori will succeed Russell L. Hanlin, who assumes the presidency of Sunkist Nov. 1. Mr. Fiori, highly regarded in both the agricultural industry and the produce trade, is leaving Dole Food Co., where he served for 29 years, most recently as senior vice president of agriculture operations for Dole Fresh Vegetables. "Kevin has extensive sales experience with branded commodity

This has been a difficult year for the produce industry due to economic, social and weather events. For Pro*Act, a leading distributor of fresh produce to the foodservice industry, the year started strong with fresh fruit sales, thanks to a first-ever sales contest for its members, which was sponsored by the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association. Total sales of fresh grapes and tree fruit (peaches, plums and nectarines) from Chile increased 23 percent from Jan. 20 to Feb. 16 over the same time period last year. Fresh blueberry sales doubled during the same period, according to Lewis & Neale Inc