Peru's citrus export season is winding down, with better-than-expected results. Exporter Alex Gallagher, general manager of Procesadora Laran, headquartered in Chincha, Peru, said that the season was stronger than some anticipated. In an Aug. 16 interview with The Produce News, Mr. Gallagher said that going into this citrus season, "We were worried. We expected a huge volume of fruit, which means, sometimes, that you will have not-so-good quality and not- so-good prices. Things were better" than expected in pricing, "and at the agricultural level we had less volume, so there was better quality

WASHINGTON -- The Mexican government has announced that more U.S. products will be added to its retaliatory tariff list, signaling negotiations in the 17-month trucking dispute between the two trading partners are no closer to being resolved. After Congress killed a two-year-old pilot program that was allowing some Mexican truckers to haul cargo in the United States, Mexico retaliated in March 2009 by imposing tariffs on 89 U.S. products, including cherries, grapes, lettuce, almonds, apricots and pears. Mexican officials argued that killing the trucking program violated bilateral trade

Taylor Fresh Foods, a Salinas, CA-based firm that bills itself as "America's largest producer of salads and fresh-cut vegetables," has purchased River Ranch Fresh Foods LLC, another significant fresh vegetable processor in the Salinas Valley. River Ranch will continue to operate under that name as a wholly owned subsidiary of Taylor Fresh Foods, with Bruce Knobeloch most likely serving as the firm's president. The acquisition gives Taylor Fresh Foods 10 operating companies that produce salads and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables for foodservice, retail, deli and clubstore customers throughout

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX - As is increasingly the case these days when producers and purveyors of produce gather, food safety was a dominant topic at the 2010 Texas Produce Association Convention, held here Aug. 11-13 at the Sheraton Beach Hotel. After a kickoff golf tournament Wednesday morning that drew dozens of participants despite temperatures well over 100 degrees, followed by a low- key welcoming reception later that evening at a well-known South Padre hangout, Texas produce grower-shippers put on their 10-gallon work hats Thursday morning to attempt to tackle the topic of food safety

Although exports of Peruvian onions grew by 38 percent during the 2009 season, volumes imported by the United States are expected to remain relatively stable in the coming years. "It is not advisable to increase export volume this year," said Miguel Ognio, president of the Onion Subcommittee of the Peruvian Exporters Association. "[The] United States, which is the main market, is consuming more, and we must maintain the volume. Therefore, we must be very careful of not swamping any market. It would be dangerous for our products." Mr. Ognio said that control of onion flow is expected to keep

Pandol Bros. Inc. has launched its new rinse-and-serve grape packaging nationwide after the completion of a controlled in-market test this past June. Pandol Bros., based in Delano, CA, worked in close partnership with two prominent regional retail chains to test a full range of requirements including product positioning, merchandising, in-store communications and package handling. The retailers provided critical feedback regarding all aspects of a go-to- market strategy and even helped define best practices regarding point-of- sale tactics. The learning from that "live" experience has been