Salinas, CA-based Fresh Express Inc. will hold a one-day conference Thursday, Sept. 11, in nearby Monterey, CA. The purpose of the conference is to share findings of nine E. coli 0157:H7 research projects that focus on contamination of leafy greens. Fresh Express funded the projects, all launched and completed in a 12- month time frame that wrapped up a few months ago. The Fresh Express 2008 Fresh Produce Safety Research Conference will be held at Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa. The conference fee is $100 per person, though waived for government employees. For a confirmed registration, completed

As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19, Fay was categorized a tropical storm by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service, but despite that, hurricane warnings were posted in most south Florida counties before the storm came ashore late Monday. The postings were removed Tuesday morning when it failed to reach the 74 mph threshold that would have pushed it to hurricane status. Tropical Storm Fay slammed into Florida twice since Monday night -- once into the Florida Keys, then skirting north and hitting the southwest coast. The National Weather Service's 1 p.m. Tuesday

Tanimura Distributing Inc. in Irwindale, CA, has filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California, citing assets in the neighborhood of $4.8 million and liabilities of around $10.6 million, according to Chuck Curl, director of ratings for rating analysts at The Produce Reporter Co., publisher of The Blue Book. The filing (case number 08-BK-22644-TD) took place Aug. 12. Blue Book analysts had been trying to find out what was going on at TDI for more than a week. It had been determined that Pacific Tomato Growers filed a temporary restraining order (case

For the past decade, Brazil has made a concerted effort to increase its exports, with the United States set as one of its prime targets. And while the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar and the United States' restrictive import requirements often hamper Brazilian exporters, great inroads have been made into cultivating the U.S. market. One of the success stories is the fruit sector, but the Brazilian government has a multi-pronged attack partnering with many different industries to increase exports. And individual exporters have also taken up the call scoring a number of successes

Recently, I toured Honduras at the invitation of the country's Foundation for Investment & Export Development, better known by its acronym, FIDE. The tour included visits to a wide array of agricultural interests, including a banana-processing facility, two Oriental vegetable packinghouses, a melon- growing operation, an impressive private international university that focuses on agriculture, two aquaculture farms, a cocoa processing facility and a crocodile farm. Yes, a crocodile farm. A busy five days indeed, but a wholly enriching time that enlightened me about all this Central American

"Growers in Palmetto, Ruskin and some in the Immokalee areas are underway" with the initial tomato planting process, said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange in Maitland, FL. "They could be in for some major losses if Fay delivers strong winds." Mr. Brown spoke to The Produce News at about 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 18, mere hours before Tropical Storm Fay was scheduled to make landfall in the Florida Keys. He noted that typically, the fall tomato crop starts to go in the fields in August, and plantings continue every week throughout the season. "Plastic is