TRENTON, NJ -- The New Jersey Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health & Senior Services announced the formation of a Produce Safety Task Force to protect New Jersey consumers and help local producers adapt to anticipated new produce-safety standards in the wake of several recent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. The task force includes representation from the two departments, produce and food industry leaders and Rutgers University's Food Policy Institute & Extension Service. "New Jersey has been active on the food-safety front for many years, including third-party auditing and

Maggie Bezart, founder of Maggie Bezart Marketing Services in Aptos, CA, has been named director of marketing for the Chilean Avocado Importers Association, according to Phil Henry of Henry Avocado Corp. in Escondido, CA, and vice chairman of the association. She started Jan. 1. "The Chilean industry has made a commitment to have a full-time marketing director," said Mr. Henry. Ms. Bezart "is, of course, very experienced and very knowledgeable in the produce business. She has experience in marketing and in sales, so she is a terrific & choice for the avocado industry." Ms. Bezart began her

Top officials with the Western Growers Association plan to meet with leafy green businesses in early January to explain the proposed California marketing agreement and to urge them to strongly support it at the Jan. 12 public meeting in Salinas. WGA Chairman Steve Patricio and President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Nassif, along with senior staff, are planning to discuss the marketing agreement Jan. 10 and 11 with growers and handlers in El Centro, Oxnard, Santa Maria and Salinas. The group is rallying support for the Jan. 12 public meeting at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Salinas

A new Gallup poll released earlier this month shows that Americans are more vigilant about food safety warnings but still have confidence in foods sold in grocery stores and restaurants. The Dec. 8-10 telephone poll of 1,004 adults showed that Americans maintain a high level of confidence in the safety of foods they eat, despite news in recent months of contaminated bagged spinach sold in grocery stores and the Taco Bell incident. Eighty-seven percent of Americans said they are confident that foods sold at most grocery stores are safe to eat, and 74 percent responded the same about foods

WASHINGTON -- The farm bill and food safety issues are just two of the issues on the agenda for the Jan. 23-24 meeting of the USDA's Fruit & Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee here. Originally chartered in 2001, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns named 25 produce industry members to serve two-year terms on the committee earlier this year. Committee members represent fresh fruit and vegetable growers-shippers, wholesalers, retailers, industry trade associations, importers, processors, foodservice suppliers, brokers and state departments of agriculture. "The USDA Fruit & Vegetable

WASHINGTON -- The United Fresh Produce Association announced that its board of directors has elected to continue its partnership with the Food Marketing Institue show, first launched with the co-location of its trade shows in 2004. "The partnership between our associations, serving our members in both the produce and retail industries, has created a unique strategic opportunity for building business alliances across the total produce supply chain," United Fresh co-Chairman Maureen Marshall of Torrey Farms in Elba, NY, said in a Dec. 22 statement. "We're pleased that this partnership will